The opposite of sex is sleep.

Think about it. People work hard at getting good sex, but are lazy about getting good sleep. People feel they must create good sex, but think good sleep should come to them. Sex is active (most of the time), while sleep is passive. They’re opposites in a lot of ways.

Granted, there are real distinctions between sex and sleep, but it seems that people blindly accept that a good mattress will not work well for both activities.

Remember when health food tasted like shoe leather? At some point people rejected the idea that healthy food had to taste awful and suddenly it became appetizing. Even fast food companies understood. Subway’s most popular ad campaign featured a guy named Jared Fogle who lost weight by eating veggie sandwiches. It’s no longer an issue of healthy or tasty, you can have both. Your mattress is no different – it should enhance sleep and sex, giving you solid bounce per ounce and a soft, soothing sleep surface.

Inspired by the recent Baron’s article, “Sex or Sleep,” I started thinking about what your mattress should actually give you. It’s assumed that certain mattresses are good for sleep and others are good for sex, but live in separate worlds (or bedrooms). I disagree. At what point did people give up and decide that sex and sleep are mutually exclusive? Why can’t we have both? Has evolution ceased? Is advancement dead?

It’s time to seek a life of balance and forget this world of extremes where innersprings and memory foam are mortal enemies. That disunion doesn’t make sense to real people because they understand that good products increasingly combine materials and ideas that complement each other. It’s no longer just a telephone. Smartphones combine telephone, computer, calendar, and media creator. It’s a functional fusion and that’s what people want because it works. They want the best of both worlds and a mattress can offer that – for all age groups.

The Barron’s article reports that many seniors give up sex because they want good sleep, as if the two can’t coexist. Bad idea older Americans. From a health and wellness standpoint, people (especially seniors) should continue having sex. Even though sex and sleep may be opposites, they offer similar health benefits. Both boost your immune system and help you maintain a healthy weight. Also, during sex there’s a release of oxytocin which promotes sleep. Sleep and sex should not live in separate worlds, or on separate mattresses. But you can see why this happens: For seniors with mobility problems, there’s no wonder that sex suffers when you’re on a memory foam mattress. According to the Barron’s article, the person on bottom gets stuck in a divot and the person on top has a tough time with traction.

NASA concocted memory foam for use in spacecraft seats as a way to absorb g-forces during lift off. Today, people in bedrooms across the country are suffering because memory foam alone is absorbing all the g-forces during lift off! Your g-forces and lift off shouldn’t suffer because of a non-responsive sleep surface. Ask more of your mattress. You have one life. Combine the best things and enjoy it.

Innerspring mattresses represent 75-80% of mattress sales. And guess what? A large number of innerspring units feature a comfort layer on top like visco, gel, or latex. And even visco, gel, and latex are being combined to form higher-quality comfort layers that complement the supportive, responsiveness of an innerspring. Living in a world of sleep OR sex is no longer necessary. You can have both. Good combinations work, and that’s what people want.

Sex and sleep may be opposites, but the two have long held a common bond: Your mattress. There are sleep surfaces that can enhance both of these activities. Reject the crowd that claims sleep or sex must suffer. Embrace hybrids. Remember the lesson from food, which taught us that healthy and tasteful can live on the same plate.

Why would you sacrifice quality sleep for great sex when you don’t have to? These things are too important and you deserve both.

Barron’s Article
How Humor Can Improve Marketing (and your love life)
Get Hybrid Video

 Mark Kinsley is Vice President & Lead Strategist with Mark Quinn’s strategic communication firm. You can follow him on Twitter and he blogs at MarkKinsley.com. 

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are Mark Kinsley’s. They do not represent the thinking of the company he works for, or anyone else with whom he is affiliated.

Yes, I work for Leggett & Platt and we are in the business of selling springs. A few people might believe there’s bias in my comments. I would argue that in some cases bias and truth coexist, so please read on.

