America has a sleep problem: 68% get less than the recommended 7 hours per night and half don’t connect the quality of sleep to their well-being. This has major health implications. After introducing Junk Sleep as the enemy, Mattress Firm wanted to extend their position as America’s trusted authority on sleep, moving beyond selling mattresses to highlighting their unmatched expertise via the Sleep Experts available at stores nationwide.

With the work set to launch in the summer, this was a pivotal period for mattress sales. We needed to boost all funnel metrics for Mattress Firm to ensure a fruitful summer sales period, stand out from our competitors, and improve key perceptions with customers, including sleep expertise and trust.

Junk Sleep. It’s what happens when you sleep on a bed that isn’t right for you. When we sleep poorly, it leaves us in physical pain, feeling slow, irritable, forgetful and wondering why. People can’t fight what they don’t understand, so we introduced them to this enemy, its allies, and made it our mission to help Americans fight back.

An integrated campaign unpacked this common culprit, exploring the ways Junk Sleep manifests - physically, emotionally and mentally. Across film, social, radio, online and in-store displays, we comically confronted the perils of poor sleep. Online tools examined sleep debt and the way in which Junk Sleep compounds over time. Films explored our complacency with Junk Sleep and the ‘always on’ culture that allows it to thrive. While print, radio, film and social passed commentary on the bad bedtime behaviors, consequences and ultimately, bad beds that fuel our Junk Sleep ways.

To reach mattress buyers during this pivotal sales window, rather than highlighting the benefits of good sleep like every other brand in the space, we focused on the detriments of bad sleep. When you sleep on the wrong mattress, you’re a sluggish, forgetful, irritable shell of your true self.

We looked to get people to reassess their mattress by painting sleeping on the wrong mattress as “junk sleep,” in the same way eating unhealthy foods is positioned as consuming junk food.

Since the initial work in the campaign had examined the problems of poor sleep, we turned our attention to factors including and beyond the bedroom that contribute to the poor sleep epidemic. Bad bedtime routines, ‘always on’ culture, our tethered to tech mindset and the compounding effect of continual poor sleep. By painting the confronting reality we could position Mattress Firm’s products and expertise as an accessible, actionable solution.

Bad sleep can be a literal nightmare. The dark humor, wit and sarcasm underpinning every execution was our way to disarm people. In film, radio, print and social we observed and analyzed Junk Sleepers and the pitfalls of poor sleep with a wry level of disdain. While Junk Sleep affects all equally, individual executions were then tailored to speak to different audiences and common ailments of poor sleep - comically exaggerating things like forgetfulness, physical pain, poor reflexes and sluggishness. The integrated approach rolled out nationwide, with targeted media across the USA. Brand level film, social, radio and print drove awareness to the plight Americans were facing and the Sleep Experts that could help. Further down the funnel, harder working promo films, in-store signage and online tools and banners pointed to Mattress Firm’s expert solutions and current sale offers to help you find the right bed, at the right price.

Rather than trying to simply compete with online sales, the campaign let Mattress Firm engage, entertain and educate people around a fundamental fact: A bed shouldn’t be chosen blindly. You need expert opinion and personalized solutions to help soothe common sleep health woes.

By tapping into this truth and shifting the brand conversation into the wellness space we bolstered and increased Mattress Firm’s position as the most recommended brand in the category by its customers, with an eight point increase in net promoter score that supported double-digit sales increases over key moments in the ongoing campaign lifespan. This was a reminder to Americans who make their sleep less of a priority, that a better sleep can actually mean a better you. Solidifying the Sleep Experts at Mattress Firm as a trusted source of advice during a pivotal period for mattress sales over the summer window.