… and Dyson says: I don’t treat marketers like dirt

It’s a shame that Design Week felt the need to undermine a serious discussion about design for innaccurate sensationalism in the ‘Dyson criticises marketing men’ news story.

I was asked a thought-provoking question on the weight of influence that marketing has on engineers when designing products. My response was that at Dyson we have a structured way for marketing people to communicate with engineers.

I also mentioned that our engineers have an in-depth understanding of the use and performance of their machines. They also have regular contact with our customers, so they are in

a good position to make decisions about products. I have a great respect for the vital role marketers play in communicating ideas.

Your [reporter’s] claim that my marketing department wanted me to ‘bin the transparent dust box’ of my first vacuum cleaner is so innaccurate as to be ridiculous – I did not even have a marketing person or a marketing department then. I said that our retailers, and subsequent minimal marketing research conducted by our engineers, were negative towards seeing the dirt.

James Dyson

Dyson

Malmesbury SN16 0RP