Think about the following points and you tell me if hybrids beat foam alone:

Real Research

Leggett & Platt has one of the largest R&D testing centers in North America (possibly the world) for gauging surface comfort, specifically in the mattress category. We ran a 15-point test that covers things like firmness change as measured by ILD testing, to ASTM standards, pressure-point evaluation using the latest pressure-mapping equipment, and motion transfer using seismology instruments (just to name a few). Wouldn’t you know it, the hybrid products made with Comfort Core (fabric-encased coils) came out in the #1 spot, followed by another innerspring construction that actually tied with memory foam. To be fair, the surface testing was close, so nobody walked away pounding their chest, but the results fly in the face of some of the commentary around the memory foam category.

Cooler Sleep
Innersprings sleep cooler. How do I know? Because we did third-party testing with Kansas State University in their state-of-the-art labs and concluded that innerspring mattresses sleep up to 28% cooler than memory foam products. Is this relevant? Absolutely. As a category, the memory foam marketing machine started claiming that foam sleeps cool because they were getting so many consumers complaints about how hot it sleeps. More about those consumer complaints in a moment. People don’t like being hot because temperature problems are a major sleep disruptor. Stir in the fact that the average age for females is going up, which means more women are going through life changes, and you can see why people are steamed.

Just Memory Foam
Memory foam beds are not all they’re cracked up to be. Don’t take my word for it, just listen to Danielle from San Diego who said, “For me, it was too soft. I sank and ended up with more back pain (between my shoulder blades) during the day.” Lack of support is a common complaint Danielle. All this begs the question: Are these beds popular because they’re better products, or because they are marketed to the consumer in a brilliant way?

At the end of the day I guess it doesn’t really matter because the specialty manufacturer’s marketing dollars drive the traffic, which drives retail placement, which ultimately drives the category. But let’s remember that this category is still only 10-12% of the units and 25% of the dollars. I say let the advertising continue. Let’s capture the consumer’s attention, get them to think about their mattress, and encourage EVERYONE to do their part to make it a good experience for the shopper.

Now, take about a four-minute break and watch “Get Hybrid,” a music video we created about the aforementioned Ultimate Hybrid mattress. We are just having a little fun, trying to entertain an industry that needs some spice. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. Tell me what you think in the comments section below.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the thinking of the company I work for, or anyone else with whom I am affiliated. Except my wife of course, who is good at telling me what not to say.

When I was in High Point, there was decent traffic, but I am not sure how the mattress people are able to justify the expense given what I saw. Maybe there is great ROI in the quality of visits; maybe there are some people that just flat-out refuse to visit Vegas. I don’t know. So I find myself asking the question: Is the High Point Market viable for the bedding industry?

Given the excitement and crowd that Vegas market brings, is anyone really going to launch a big new product or program at High Point? Are the retailers out there demanding your presence in North Carolina? If you don’t see them, will it hurt your business? Retailers, if a bedding producer was not showing at High Point, but instead would fly you to their showroom, would that work just as well? I bet it would be cheaper than paying rent at both markets!

All I am saying is that time and money are valuable resources for all of us, so let’s do a little gut check here. Take a look at the traffic in the showrooms over this last market, put a pencil to it, add up the sales opportunities that resulted, and do a little math on the investment. For the most part, anything that you see in High Point has already been displayed in Vegas. Right? What do you say we all pick a market and stick with it? Might I suggest the location with the largest selection of Michael Mina restaurants? Okay, Vegas it is.

On to the source of my frustration.

It started when I arrived at market and it was pouring rain. I was driving and, being the nice guy that I am, I pulled up to the front door and let my passengers out. After 15 minutes I finally found a parking spot. I then spent another five minutes looking around (in the rain) for the attendant to pay, walked through several very large puddles in my newly polished shoes, and walked for 20 minutes to get to our building. As you can imagine, I was dripping wet. At that moment I had a flashback to Las Vegas: A hint of rain began falling and 20 people wheeled out hundreds of boxes of FREE umbrellas for anyone attending market! Big difference, huh? And yes, now I am whining.

Okay, so where are you on this one? Should there be four bedding markets each year? Let me know in the comments section below. Don’t hold back.

