By Martin Vedris
SYDNEY: Two of Australia’s biggest brands, Breville and Sunbeam, are going through a period of re-grouping. Now with the announcement that Adam Tacey is leaving Sunbeam for Breville, we could be seeing a new era in competitive rivalry between the two icons.
Competition is healthy, it can get the most out of people and companies and that’s certainly the case with the Breville and Sunbeam competitive rivalry over the years.
When long-time CEO of Sunbeam, Jack Lord left the company in July last year, he was replaced by David Jackson, who brought with him a wealth of experience, having previously held positions at the Smorgon Group company, Escor, as well as Pacific Brands, Pacific Dunlop, Myer and Philips Consumer Electronics.
Prior to Jackson starting, Sunbeam had appointed former Fisher & Paykel and LG marketing manager Stephen Reid to the role of kitchen appliances marketing manager after Damian Court left to join Hoover. Reid also has a wealth of experience having worked at Akai before moving onto positions at LG and Fisher & Paykel. While at LG, Reid was responsible for overseeing LG’s ‘Life’s Good’ slogan release and resulting marketing campaigns. He also worked at the Australian Jockey Club, where he was responsible for the successful “Princess Campaign”.
In February this year, Breville announced the appointment of Jack Lord as Breville Group general manager, Marketing and Product Development. Very big news, Lord soon settled in and has now appointed Adam Tacey to the new role of Marketing Manager – Kambrook and Ronson. Tacey is scheduled to start in the new role on 22 April.
Tacey leaves Sunbeam as category manager, barbeques and seasonal products to take up the new role.
“Adam has had solid experience in a number of organisations, including Hagemeyer where he was brand manger for the Dimplex range of products, with specific expertise in both heating and portable cooling products,” said Jack Lord. “More recently Adam has been category manager for seasonal products at Sunbeam.”
Tacey has also worked for some leading brands, starting his career at Mistral before moving to Hagemeyer – Dimplex, then Sunbeam.
Tacey said that one of the highlights of his career so far was the growing the Dimplex brand.
“Getting Dimplex to number one in heating and cooling over the years I was there was pretty satisfying,” Tacey said.
When asked what are some of the best products he’s worked with over the years, Tacey highly rated his Sunbeam products.
“In terms of performance certainly the Sunbeam gas barbeques are some of the best products I’ve ever worked on,” he said. “And some of the Dimplex super heaters and portable air conditioning — the growth of that category has been pretty amazing. And I’d probably say the new tower fan and ceramic heater that Sunbeam has just launched is very impressive in terms of being a full 12-month of the year product and a good quality heater and fan in one.”
Tacey was looking forward to his new role as well as to reforming the working partnership with Lord, but now at Breville.
“Kambrook and Ronson are iconic brands in the industry and I am really looking forward to the opportunity of working on them and I think they have a unique position in the market place and it’s a great opportunity to grow the brands.
“And I’m looking forward to working with Jack again, there’s a lot to it from the personal and professional relationships and the knowledge and experience he’s gained over the years both inside and outside the industry.”
Over the years, Breville and Sunbeam have each aimed to develop the best products and grow the market, and compete in the process, and the result has been some truly iconic products.
Some of Breville’s classics include the classic toasted Sandwich Maker, the sandwich press, the Breville Juice Fountain, and the Assist Power Plug, which is the now-familiar power plug with a finger hole to make it easier to pull the plug from the wall. Invented by Breville, the Assist Power Plug has achieved worldwide recognition. Breville also launched its Professional 800 Collection of kitchen appliances.
From Sunbeam we have the Mixmaster, as well as Australia’s first steam iron and pop-up toaster, the Toastermatic. There was also the Oskar food processor, the Express Kettle, the first plastic jug style kettle, the Ultura iron range launched in 1999 and the Sunbeam Café Series launched in 2001.