Innerspring makers defend their turf
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 20, 2008
HIGH POINT — The spring makers are springing to the defense of their products.
After years of watching innersprings being bashed by specialty sleep producers, leading makers of innersprings are standing up for springs. They are touting what they say are the advantages of innersprings and rolling out research studies, including a new study by Kansas State University that shows that innersprings provide and maintain a cooler sleep environment than memory foam or airbeds.
Components giant Leggett & Platt even brought a sex therapist into the fray. Joy Davidson, a New York-based clinical psychologist and sex therapist, weighed in on the topic of sex and innersprings, which make for a sexy combination, she said.
But don't just take her word for it: A survey of 1,000 Americans in committed relationships found that 68% prefer an innerspring mattress for sex.
Officials at Tempur-Pedic and Select Comfort had no comment on that survey, which made headlines for L&P earlier this year when it released the results.
L&P, the industry's largest producer of innersprings, is leading the pro-springs charge. Last fall, it unveiled a new marketing and public relations campaign that tells the innerspring side of the mattress story. Innerspring sleep sets, L&P asserts, outperform all other types of bedding.
Veteran Hickory Springs executive Jimmy Bush has a similar message: Innersprings offer a better way to sleep. “The best solution,” he said, “is the proper coil with the proper cushioning.”
Bush, who joined Hickory Springs in 1978, is familiar with all types of sleep surfaces. Hickory Springs makes a variety of innersprings, as well as some specialty sleep components.
He offers this caution about specialty beds: “For some people, they may be a good sleep surface, but they are definitely not for everyone.”
Millions of consumers across the country have received very different messages in recent years, as leading specialty sleep producers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars touting what they say are the advantages of airbeds and memory foam beds.
L&P began telling its story more aggressively last fall, delivering its key messages to leading retailers and retail sales associates around the country during its Spring Alive Tour, a grassroots campaign that it said was the first of its kind in the industry. Retailers praised L&P for its efforts.
The heart of the campaign is the assertion that L&P innersprings feature “Active Support Technology.” That is the defining benefit of an innerspring mattress — the dynamic response of the coils to body movement, according to L&P.
“There is a common misconception among consumers that a bedding surface shouldn't move,” said Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of sales and marketing for L&P's bedding division. “That's simply not true. A mattress should respond to your body movements. Active Support Technology allows your muscles to relax in a more natural sleep position, moving as your body moves, all while maintaining a consistent support system, which is crucial in comforting and supporting your body actively as you dream on.”
L&P touts three benefits of innerspring bedding:
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Air circulation. Due to its open structure, an innerspring mattress is constantly refreshed by the air pressure passing through it, thus preventing heat build up.
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Comfort. The upward support of an innerspring sleep set allows the body to relax completely, resulting in deep restful sleep. The spine remains relaxed through the sleep cycle.
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Active support. The mattress moves as the body moves, maintaining even support as it cushions the body. Innersprings give and take to readily adjust to the movement and contour of the body. The unique “reverse support” of coils allows people of all weights to enjoy equal comfort in the same bed.
L&P is taking that message to retail sales associates, who play key roles in the industry's process of communicating to consumers. “From comfort to support to durability,” L&P says in a brochure for RSAs, “the innerspring sleep set provides a superior night's sleep.”
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Survey says sex goes better with innersprings
Feb 5, 2008
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