There was a recent survey featured in the April edition Sleep Savvy and Bed Times that I thought was really interesting. Fleishman-Hillard, a national public relations firm, partnered with Hearst Magazines to follow up on their 2008 study called “Women, Power & Money.” They updated the survey in September of 2011 and uncovered some really interesting information about shopping for home furnishings that the mattress industry should pay attention to.

Where women go for information

• The top three places women go for information during the learning phase of a purchase are: 1. Friends and family; 2. Spouse or partner; 3. Retail Sales Associates. Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly important and that means you need to figure out what people are saying about your products and services and determine how to steer that conversation. More importantly, if the feedback is negative and people aren’t happy, maybe it’s time to reevaluate your business. In addition, ask yourself how much time you spend with RSAs doing product training, coaching them on the consumer, and simply learning from their daily experiences. They are very relevant in the sales process and the best team will win.

The factors that influence a purchase

• What information do women use to make a decision? Price leads that list, with quality of craftsmanship and quality of materials following close behind. As a component supplier, I enjoy hearing that craftsmanship and materials matter because it confirms what I have always felt. Since the downturn in the economy, there has been a major shift in the way people shop. Consumers are more discerning about how they spend their money. If you are going to sell them something in the big ticket category, you really need to build value more than ever. Banging the “quality” drum is fine, but if you don’t back it up with some narrative on how you achieve that quality, you will fall flat. What are you doing to highlight the components used in making the mattresses? See how my friend Simon Spinks does it when he talks about the wool his company puts in its products. This is NOT your average approach.

The Joint Decision

• Yes, the woman is powerful when it comes to mattress buying, but for big ticket purchases of $500 or more, about 85% of females say the buying decision should be a joint one. Of course you should consider the female buyer in about everything you do, but as I have said in past blogs, this is NOT a male-versus-female issue — it’s 100% about targeting the segment of the market that values sleep. Men are very much a part of this equation and if we lose sight of that, we will miss opportunities.

Thank you Julie Palm, Sleep Savvy, and Bed Times for printing this article. It is great information that I feel more people should be reading. The question is, what will we do with it?! How well do you focus on the impact of female influence? In the comments section below, share some of your experiences.

The new music video we are producing is called “Get Hybrid” and our team just got back from production in Chicago. We are working with Second City Communications, the business arm of the famous improv comedy house. I feel lucky that I get to work on projects like this because I’m able to collaborate with some wicked smart people, exercise creative muscle, learn a lot, and minus the moments of sheer panic it’s just a lot of fun.

Now that filming is over, I’m wondering if our audience (in this case the mattress industry, not necessarily the consumer), is going to like it as much as I do. I am more inclined to take chances than most, and with this creative solution there is definitely some risk. We basically produced a hip hop video about coils and hybrid mattresses. Sound risky? You bet. There’s a chance the audience won’t like the video. It’s also possible that some people may not like the message, or might even get offended. At the end of the day you can never be 100% sure of anything. You just have to trust your instincts and general knowledge of the audience you are trying to appeal to.

What I do know is that people will criticize you no matter what you do. You will get beat down for a weak attempt no differently than you will for being bold. Let me say that again: Critics will dish out the same amount of disapproval for weak attempts as they will for bold attempts. You might as well swing for the fences. I have said it in past blogs: When you measure the risk and reward of an approach, as the risk increases the reward also grows. I say go big or go home!

Furniture Today's Dave Perry was on set for the filming of Leggett & Platt's latest project, a video dubbed "Get Hybrid."

If we miss with our “Get Hybrid” initiative, I am prepared for the critics to be out in full force, but I don’t think that will happen. From what I’m hearing, most people are actually excited to see somebody try new things and inject something fun into this industry. All I know is that if we were to run a Leggett & Platt Comfort Core ad in every edition of Furniture Today for the rest of the year, we are not going to make the same impact as doing something like the “Get Hybrid” video. So, tune in and sound off. I want to hear what you have to say when it launches in mid-May at www.Ultimate-Hybrid.com. Speaking of Furniture Today, we were fortunate enough to have Executive Editor Dave Perry with us during the shoot and he’ll have his take on the project featured on their website.

