Holiday marketing campaigns are shifting into high gear one week before Thanksgiving. Milwaukee-based Verlo Mattress, which manufactures and sells mattresses from its 34 stores primarily in the Midwest, is taking a humorous tack in its latest commercials currently streaming online and on broadcast television in select markets.
The current ”Bad at Marketing, Great at Mattresses” commercials feature Verlo mascot “Mattie” replacing Santa Claus for holiday photos with children, with awkward results.
“’Bad at Marketing’ draws attention to the fact we offer a superior product without the hype and we’re poking a little fun at ourselves and the retailing industry in the process,” said Dirk Stallmann, Verlo’s executive vice president. “As the nation’s largest retailer of locally-built, custom-fit mattresses, our focus has always been on creating the best quality product and providing excellent value for customers, many of whom come back because of the high quality sleep and comfort they get from a Verlo mattress.”
Since the beginning of the year, Mattie has been seen attempting to draw attention for Verlo by trying to jump a bicycle over stacked mattresses like Evel Knievel, wearing roller skates and flipping a ‘sale’ arrow sign along a busy road, disco dancing with store associates, waving sparklers in front of a 4th of July sale banner, and attempting a water ski jump (like Fonzie jumping the shark on TV’s “Happy Days”) – each with disastrous results. In each commercial, a message flashes on the screen, “Our marketing ideas may not be great…but our mattresses are.”
“The feedback we’ve received on ‘Bad at Marketing’ has been overwhelmingly positive. People seem to appreciate companies and brands that don’t take themselves so seriously and can poke fun at themselves,” said Stallmann. “We’ve had a lot of fun with ‘Bad at Marketing, Great at Mattresses’ because it’s allowed us to highlight the high quality, direct-to-consumer service that Verlo has delivered for 61 years.”
The commercials are the work of Milwaukee-based SRH Marketing.
Full and partial versions of the commercials that have aired on TV or run online can be found on youtube.
Visit verlomattress.com
About Verlo Mattress: Founded in 1958 by two men who named the company for their wives (Verna and Lois), Verlo Mattress has 21 locations in Wisconsin and 13 more in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. Verlo is passionate about helping people find the right sleep products – at the best prices – because so much depends on a good night’s rest. Verlo mattresses are built in local Verlo factories, sold at consumer-direct prices and serviced locally with a Lifetime Comfort Guarantee.
