When you open the homepage, you are treated to the man himself, smiling but fully dressed, in a business suit! Shame. Surely he should be in his tub with champagne and glamorous women?

But it’s clear from the outset that this is a site which puts company first and brand second. The words “Genuine Brand” are immediately prominent, set beneath the logo, with the central strapline “your first choice in whirlpool baths.”

Bang in the middle of the screen is a globe titled “World-wide Divisions” – listing all the company’s operations. The other main icon, “The History of Jacuzzi,” is given pride-of-place beneath a black and white photo of Roy’s ancestors in 1900. Inside is a virtual history book containing more old family snaps and some accompanying text explaining how the company originally developed industrial pumps. It’s all a bit museum-like and dusty – surely not an image the brand owners want to convey when selling whirlpools tubs.

To find any actual Jacuzzis (if you’re not by now calling them whirlpool baths, like the site does) you have to delve into the catalogue. There’s a page for each model/style here, but the photography is fairly uninspiring and there is little innovation in the design, which resembles a selection of brochure pages and looks dated. Descriptions are bland with a bullet-point list of features and specifications. No romance, no warmth, no sensual experience, just facts.

Everything on the site is indeed very “genuine.” In fact it is just a little dull and cumbersome, with nothing clever to aid the consumer through the wealth of products on offer. Even for a tradesman’s shrewd eye, it’s a very functional website, cold and dry, in need of a long hot bath to loosen it up!

Consumers might expect Jacuzzi to be communicating a sexy brand, with a website that makes you want to get your clothes off and jump in. Instead, it actually dilutes itself. It presents the image of being a bathroom distributor’s catalogue, setting out the dimensions of kitchen sinks and showers applicable in every export market. Surely it should be celebrating the wonderful product that has become synonymous with its inventor’s name? It’s not often that the home improvement sector produces a household name brand with almost universal recognition. Here is one brand that does stand out. But its guardians would appear to be technicians, not marketing brains with an understanding of how appealing this product could actually be made to look on the web.