If You Build It, They Will Come
We invited the media to experience the craftsmanship that goes into building a Stearns & Foster mattress.
What we did
Brand Strategy
PR Strategy
Influencer Partnerships
Media Relations
Media Monitoring
Event Planning and Execution
Insights
The mattress industry is a crowded category with intense competition amongst new disruptor brands. Stearns & Foster, a more than 170-year-old heritage brand, separates themselves from the field by being the original craft-made bed. We wanted to tell the story of how Stearns & Foster’s history of excellence has been built stitch-by-stitch.
Our goal was to deepen relationships with the media, inspire them to know the brand better than before and ultimately tell their audiences the story of why Stearns & Foster is the world’s finest bed.
STRATEGY
Showing versus telling is always more impactful. So, we invited select writers to travel to the Stearns & Foster manufacturing facility in North Carolina where they would help hand build their own mattress.
The appeal of the story tapped into the larger craft-made movement that has won favor in the hearts and wallets of consumers. Stearns & Foster was craft before craft-made was cool. They’ve always known and believed that attention to detail matters. The Master Craftsmen who build the beds live by the motto that “you can’t rush perfection.”
EVENT
The media members worked alongside the brand’s Master Craftsmen to build their beds. They were involved from start to finish embroidering, gluing, tufting and finally hand-signing their mattress. While getting their hands dirty, they were also educated on the state-of-the-art testing that goes into crafting each mattress.
RESULTS
The resulting coverage included online and print pieces in Elle Décor, Furniture Today, Lonny.com, TheManual.com, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics, Reader’s Digest and Traditional Home.
A total of 11 pieces were placed as a result of the media event with a reach of more than 44,833,236.
“Each Stearns & Foster mattress is built by a team of Master Craftsmen. It takes four people around eight hours to complete one mattress from start to finish…You know that annoying body-shaped sag that makes it hard to sleep? Apparently, it’s preventable, as Stearns & Foster developed a test to help minimize sagging. I watched a 240-pound weight repeatedly roll over a mattress. The company says this is done 100,000 times to measure how much sinkage occurs.” – Melissa Matthews, Men’s Health
PRESS
“A Behind-the-Scenes Look Inside a Mattress Factory” – The Manual
“Here’s What It Takes to Make a $2,500 Stearns and Foster Mattress” – Men’s Health
“The Stearns & Foster Mattress Feels Like it Was Made for Your Body” – Men’s Health
“10 Signs It’s Time for a New Mattress” – Reader’s Digest
“Choosing the Right Mattress” – Traditional Home
“I Learned Firsthand How Much Work Goes Into Making A Mattress” – Lonny Magazine