Let me suggest that you put some thought into doing SOMETHING to support Better Sleep Month this year. You can visit the Better Sleep Council’s website to get some ideas and marketing assets, or simply link to its website. If you are a retailer, how about a big SALE? If you are a bedding brand, is there an event you can support retailers on, with a special product to draw some attention?

We all know that it is not about the THING as much as it is about the BENEFIT of the THING. We can beat the better sleep drum and create that opportunity to connect it right back to the mattress, which we all want to do, right? Remember, consumers easily understand that sleep is important to their quality of life, but YOU are the one that has to connect that sentiment to the products you sell. What better time is there to do that than Better Sleep Month? If it were Better Biking Month, wouldn’t you expect your local sporting goods store to feature special promotions around bikes, shoes, those very fashionable spandex shorts with butt pads, cool biking glasses, water bottles, and everything else associated with cycling? If they didn’t, wouldn’t you think they missed an opportunity?

Remember the DirecTV ads?

When you don’t have a good mattress, you don’t get good sleep, and if you don’t get good sleep, you don’t pay attention when you drive to work, and when you don’t pay attention when you drive to work, you can get in a wreck with a truck carrying live chickens. When you get in a wreck with a truck carrying live chickens, you go to the hospital, when you go to the hospital you can end up with huge hospital bills, and when you have huge hospital bills you can’t pay your mortgage, and when you can’t pay your mortgage you wind up homeless. Don’t wind up homeless, buy a new mattress.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the company I work for, or anyone else with whom I am affiliated. Except my wife of course, who is good at telling me what not to say.

Part of that obsession with college basketball, I think, comes from the the simplicity of the structure. Think about it: Sports fans gripe all the time about college football’s BCS, the standings, the different polls, the bowl game structure etc. because it is VERY complex, with many variables taken into consideration to get to a winner. At the end of every single college football season, there’s still a debate about what team is the real national champion. On the other hand, the NCAA tourney does it with bracket play, which determines a clear definitive winner. It’s simple, easy to follow along, and anybody (no matter how sports savvy) can get involved by simply filling out a bracket.

People LOVE the simple and easy things in life. Think about the times in which we are living. The Twitter generation is demanding that information be consumable in 140 characters or less. On this platform, what you say has to be simple. How about those YouTubers that have us trained that a video should be no more than three minutes long? Nothing too complicated here; just short, easy, and right to the point.

When I visited Las Vegas Market and more recently the ISPA Expo, it was fun listening to people tell me about their company’s new introductions and to see what kind of story they had built. Some stories required visual aids to make the point, and some required that you understand the history around the product to really appreciate the evolution of what you were seeing. For me, the best products had presentations that could be explained in under one minute. News flash for some of you: If your elevator speech requires 200 floors, you won’t be able to give it in most buildings, which means it’s probably not the best approach.

Simple sells. There is evidence of this truth all around us. Apple now has a $557.23 billion market cap due in part to one of the main pillars of the company: Products MUST be simple and intuitive. We are talking about electronics here, so of course they are very complex in design, but Apple made them easy and fun to use. I can’t get my iPad away from my seven-year-old son.

Are you failing like college football? Or, like college basketball have you taken something complex and made it easy for the consumer to connect with? Don’t get caught up in how cool your technology is, and make that part of your selling approach. The easier you can make your product or service to understand, the more success you will have in the market. The NCAA understands this and that’s why March Madness is a month long sports event that people don’t get tired of watching. It’s simple, fun, and easy to participate.

In the mattress industry, your story has to make it down a long chain. It has to be told by your internal audience, then to the retail sales associates, and ultimately to the consumer. What has the best chance of making an impact? Can your products be sold in under a minute? Tell me about your approach (in 140 characters or less) in the comments section below.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the thinking of the company I work for, or anyone else with whom I am affiliated. Except my wife of course, who is good at telling me what not to say.

