Black & Decker will advertise five household products on national tv this year as part of its annual holiday season marketing campaign.

Two of the products – the Handy Steamer steam cooker and the Handy Mixer food mixer – are new to Canada.

For the second year in a row, the Richmond Hill, Ont.-based firm will advertise its Corded Dirtbuster hand-held vacuum, and it will also support its Spillbuster Plus cordless hand-held vacuum, which has been advertised for several years running.

Finally, for the third year running Black & Decker will support its Thermal Carafe Coffeemaker.

The campaign, which is being created by Toronto’s McKim Baker Lovick/BBDO, will span the final six weeks leading up to Christmas.

In addition to the advertised products, Black & Decker will also introduce about 15 new or significantly altered products this fall.

These include an automatic Breadmaker and the 2-Temp Glue Gun.

Geoff Brock, Black & Decker’s marketing manager, housewares division, says the new product introductions and product improvements reflect the company’s decision two years ago to put an increased focus on research and development.

‘We’re on a roll,’ Brock says. ‘We have a lot of new products coming in the next 24 months. Our strategy is to advertise and create new categories.’

Brock says Canadians spend about $350 million annually on housewares products, not including full-sized vacuums and shavers.

Black & Decker accounts for about $100 million of that total, he says. PA