AHFA supports World Market Center's new consumer ad campaign

Group will look for ways to support effort

Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, August 4, 2009

HIGH POINT — The American Home Furnishings Alliance said Monday that it applauds a new consumer ad campaign being developed by Las Vegas' World Market Center to stimulate furniture sales.

"Our industry has frequently sought to corral the energies of multiple industry groups toward a common goal of building consumer interest in home products," said Andy Counts, CEO of the AHFA. "AHFA is encouraged by this latest multi-media promotional effort and is hopeful the alliance might be invited to offer direction or input."

The World Market Center has pledged $20 million for a multi-year promotional campaign.

The AHFA said that over the past 10 years its members have sponsored an educational program to motivate consumers to improve their families' quality of life by furnishing a comfortable and functional home environment.

"AHFA members have invested over $5 million during this period, and we see multiple advantages to building a similar campaign with an expanded array of industry partners," Counts said.

The organization will encourage its 400-plus members, including manufacturers, importers and suppliers, to explore ways they might participate in the new consumer campaign as it unfolds, he added.

AHFA's educational program, launched in 1998, included extensive research to identify essential message "triggers" that might motivate consumers to buy furniture, along with barriers that prevent consumers from shopping. The program included an extensive effort to get key message points into the consumer press. The research was updated in 2003 by the Michael Cohen Group, with the results presented at that year's AHFA meeting in Sarasota, Fla.

While the funding for the AHFA's campaign has ended, the association's effort to educate consumers on home furnishings is ongoing, with large numbers of stories continuing to be generated through various media outlets, according to Counts.

"With a 100-year history in the home furnishings industry, the AHFA is dedicated to advancing the best interests of its members and awaits details that might indicate the role of the manufacturer and supplier community in this new endeavor," Counts said.

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