Simmons Canada is in the process of buying tv time in major Canadian markets for a return to the airwaves this summer.
Bob Bruce, merchandising manager with the Mississauga, Ont.-based firm, says Simmons’ 1995 media plan calls for a month of tv advertising in August and three flights of radio advertising in April, June and August.
Last January, Simmons, the only Canadian mattress company that consistently uses broadcast media to support its brand image, pulled its account from Bates Canada and awarded it to Padulo Integrated, both of Toronto.
The following spring, Simmons debuted a brand positioning with the tagline, ‘The science of sweet dreams.’
Bruce says the new tagline reflects a shift in brand positioning to place the emphasis on ‘consumer benefits.’
He says the previous positioning, represented by the tagline, ‘Nobody knows more about putting people to sleep than Simmons,’ placed the focus on the reliability and expertise of the manufacturer.
Simmons introduced the sweet dreams positioning with two 30-second tv spots that ran during separate flights in the spring and fall.
The spots, which will be reprised this summer, focus on the Simmons Beautyrest mattress.
They open with the soundtrack to the song Mr. Sandman (bring me a dream), with ‘Mr. Simmons’ substituting for ‘Mr. Sandman.’
Following that, the sleeping actors enact fantasy dream sequences.
Louis Bettio, Padulo account director on Simmons, says the creative strategy addresses the question, ‘What do people want most out of their mattress?’
According to focus group research, Bettio says the answer is ‘they want to sleep well enough that they have wonderful sweet dreams.’
The radio creative, comprising a 60-second English spot and a 30-second French spot, builds on that in the tv spots.
Bettio says the 1994 tv campaign created sufficient consumer awareness of the sweet dreams positioning that Simmons can tactically shift to radio, in which the spots will run exclusively during morning shows.
‘When better to talk to people about their mattress than just after they’ve gotten up and wish they were still sleeping,’ he says.
