Simmons Launches New Bowling Ball Advertising Campaign at Las Vegas Furniture Market

Furniture World Magazine

Simmons Bedding Company is launching a new advertising campaign featuring a familiar concept at this week's Las Vegas Furniture Market. The advertisements for Simmons' flagship Beautyrest(R) brand incorporate elements of the company's famed 1995 bowling ball ad campaign, which set off a consumer craze for "the bowling ball mattress." Simmons decided to bring back the concept after conducting research among dealers, retail sales associates and consumers. "Dealers asked Simmons to bring back the bowling ball campaign because it simply illustrates the concept of motion separation, which diminishes the effects of an individual's movement and helps prevent it from disturbing their partner's sleep," said Tim Oakhill, Simmons' senior vice president of marketing and international licensing. "The demo also helps consumers visualize the customized support our unique Pocketed Coil(R) design provides through its ability to conform to a person's unique body shape." Simmons' research found that 56 percent of consumers surveyed still remember the 1995 bowling ball campaign, which showed an actor dressed in a lab coat dropping a bowling ball onto an open coil unit, then dropping the ball onto a Beautyrest Pocketed Coil unit. While the action knocked down ten bowling pins on the open coil unit, the pins on the Beautyrest mattress stayed upright. Simmons' new campaign includes elements of the bowling ball demonstration that were originally seen in the 1995 ad. The campaign's television commercial, which will begin airing in March, focuses on Simmons' development of Pocketed Coil technology over 80 years ago and the company's continued improvement of the design. Simmons attributes the lack of motion transfer in its Beautyrest mattresses to the fact that their Pocketed Coil springs are encased in fabric pockets and are attached to each other in the middle, not on the top and bottom as in traditional innerspring designs. "Each Pocketed Coil spring reacts independently to changes in weight and pressure, helping to provide individualized comfort and support," said Rolf Sannes, Beautyrest brand director. "Our new ad, which shows a model supported from head to toe on a Pocketed Coil unit, makes it easy for consumers to understand this idea." The new bowling ball campaign will consist of national cable and syndicated television commercials, online advertisements and in-store displays. All of the campaign elements were created by Simmons' advertising agency, three, located in Atlanta. The firm's CEO, Jackson Houk, and co-creative director, Brad Ramsey, also worked on the 1995 bowling ball campaign while employed at Simmons' former ad agency, TuckerWayne. For additional information on Simmons, please visit www.simmons.com. About Simmons Bedding Company: Atlanta-based Simmons Bedding Company is one of the world's largest mattress manufacturers, manufacturing and marketing a broad range of products under the Beautyrest(R), BackCare(R), BackCare Kids(R), Olympic(R) Queen, Deep Sleep(R) and HealthSmart(TM) brands. Its Simmons Kids division specializes in providing bedding products specifically designed for babies and children. The Company operates 17 conventional bedding manufacturing facilities and three children's bedding manufacturing facilities across the United States and Puerto Rico. Simmons is committed to developing superior mattresses and promoting a higher quality sleep for consumers around the world. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.simmons.com.