After at least two recent vacuum-cleaner failures, we decided to get a Dyson machine. We were impressed with its features, innovative design, and advertising.
When the Dyson arrived, it immediately endeared itself to me by including the little booklet pictured here. I already knew a bit about Dyson’s story from its ads, but the story booklet reinforced and enhanced my knowledge.
It also helped cement my new loyalty to this brand. Who wouldn’t love the story (which you can also read online
) about a guy who comes up with a revolutionary new idea for vacuum-cleaner technology while at a sawmill? Or the underdog aspect of this same guy unsuccessfully trying to sell the idea to vacuum manufacturers who rebuffed Dyson’s bagless design because they made so much money from selling vacuum-cleaner bags? The Japanese loved the design, though, and the royalties from sales of the G-Force model sold there enabled James Dyson to manufacture a machine under his own name.
Another underdog triumph was Dyson’s insistence on a see-through collection bin for the dirt the machine sucked up. Everyone told him a clear bin was a bad idea, but Dyson persisted, and heck yeah, I find it enormously satisfying to see how much dirt this machine sucks up.
One aspect of the story that’s in the booklet but apparently not online is that Dyson in 1999 won — after a lengthy court battle — a patent infringement suit against Hoover Europe.
Finally, you gotta love the part of the story in which Dyson gives back through the James Dyson Foundation, which “runs workshops across the globe where young people solve engineering challenges in a practical, hands-on way.”
The Dyson machine’s excellent performance makes me loyal to this brand. But its story makes me fiercely loyal.