Hoover free flights promotion

The Hoover free flights promotion was a marketing promotion begun in 1992. To sell surplus washing machines and vacuum cleaners, the British division of the Hoover Company promised free airline tickets to customers who purchased more than £100 worth of products. Initially the offer was for two round-trip tickets to select destinations in Europe, which proved highly successful in clearing the surplus. As few customers actually used the vouchers, Hoover expanded the offer to include destinations in the United States.

However, at this point the consumer response increased enormously, as Hoover was offering around £600 of airline tickets for an outlay of just £100. The Hoover factory had to switch to seven-day working and hire additional employees to meet the demand for the cheapest qualifying vacuum cleaner. Some customers paid for the appliances and then left them in stores.

It was estimated that enough people tried to convert their vouchers to tickets to fill 500 Boeing 747s (the largest-capacity passenger planes of the time). Ultimately the £30m in extra sales the promotion attracted was dwarfed by the £50m it cost to pay for the airline seats as well as settle the legal claims of those (the majority) who did not receive tickets.

History

In 1993, the Hoover Holidays Pressure Group was formed, led by Harry Cichy and Sandy Jack, to protest that the company was not keeping its promises. Buying some shares in Hoover's parent company, Maytag, the pressure group went to the Maytag Annual General Meeting in Newton, Iowa. Sandy Jack expressed his concerns to the CEO of Maytag, Len Hadley. The presence of the group made headline news on ABC and the front cover of The Des Moines Register.[1]

In 1994, Jack took Hoover to court over the free flight promotion. The BBC Watchdog programme's investigation of customer complaints about the promotion, by reporter Simon Walton and undercover researcher Hilary J Bell, brought the matter to even wider public attention. A number of Hoover executives were sacked for their parts in the fiasco, including

  • William Foust, managing director of Hoover Ltd and president of Hoover Europe
  • Brian Webb, Hoover vice-president of marketing
  • Michael Gilbey, director of marketing services

Result

The court cases went on until 1998. After the disaster had cost the company almost £50 million, the British division of Hoover was sold to the Italian manufacturer Candy.

Follow-up

In 2004 a BBC documentary was made on the anniversary of Cichy and Jack's visit to Newton in 1994. Part of the Trouble at the Top series, the "Hoover Flights Fiasco" was watched by 1.7 million viewers. As a result, the British Royal Family withdrew its Royal Warrant.[2]

References

  1. ↑ William Ryberg (April 7, 1993). "Free Vacuum Cleaner Travel agency deal on flights turns tables on Hoover fiasco". Des Moines Register. p. 1. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).
  2. ↑ Sarah Rainey (25 October 2012). "Has the Royal Warrant lost its lustre?". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
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