Edelman's One-On-One With Moen Leadership

Did you know Al Moen, founder of Moen, invented the world's first single-handle faucet?

After burning his hands on a surge of hot water, Al knew there had to be a better way to dispense water. He sold the first 12 single-handle faucets in 1947 for just $12.00 each and since then, Moen built their brand as a leader in kitchen and bath fixtures.

With Moen and Edelman sharing a home base in Cleveland, we had a great opportunity to sit down with Moen President, David Lingafelter, to learn about the personality behind the brand.

For more than 75 years, Moen has evolved their advertising and brand awareness. David says the image remains consistent with the brand: hardworking with good style.

"Consumers gave us feedback saying 'we know Moen is reliable, now let's see what's new'," David remembers. "The approach went from focusing on durability, to telling people about our new styles and features, like Reflex and MotionSense".

"We want people to use these features and say, 'boy, that's smart'," David explained. You may be familiar with their tagline, "Buy It For Looks, Buy It For Life" which is a testament to their commitment to style and durability.

Check out a snippet of their latest Reflex campaign below:

When it comes to style, Moen offers traditional, transitional and contemporary designs that fit with any decor. The customized showroom collections allow consumers to choose a style and work it into the entire space, from faucets and showerheads to towel bars and sconce lighting. At Edelman, we recently installed a new Moen display that helps simplify the selection process with our customers.

"We want to give the showroom customer the best engagement of the brand possible," David remarks. "We mounted the faucets onto flat, clear acrylic pods, making it easy for the showroom staff to move around and for the customer to visualize how a fixture will work with vanities and other selections."

David also shared that Moen engineers always go the extra mile by considering the consistency, style and feedback they've received from consumers on how to make the products easy to use.

"Engineering is an art, not just a science," David said proudly.

The Moen brand is rooted in the idea of "thoughtful design". And that goes beyond product. Everything from the design of an instruction sheet to the handling of a customer service call is approached this way.

"The thoughtful design concept is part of our culture at Moen. The results are that consumers get a choice of styles and finishes, and plumbers and contractors get reliability and consistency," David told us. "Faucets are pretty simple, off and on, hot and cold... and they should be simple. The last thing we want to do is to make it difficult."

David told us that the kitchen and bath industry is perfect for him since he loves seeing things come together. Whether it's flooring, furniture or faucets that go into a home, he says working alongside an iconic, innovative brand is exciting.

Moen has proven itself to be on trend, without being overly trendy. Every style and innovation they release comes with a timeless quality that offers consumers a certain level of comfort. We are looking forward to watching their style continue to evolve.

David Lingafelter, Moen President[/caption]

Lingafelter has been with Moen since 1990 when he joined the company as Manager of In-Store Service/Retail. His other roles have included Vice President and General Manager for Moen's U.S. Wholesale Business Unit, President - U.S. Faucets, Vice President - Faucet and Sink Marketing, Vice President - Marketing and Product Development, and various Product Manager roles. He received an undergraduate degree in economics from Kenyon College and an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

For more on Moen, visit www.moen.com.