The Free Flights fiasco is an interesting piece of history.
In the UK, Hoover were struggling in the late 80's, faced with increasing competition from brands like AEG & Zanussi who were offering far more modern technology for much the same price. Hoover washers internally hadn't changed much since the early 70's. Similarly, in the vacuum world, whilst the Turbopower had taken the market by storm in 1983, but the late 80's, Electrolux & Panasonic were offering lighter, more convenient clean air machines with on-board tools for much the same money, whilst Hoover were still offering dirty fan uprights with pan adopters.
The Sinclair C5 had cost a bloody fortune to produced and it flopped. Hoover needed to increase sales desperately.
There were 2 parts to the campaign - European flights & US flights. Travel within Europe was not overly expensive and so the take up was fairly low, but the ad campaign put the brand back into the main stream and into people's minds, so sales picked up. They were no longer considered a fuddy-duddy old brand.
Disaster struck when the promotion was extended to US flights, which were incredibly expensive. Hoover estimated take up based on the European flights - big mistake. People who didn't even want a new Hoover were buying them just because it was cheaper than buying the flights on their own.
The campaign is still referenced frequently today & I know it's used as a marketing case study in universities.
Liam - you have to remember that Hoover Europe aren't Hoover anymore. All those beloved Electron's, Logic's & keymatics were made by a company which no longer exists. And whilst they used to be "king of the carpet", their modern vacuums are one of the worst you can buy.
