The lonely, lovable Maytag Repairman has undergone a major makeover this spring. Maytag debuted its first ad featuring the new (and hunkier) Maytag Man in early March with inspiring results. Consumers have scored each of its six new ads above an Ace Score of 600, an impressive feat.

Overall, the Appliance category has been working overtime this year—with many advertisers pushing big Ace Score numbers. This is not too surprising, however, since the BLACKBOOK reminds us that the category is usually the first- or second-highest scoring in the Ace Metrix database. What is more unexpected is the volume of ads coming in, with several appliance brands airing new, national ads after a noticeable absence—including Maytag.

While the Maytag brand was looking to refresh its television advertising, it was smart to hold tight to its original brand character. Donning the appropriate navy blue suit and black-brimmed cap uniform, the Maytag Man is still recognizable and well loved among consumers. In fact, after watching Maytag’s new commercials, many consumers noticed and remarked on the character’s new look and attitude.

In fact, Maytag’s combined word cloud, which includes 2,004 optional consumer responses across its six new ads, shows us exactly what is working for this campaign—and, believe it or not, instead of being the lonesome, lamenting repairman, the Maytag Man has actually become funny. Ten percent of the two thousand comments mentioned that the ads are “funny.” Likewise, 16% of those comments also mentioned the word “Maytag,” which is a peek at just how closely the character and the Maytag brand go hand-in-hand in terms of recognition.

COMBINED WORD CLOUD FOR SIX 2014 MAYTAG ADS

While our research shows that funny does not equal effective, it is still possible to be funny and effective at the same time. Maytag’s highest rated ad this year is its minute-long spot “Something Extra Inside,” which achieved a stunning 710 Ace Score, the fifth highest Ace Score in the Appliance category this year. 

Maytag’s high scores certainly caught our attention, but what solidified Maytag as a Brand to Watch was its ability to improve its creative. This male slice of the demographic data reveals that in previous ads, Maytag was losing males ages 50+; however, with its 2014 campaign, Maytag has brought up those demographic scores to be extremely close to the two other male age groups.

A pass through the optional survey responses from the Male/50+ target demo reveals why Maytag was losing out on that customer base—many of them thought the ads were cute but in the end, they just weren’t interested in the ad’s promotion or didn’t understand the concept of the ad.

COMBINED WORD CLOUD FOR MALES/50+ (ADS DEBUTED BEFORE 2014)

The Appliance category is known to skew toward females, with women scoring Appliance ads higher than what men rate the same ads. Maytag’s ads, however, tend to be more gender neutral, scoring an average of just 6% higher with women than with men.

According to an interview with the New York Times, Maytag is set to spend $50 million on advertising by the end of 2014. With about $28 million already out of the bank (according to Competitrack), we’ll likely see Maytag finish the beginning of the summer strong and then ramp up its spending again at the end of the year. While it would be a surprise if Maytag aired any more new ads this year, we still enjoy seeing the ol’ Maytag Man back with ample screen time once again.