Mattress World should fire their marketing copywriter

mattress-worldMattress World is staple around Portland Oregon. They advertise relentlessly on TV and on the radio.  If you live here you no doubtingly  have heard their ads over and over.  Their ads are on so much that I basically tune them out every time they come on.

The other day I actually listened to the ad and thought to myself, their unique selling proposition is really flawed. Over the last 5 years, they have had the same USP…  “if we can’t beat the price on any comparable mattress, then the mattress is FREE!!”.  On the surface, that sounds pretty good right? I get a FREE mattress if I find one cheaper. But let’s analyze that statement. What if a shopper was looking at a mattress at Mattress World for $600.  If they found a comparable mattress at another store for $500, They might think they are in for a free mattress right? Wrong.  All Mattress World has to do is beat the price of the other retailer by a dollar. They would never give you a free mattress… ever!  They must think their customers are pretty stupid.

The other tagline I love is “our hard to find locations will save you money!”.  Who’s writing their ad copy? Hard to find locations? That screams don’t even try to find our locations, they are too hard find.  I just don’t get this one.

I’m not sure how much they spend in advertising, but it has to be a lot.  If you are going to spend it, make it count, make it memorable, but don’t deceive your customers.