My friend Cindy Williams wrote a great article for Sleep Savvy in which she talked about mobile commerce, or mCommerce. Here are three stats that reinforce the game-changing impact of mobile devices:

• Over 200 million people will have smart phones by the end of 2012.
• Mobile commerce hit $6.7 billion in 2011 and is predicted to be $11.6 billion this year.
• Nearly half of consumers (47%) have accessed customer reviews in a store.

Pause on that last point for a moment. Almost half the people in your store are looking at reviews. As the influence of mobile devices expands, this number is only going to grow. How are you intercepting the consumer in the shopping phase of buying a mattress? It doesn’t really matter if you are a retailer, bedding producer, or component supplier. If you want people to give your solution some consideration, you need to figure out how to get inside that phone they’re carrying. Here are four ways you can start taking advantage of the mobile boom:

1. Realize that SEO (search engine optimization) is very important for your digital presence. Yes, you want to have a great looking website, but it is extremely important that search engine spiders can crawl your site and index the information that will be important to the consumer when he or she is in the market.
2. Are you just selling AT the consumer, or are you providing useful information that will actually serve the shopper and make their entire experience better or easier? Shoppers are using mobile devices to access reviews and information, so make sure what you are providing is useful.
3. Consider a geolocation approach. In other words, if you are a bedding brand or retailer let the consumer know when they are close to your store or a store that carries your products. Let people know there is a reason to stop and buy. Read more about geolocation marketing by clicking here.
4. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly! It’s irritating to visit a website when you are in the shopping phase only to discover it’s not optimized for the mobile user. You know what I am talking about. Those are the sites you have to constantly scroll around on because the images and copy don’t fit your little screen. If a consumer has to work hard to read your content, they will “bounce” to find a better solution.

There is a lot of information about mobile commerce, so do your homework. Check out these articles for starters:

• Top 7 Mobile Commerce Trends in 2011
• 29% of in-store mobile researchers wind up buying online
• The State and Trends of the Mobile Internet

Be ahead of your competition and you’ll gain a big advantage.

What does your mobile strategy look like? Tell me in the comments section below, and don’t forget to include a link to your mobile-friendly website.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the thinking of the company I work for, or anyone else with whom I am affiliated. Except my wife of course, who is good at telling me what not to say.

I really enjoyed ISPA this year, but it was very busy for me. I sit as the current Chairman of the Better Sleep Council, so the board members got together for dinner and a meeting, where we welcomed in two new members: my old friend Mark Hobson and my new friend Scott Frisch. Don Wright and I sat on a panel for Withit, along with the opposing team of Cindy Williams and Kim Knopf, in a battle of the sexes discussion about how men and women see the industry differently. Julia Roisen moderated (poor Julia), and at the end of that hour, we came to the conclusion that the industry should NOT be focusing on either the male or female, but instead should address the segmentation of people out there that care about their sleep.

The highlight of the week for me was the customer appreciation party that Leggett and Platt threw on Thursday evening. We pulled out all the stops with an open bar and enough food to feed a small army (or, in this case, about 1,000 people). This year, the venue was an old train station and we had the band, Party on the Moon, blow it out for the second time in four years. WHAT A CELEBRATION! It is the highlight, because I know that our customers make us what we are and I love seeing them throw down and enjoy themselves so much. Thanks to all of you that attended.

Finally, there was the ISPA breakfast where Alan Hobson spoke about his trip to the top of Mount Everest and where they gave out a few industry awards. Karl Glassman from Leggett & Platt received the Russell L. Abolt Exceptional Service Award for having exemplified the highest level of career devotion to the well-being and betterment of the mattress industry, and boy did they get that one right. I hate giving too much of an accolade to anyone in a senior management position at Leggett & Platt as it flies really close to ass-kissing, but in this case, I have to just this once. I don’t believe that there is a classier guy that is more deserving than Karl. Those that really know him realize how humbled he was by it, which makes it that much better. In addition, the aforementioned Don Wright, who is the CMO of Wright of Thomasville, was given the Robert MacMorran Memorial Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the industry by the suppliers council. I am honored to call Don a friend, and grateful that ISPA made two great selections this year!

