Some bright spots in retail bedding ads
By David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, March 17, 2002
Pictures of couples sleeping blissfully. A family gathered together in bed for story time with the kids. The story of a bedding company formed "in the rich tradition of the great master craftsmen."
Those are some of the bright spots I found the other day in a quick, unscientific review of bedding sleep shop ads in newspapers from around the country. Although some of those ads included some very sharp twin prices, there was much more to the ads than just a low price story.
Last week in this space I decried the industry's emphasis on low prices in retail bedding ads. I didn't name names. But this week I do want to single out some of the retailers who are doing more than just hammering low prices. I'm not saying these are the best or most notable examples of innovative bedding ads. But I like some of the approaches they took and want to share the good news with you.
Lifestyle ads were employed by a number of retailers. The idea is simple: Show consumers using the product. Yes, sleeping soundly is a benefit of our product.
Beds Plus, with stores in the Carolinas, made a powerful lifestyle statement, devoting more than half a page to a color picture of a good-looking couple sleeping together on a Simmons Beautyrest. The guy is bare-chested, a hook for the women who play a key role in bedding purchases. His partner snuggles up beside him. Her foot pokes out from under the sheet. "Improve the quality of your sleep with a Simmons Beautyrest," says the copy at the foot of the bed. Nicely done.
Mattress World took a similar approach in an ad in the Chicago Sun-Times. The headline says, "Sleep with the one you love!" Just above that headline we see a young couple sleeping together. Again, the guy is bare-chested. These two look like they are having great dreams. Sort of makes you want to buy a bed. The ad promoted Sealy and Stearns & Foster bedding.
American Mattress strikes a family chord in a Houston Chronicle ad, the center portion of which features a family of four, clad in pajamas, snuggling together in bed for story time. Sis holds the book. Everyone is smiling (this bedtime story has a happy ending). Serta bedding is featured. This is a nice scene of domestic tranquility, made possible by the bed.
In another American Mattress ad, this one in the Chicago Tribune, the retailer tells the story behind the Masterpiece bedding it offers on sale: "Once in a while, a company comes along that turns an everyday product into something exceptional. To those who appreciate the finer things in life, that product becomes worth owning, something earned and deserved. It takes a master to 'reinvent' a product in this way." This is "Intelligent Indulgence," the ad says. Well done.
Those were four ads I liked. Please send me ads you like. Let's keep good bedding ads in the spotlight.
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