LA Ad Agency Wakes Up Sleepy Category

Mattress commercials aren’t typically known in ad land for being creative hotbeds, but an upstart Los Angeles-based agency has changed all that with this cheeky television campaign for mattress giant Sealy, Inc.

 

Arcana Academy opened last December with the North Carolina-based brand as its founding client and the following brief: launch the Optimum memory foam version of Sealy’s famous Posturepedic mattress – a product designed to compete with specialty mattress maker Tempur-Pedic.

 

The agency conceived several playful TV spots to remind viewers that mattresses are made for more than just sleeping. The tagline: “It’s better on springs. Whatever you do in bed, Sealy supports it.”

 

These latest spots brim with simplicity and innuendo. In ‘Tester’, the camera zooms in on an actual, rump-shaped mattress tester. It plunges down into the bed as coquettish French music extolling the product features plays on the soundtrack.

Since Arcana Academy began working for Sealy, Optimum mattress sales have increased. Tempur-Pedic’s stock price, meanwhile, dropped to nearly 1/3 of its value despite outspending its competitor by more than $150 million. Then, in a classic ‘if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em’ move, Tempur-Pedic bought Sealy, Inc, forming the largest mattress consortium in the world. 

 

Created by Arcana Academy founders and award-winning creatives Shane Hutton (ex-Modernista!) and Lee Walters (ex-Arnold Worldwide), the campaign has breathed new life into a sleepy category and attracted a more youthful, vibrant audience to the brand.