The only downside to the week was walking the convention floor and looking at all of the pretenders, if you will. Many got it right with great displays, beautiful booths, and innovative product approaches that will help the industry get better. On the other hand, you have the people that show up and make no effort at all in how they present their products, simply knocking off the companies they compete against. How about we take a page out of the NCAA Tournament for ISPA 2014 in New Orleans? Everybody who wants to present new products sends in a submission as to what they want to show, and they get selected and put into a bracket. A committee then selects a winner and narrows it down to a smaller group that actually gets to attend the show. We have less exhibitors (who get charged more, of course, to keep revenue up) and it takes less time to shop the event, giving us more time to enjoy the city in which it is being held. Everybody wins. Maybe not. It is just an idea, and given that we are in the middle of the tourney, I was inspired, so give me a break. Go Jayhawks! What do you think? Will Kansas win it all? Tell me in the comments section.

P.S. My congratulations to Ryan Trainer, Mary Helen Uusimaki, Karin Mahoney, Kerri Bellias, Catherine Lyons, Deb Chapman, Julie Palm, Barbara Nelles, Jane Oseth, Mary Best, Debbie Robbins, Deborah Nicholas, Chris Hudgins and the rest of the ISPA team. You guys did a terrific job this year, and we all appreciate your hard work in making it come together.

They gave me the head tilt and smiled saying, “Oooo, that is just great, Mark.” To make it more exciting, I am now on the component side of the mattress industry. Does that make my job even less interesting at a cocktail party? Probably, but today, as we near the 2012 ISPA Expo in Indianapolis, I want to make a case for us components people.

When a consumer is buying a mattress, it should deliver the ultimate in comfort, the maximum amount of support, the least motion transfer, the best thermal regulation, and the appropriate durability that will last 10 years or more. How do we deliver those things? Great components, that’s how. Shoppers today are more discerning about how they spend their money than ever before. If we are charging $300 more for a mattress set, we had better justify that price jump with something tangible or they just won’t buy. Your story SHOULD come from the quality materials used in making beds.

If we want to put some pressure on a group in this business, an appropriate amount should be directed at the people making the guts of the bed. Our success will in some ways be determined by the innovation the components people bring to the table. If we are going to compete with other durable consumer products, we have to pull people into the market with REAL sleep tech, and by REAL, I mean tested and proven. If we do that, then we give RSAs some great stories to share, and that will make all of the difference at the register.

On March 14, over 200 exhibitors from all over the world will meet in Indianapolis to show off their latest and greatest products. If you are going to ISPA, be on the look out for the real innovators, wannabes, imitators, and the real McCoy, as they will all be represented. Who will help you sell more mattresses with great components in 2012? Check back here in the coming weeks for all the ISPA updates because this week, I will be in Indianapolis with my camera rolling.

If you are planning to attend, there are two things you can’t miss: the party and the panel.

1. The Party

This is the type of party that erases those looks of pity my friends gave me when I first told them I was entering the mattress business. If you are a valued customer of Leggett & Platt, our blowout customer appreciation party is taking place Thursday evening at the Historic Union Station (at the Crowne Plaza Hotel). Our band Party on the Moon is playing again this year, and you do NOT want to miss a great night of food, drinks, and awesome entertainment.

2. The Panel

Withit is hosting a panel discussion titled “Love at First Blush.” I will be on that panel, along with my friends Don Wright, Kim Knopf, and Cindy Williams to discuss the male vs. female perspective in the mattress industry. If you want to come and see Don and I get our butts kicked in a debate, stop by the Indiana Convention Center at 4 p.m. on March 14 in Wabash 2.

What are you looking forward to seeing at the 2012 ISPA Expo? Share in the comments section below.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the thinking of the company I work for, or anyone else with whom you are affiliated. Except my wife of course, who is telling me what not to say.