Serta adds fun in Web relaunch
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 3, 2002
Itasca, Ill. — Bedding major Serta is not "sheep-ish" about its redesigned Web site. Its trademark Counting Sheep, which star in its national advertising and perform a variety of other marketing duties, play a fun, supporting role on the revamped site, www.serta.com.Counting Sheep No. 1 pickets the home page, walking back and forth across the top of the page while picket signs pop into view. "Sheep out of work," one says. "Sheep against Serta," reads another. "Serta BAAAD!" says a third.
Meanwhile, Counting Sheep No. 70 grazes on headlines on the "Products" page.
And on the "Buy Sheep Stuff" page, Counting Sheep No. 29 gnaws on the Serta logo.
Consumers can also see the sheep perform in the company's popular 30-second TV commercial, "Contract."
It's all designed to put some fun into the mattress-buying process, the company says. But that's only one of the goals of the Web site redesign. The others are to prepare consumers to make smart in-store purchases quickly and easily.
Serta is doing that, in part, by offering animated analogies that illustrate how exclusive Serta features help provide a good night's sleep. The site uses common-sense language to communicate the benefits of five key product components through two media formats: flash animation and QuickTime movies.
The animated analogies, which Serta says are a first for an industry Web site, use the same techniques that Hollywood filmmakers employed to seamlessly blend art and reality and create life-like images in moves ranging from Gladiator to Titanic.
"The site has been redesigned to empower, influence and entertain consumers," said Tim Close, vice president of marketing communications. "We know that consumers can become alienated and confused by mattress shopping. To strengthen our relationship with consumers — both pre- and post-purchase — the new Serta Web site capitalizes on the most recent Web technologies to present our products in a simple yet compelling fashion."
For example, the site compares the supportive strength and framework of a spider web to the construction of the Serta Miracle Wire innerspring unit.
Viewers will see and hear about the comparisons in either flash animation or QuickTime movies, depending on the speed of their computers. Flash animation is similar to watching a flash-animated slide-show, while QuickTime movies are comparable to watching a commercial or a short film.
The redesigned site features two new sections: a secured e-commerce page where consumers can purchase Serta Counting Sheep characters on-line and a hospitality page to address questions from consumers and professionals in the hotel/motel industry.
The e-commerce page provides a visual reminder of Serta's brand identity with the Counting Sheep. Serta is selling the sheep as mementos of the characters that star in the company's brand-building TV, radio and print media.
"Among other reasons, Serta redesigned its Web site to promote and leverage the popularity of the Counting Sheep campaign, and our e-commerce section is one avenue we are using to do this," said Susan Ebaugh, vice president of advertising. "We already have received hundreds of orders for the Counting Sheep, and every purchase of the sheep reinforces Serta's brand-building goals."
Counting Sheep No. 1 and Counting Sheep No. 29 are both available for sale on the Web site. The stuffed animals are $9.99 each.
| Animated analogy on Serta's Web site compares the soft surface of tissue to Serta's Comfort Quilt. |
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