US-based home appliance maker Whirlpool kicked off #ChoreClub: a social content series giving parents tips for introducing household chores into their children’s quarantine routines. Starting in April, the manufacturer also posts ideas on how parents of children ages 2-11 can combine cleaning, laundry and cooking with education. Whirlpool suggests activities such as learning about fractions by making a homemade pizza, pairing up socks as a matching game, and helping children practice second languages (like Spanish) as they unload the dishwasher. The company is additionally partnering with influencer parents for #ChoreClub.
With all this extra time, many consumers have one thing on their minds: mastering skills they were too busy to learn pre-COVID. Which is why you’ve likely seen your peers suddenly learning to knit, taking up baking to ward off anxiety, or turning to online education platforms like Coursera, which has seen unprecedented demand. Perhaps you’ve set some of these self-actualization goals for yourself!
But let’s go a bit lower on the Maslow pyramid for a moment. Besides hitting those fun or ‘becoming-my-best-self’ skills, the pandemic also provides an opportunity to address more foundational skills like cooking and cleaning, as Whirlpool did. For example, consider the lack of basic ‘adulting’ abilities younger generations today are often struggling to hit; hence UC Berkeley offering an Adulting course that covers meal-planning, paying bills, among other topics. In a small way, Whirlpool is helping to close these knowledge gaps for the adults of the future.
So think about how your organization might help customers (and maybe their kids!) build up essential skills. By embarking on this journey with consumers, you’ll also have the opportunity to build a relationship with them. How can you become a source of knowledge for your customers - one they know they can turn to and trust, again and again?
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