For eight years Whirlpool has teamed with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for families across America. In addition to donating a refrigerator and range for every Habitat home built, Whirlpool organizes the Building Blocks Program. The mission is to build homes in one week with the help of volunteers.

With no paid media budget, Whirlpool strives to:- Inspire a larger audience to spread the word and ultimately become emotionally connected with this great cause.- Recruit and connect volunteers in a more significant manner.To expand the reach of Building Blocks, Whirlpool employed pioneering Yahoo! Live beta technology to broadcast the week long build in real time. The world could watch the live progress of the nine homes being built. Web viewers could interact with people on the build site, via both real-time video and live chat. The campaign also utilized Facebook to build a community. Volunteers learned about the build, registered to participate, and shared the experience with others. During the build, Building Blocks also took over Whirlpool.com.The Yahoo! Live broadcast was the most watched channel during the event. And the combined Facebook/Whirlpool.com metrics show that Whirlpool Building Blocks Dallas is the most successful event to date.

June 2, 2008• Facebook Page Launched - www.whirlpool.com/BuildingBlocksFacebook + link• Countdown to event.• Pieces of flair for past alumni/volunteers.• Wall posts from past or future volunteers.• Photo gallery to add personal event pictures from past builds.• Whirlpool.com Dallas Landing Page Launched - www.whirlpool.com/BuildingBlocksAugust 8, 2008• Announced Dallas VolunteersSeptember – November, 2008• Volunteer Newsletters• Details on Dallas• What to Bring• Housing Assignments• Safety/Security Information• Travel Information• Meet the Families• Schedule of EventsNovember 17-21, 2008Build Week• Photos• Daily Recap Videos• Yahoo! Live• Brand site home page takeoverDecember, 2008Post-Build• Final Recap Video• Time-lapse Video• Partner Family e-CardsBy using Facebook, Yahoo! Live and Whirlpool.com, changes, modifications or additions to the program could be communicated quickly and efficiently to volunteers and observers. During the build, the camera for Yahoo! Live was portable, giving us the ability to move it from house to house each day, showing different stages of the housing development.

Our main goal was to expand the relevancy of Building Blocks beyond the participants and inspire people to get involved with our worthwhile cause.

Since June 2, 2008 (Launch) through December 31, 2008:• 15,090 Facebook Page Views• 5,170 Facebook Photo Views• 1,127 Video Plays• 653 Fans (27% increase in fans during the 5 day Build Week)• 90+ media outlets picked up the news story• 163,000 Impressions on Whirlpool.com Home Page• 100,000 plus Whirlpool Global Employee Portal Click-thru’s from Home Page to BB Content• Top viewed content on portal for 2008The combined Facebook and Whirlpool.com metrics show that Whirlpool Building Blocks Dallas 2008 has been their most successful event in its 3-year history.