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Romance marketing idea spurs bloggers to action

David Perry, Executive Editor -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2005

There's nothing like a little sex talk to get everyone excited. Two weeks ago, I said in this space that the bedding industry is missing a big opportunity by not using sex ... er, romance ... to sell more mattresses. That column has sparked several interesting e-mails, and also has produced a long string of comments in the new blog format on our Web site.

Some of you may not be familiar with that term. Our blogs give you an online forum to discuss our columns. Find columns on our Web site, www.furnituretoday.com, and click on the "add your comment" icon at the bottom of the column to post your comments online. Then, when you click on the "add your comment" icon again, the column will pop up, along with all the comments that have been posted.

When you go through that exercise with our romance column ("We're made for romance, but we talk low prices") you'll find some informative, fun comments.

Here is a sample, for those of you who are not yet Web savvy:

Don Hofmann, the former Simmons marketing maven, said my column offered "a very interesting concept ... and the research to back it up would be fun."

Don also passed along an interesting story from a cruise line CEO, who noted that what makes a cruise memorable is "the permission to have 'romance' in the afternoon and to eat a large buffet at midnight." That's insightful.

Larry Stark said the furniture industry places "far too much emphasis on price as a sales appeal, and far too little on the emotional aspects of the sale." You are correct, Larry.

Jimmy Orders, president of Park Place Corp., made me laugh with his posting: "Did you run this idea by your wife before you published your column, or did you simply think of it all by yourself? Just curious. If you did run it by your wife, what did she say?"

Well, when I read those comments to my wife, Karen, she laughed. Then she said ... well, that's a secret. Nice try, Jimmy.

A reader from Down Under wrote: "It really is surprising that mattress/bed companies don't use sex/romance to sell as everyone else does." Right on, mate!

You can read all of the comments online. Thanks to everyone who has posted. I'll read your comments online, or you can always e-mail them directly to me.

Let the romance begin!

Contact David Perry at dperry@reedbusiness.com

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We’re made for romance, but we talk low prices

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