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Company: Mattress Firm, Houston, TX
Company Description: Mattress Firm has made it easy to get a great night’s sleep by providing our customers an expertly curated collection of quality mattresses from the best brands. Today, with more than 2,400 neighborhood stores, we strive to match every customer with their perfect mattress at the perfect price. Our Sleep Experts help more than 3 million people a year find the right solution for their sleep needs.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Internal Communications - 100 or More Employees
 Nomination Title: Mattress Firm: Junk Sleep
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
N/A
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 4 words used.
See the attached PDF.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
We began the Junk Sleep pre-launch countdown on Monday, July 12, 2021. The employee-focused communication and engagement campaign unfolded throughout July, August, and September. Even now, heading into 2022, the content continues to inspire pride and conversations among associates.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
With an innovative brand campaign in development, Mattress Firm resolved to make a big splash not just externally with customers and media, but internally with employees. Both leadership and our working team agreed: employee engagement would be just as crucial as high profile-media plays, PR and social messaging, web content, and retail promotions.
The external campaign would introduce America to the problem of Junk Sleep. The solution? Mattress Firm’s Sleep Experts—the associates who know mattresses, know sleep, and are committed to helping people get the quality rest they deserve. Therefore, our goal was for employees not just to see the campaign, but to see themselves as the heroes who deliver on our brand promise. So, we designed an employee communication and engagement plan where every touchpoint built toward a growing sense of excitement and much-deserved pride amongst the people of Mattress Firm. This effort played out in three phases:
A pre-launch countdown, teasing the campaign by revealing small elements each day, across multiple channels. Store associates even received a surprise shipment of branded polo shirts (just like those they would soon see in Junk Sleep ad spots).
A launch-day reveal, where employees got to see the campaign before it hit the press—plus the inside scoop from leaders on how Junk Sleep came to be and how the campaign would unfold in the coming weeks.
Post-launch momentum activities to keep employees in-the-know and excited. We invited them to share stories, enter contests, join our Unjunk Your Sleep Tour, and more.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 244 words used.
The Junk Sleep campaign was a first-of-its-kind for Mattress Firm. Rather than competing on price and promotion, we were about to position our Sleep Experts as go-to problem-solvers for health and wellness. We needed to prepare associates for their public reveal. This initiative was a chance to supercharge our small team’s shared powers of strategy, creativity, and can-do spirit. With six weeks to create our plan and content, we set to work. Clear on the timeline for Junk Sleep’s public launch, we orchestrated an internal countdown just long enough to catch attention and build anticipation, culminating in a timely reveal that lived up to the hype.
For efficiency and consistency, we capitalized on imagery and elements from the external campaign to produce materials for internal messaging. For example, we pulled stills and GIFs from TV ads to create visuals for intranet posts and email teasers, and we mimicked the campaign’s type treatment to redesign newsletter mastheads—slowly hinting at what we’d reveal on launch day.
Determined to sustain engagement—and continue supporting Mattress Firm’s ongoing transformation, which requires open, honest, constant communication—we crafted a plan to keep employees informed and enthusiastic even after the rush of launch day. In addition to a steady drumbeat of content on sleep expertise and its value, we gave employees a starring role in the Unjunk Your Sleep Tour, where Sleep Experts appeared on city streets, at music venues, and at sports events to help people solve their junk sleep problems.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2020. Even if your initiative started before 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 237 words used.
The 12-day teaser and launch-day campaign across multiple channels ensured that every store and corporate associate could engage. For example:
- Daily homepage takeover and changes to the BEDpost intranet site and in-store computer desktop wallpaper
- Email masthead changes, borrowing type treatment from Junk Sleep campaign
- Opportunities to win concert or baseball tickets at Mattress Firm-sponsored events
- Unexpected content: photos, GIFs, celebrity name-drops, and a funny video where one executive tells a bedtime story to other executives
- Campaign announcements: full-page Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ad, celebrity spokespeople, TV ad plans, and more
- CEO video podcast recorded on location during Unjunk Your Sleep Tour
- Polo shirts to field associates, Junk Sleep notebooks to corporate employees
- Post-launch, a BEDpost hub where associates could view the latest Junk Sleep happenings
Engagement was high across all tactics; in particular:
- CEO video podcast had 44% more views than the average CEO podcast
- BEDpost traffic increased 41% in first week of teaser campaign over prior week; and by 33% over 12-day campaign compared to the prior 12 days
- The open rate [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] for an email encouraging associates to share our WSJ ad on social media was 13% higher than our average open rate [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
- Recorded Junk Sleep launch event had the most comments on a video to date
- 1,328 employees shared a story about a mistake they made after getting Junk Sleep for a chance to win concert tickets—our most participated-in contest to date
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