Tempur-Pedic Gets Comfortable With Social Media

1 Comment(s) | Posted Feb 12, 2010 by Caroline Williams

Caroline Williams

Yesterday I was watching Power Lunch on CNBC and a segment came on highlighting Tempur-Pedic's new marketing campaign.  The television ad tells the customer to go online and "ask someone you know" about how well they sleep, to "check out twitter", and to "try your friends on facebook" to learn more about their mattresses.  This is a large gamble for a such a high-end product, but CEO Mark Sarvary is so confident in the quality of a Tempur-Pedic mattress that he is willing to let customers sell it for him.  

Sarvary says that the average Tempur-Pedic customer tells 14 people about their product, so the new "Ask Me" Campaign gives a megaphone to those people by utilizing the networks they are on every day.  Sarvary also indicated that 9 out of 10 people would recommend a Tempur-Pedic mattress to a friend. 

I wanted to test to see if this was true.  So I went to their Facebook Page and looked at interactions on their wall over the past week to see if the 9 out of 10 rule really did apply.  
Here is what I found: 

• 29 Comments were posted
  • 22 Positive 
  • 6 Neutral
  • 1 Negative
• 45 Replies to comments
  • 35 Positvie
  • 8 Neural
  • 2 Negative
• Only two comments mentioned a competitor, through never by name.
• Three people expressed an intent to purchase.
• One person asked a question that got replies from actual customers sharing their personal experiences.

Tempur-Pedic has taken a large gamble by letting their customers define their product for them, but it is one that has paid off.  Over the past week they have had 8 out of 10 comments reflect positively on their products.  And this campaign has converted into sales.  Three comments over the last week said that they intend to buy a mattress.  And Sarvary said that their stores have seen an increased number of customers coming in and referencing the campingn.  

What you can learn form the "Ask Me" Campaign: 

• Build a forum for your customers to discuss your brand.  Engagement is key and allowing the customer to speak to other customers is your best tool
• Let the community self correct.  Tempur-Pedic did not respond to negative or positive comments, they let the community speak for themselves and thus created an authentic environment for continued conversation.  
• Integrate multiple networks.  They did not focus on one social network or one communication tool, by integrating TV with online networks they were able to reach the most people and cross pollinate each network with repeat visitors. 

Filed under: Emerging Media