BLACK+DECKER Partners with Midea to Expand its Home Cleaning Offering with Addition of Corded Vacuums
March 16, 2015, New York, NY., - Leading home products brand, BLACK+DECKER, will introduce a line of indoor corded vacuums to complement its existing cordless cleaning products. BLACK+DECKER has partnered with top consumer appliance manufacturer, Midea, to develop and launch a range of powerful, durable and innovative corded vacuums. The two partners were brought together by Beanstalk, BLACK+DECKER’s exclusive brand extension agency. BLACK+DECKER has been a preeminent brand in the home and consumer DIY sector for over 100 years. A true innovator in the home cleaning category, the brand revolutionized cleaning by introducing DustBuster®, the first-ever handheld cordless vacuum, to the marketplace in 1979, and has continued to launch a wide assortment of new products for use in and around the home.
BLACK+DECKER’s new range of corded vacuums will include a combination of upright, stick, canister, and wet/dry products. These new products provide consumers with the trust and credibility associated with the BLACK+DECKER nameplate coupled with Midea’s specialized corded vacuum manufacturing capabilities. The corded vacuums will launch at mass merchants, home improvement centers, department stores, warehouse clubs, mid-tier stores, specialty stores, and e-commerce retailers later this year.
“As we continue the re-launch of the BLACK+DECKER brand, Midea will help us reinforce our brand promise with a range of innovative and quality upright, canister, wet/dry, and stick vacuums,” said John Cunningham, Vice President of Business Development at Stanley Black & Decker. “Midea is a leader in the upright vacuum market and BLACK+DECKER is the #1 brand in hand held vacuums. I can’t think of a better collaboration to help grow the vacuum category for our retail partners.”
“Since its launch over 30 years ago, the BLACK+DECKER DustBuster® has become ubiquitous and a staple in American homes today. This is a testament to the brand’s long history of providing consumers with innovative, relevant solutions. To build on the brand’s heritage in the vacuum category, partners must embody the same virtues of ingenuity and quality,” said Allison Ames, President of Beanstalk. “Midea prides itself on providing products that are inventive yet affordable, making the company an ideal partner as BLACK+DECKER continues to please new homeowners with products that will fit into their Do-It-Yourself lifestyles.”
About BLACK+DECKER
Since 1910, BLACK+DECKER has been setting the standard for innovation and design of power tools, outdoor yard care equipment, and home products. The inventor of the first portable electric drill with pistol grip and trigger switch, BLACK+DECKER has evolved from a small machine shop in Baltimore, Maryland to a global manufacturing powerhouse with a broad line of quality products used in and around the home. When home owners have work to get done, they trust that BLACK+DECKER’s products will do the job efficiently and reliably. For more information on BLACK+DECKER products, visit www.blackanddecker.com or follow BLACK+DECKER on Facebook & Twitter.
About Midea
Since being established in 1968, Midea has grown from what was once a local workshop into a leading consumer appliances and air conditioning systems manufacturer, with operations around the world. Its 40 years of persistent growth has brought its global turnover to $23 billion USD in 2014. Consequently, Midea has over 135,000 employees in China and throughout the world.
Midea believes in creating value through responding rapidly to market demands, cost-efficient operations and consumer satisfaction. As a result, Midea wields a comprehensive product portfolio and vast production capacity to meet these demands. Midea’s integrated research and manufacturing process helps to enrich lifestyles worldwide through a distinct range of innovative, yet affordable products.
About Beanstalk
Beanstalk, a global brand extension agency, works closely with our clients to unlock brand equity and create many of the world’s most recognizable products and services. We help leading brands, celebrities, media properties, manufacturers and retailers creatively find ways to strengthen their relationship with their most important stakeholder – the consumer.
Beanstalk offers a breadth of services including brand licensing, direct-to-retail program management, license acquisition for manufacturers, and royalty auditing. Blueprint – Powered by Beanstalk, our consulting division, advises clients through four key practice areas: brand extension + retail development, research + insights, design + identity, and operations + governance. Tinderbox, our digital division, works with new media properties to realize their potential in the world of consumer products.
The company is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Miami, and Cincinnati, and affiliates throughout the world. For more information, please visit www.beanstalk.com. Beanstalk is part of the DAS Group of Companies.
About The DAS Group of Companies
The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organizations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.
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