Client
Sealy
Category
Strategy + Positioning · Naming · Brand identity · Exhibition + Retail · Signage · Publications + Print
Retaining equity and building on legacy
Sealy mattresses are among the best-known in the world. How do you refresh a 130-year-old brand with that kind of equity, without losing the very core of its value? The answer: Carefully.
Updating this household name involved a major rethinking and overhaul of the entire structure of Sealy’s product line, brand architecture and marketing presentation.
What we did
Thanks to our previous success with Sealy’s Posturepedic brand, FreeAssociates was involved from the earliest stages, meeting with the brand experience team and brand managers, sales execs, product designers, ad agency and strategists to help define the brand, clarify its position, and craft its messaging.
Dozens of concepts were floated and vetted, tested and refined, through a grueling but thorough process that left no stone unturned. Over many months the design vocabulary was established and tweaked, until a careful evolution of the brand emerged.
FreeAssociates developed a refined version of the logo, a more premium color palette, the master brand style guide, point of sale displays and materials, product labeling, a feature icon system, sales guide, product guide, trade show campaign graphics and all the displays and information graphics for Sealy’s 14,000 s.f. permanent showroom.
Results
At the giant winter Las Vegas Market, the company announced their update and revealed the new line to stellar industry reaction. The brand was re-energized — and so were Sealy’s own sales staff and their national retail customers. The excited response was universally positive. And the revitalized brand forms a strong foundation for its future growth without losing consumer recognition and affection.