Mattress Startup Casper Disrupts with Hacks, Fake Photos and Chatbots
There is no rest for Casper, the mattress startup doubled sales to $300 million and is on track to double sales again this year after launching in 2014.
How’s it doing it? With one overarching strategy: disruptive marketing.
There are none of the typical cutesy images of kid’s feet sticking out from under the covers or couples cuddling up on a soft mattress. Casper is into hacks, fake photos, a colorful cast of characters, “unboxing” videos, weekly series like “Waffle Crush Wednesdays” and chatbots.
It has moved from word-of-mouth to a major digital push and has made significant investments in content from day one, all around the disruptive marketing strategy.
For example, at Casper’s “Pillow Talk” website, its latest marketing effort lets visitors trick their friends into thinking they’re on the vacation of a lifetime using “Staycation Story Hacks.” The hacks are a collection of typical summer scenes like the view from the driver of a Jet Ski skimming across turquoise blue waters or a bikini-clad girl riding atop a young man’s shoulders while those around them dance in the water. The scenes can be expanded to full-screen size then videoed, captioned and sent off to social networks.
With a marketing team of 25 and a social team of 3 Casper pumps out content. The social team created an explainer video showing how to “unbox” the mattresses when they arrive. The videos have generated more than 100,000 views with plenty of shares as consumers find it rather surprising how the smallish mattress roll unfurls when opened. It launched the first ever insomnia chatbot and drove a napmobile around the country.
This year, Casper landed at #2 in the retail category (only behind Amazon), and #36 overall on Fast Company’s list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World.
“The company has changed the way that consumers expect to buy a mattress, but it has also expanded the range of products that can be disrupted by the digital, direct-to-consumer model,” Fast Company said.
Casper has plenty more marketing hacks up its sleeve that are covered in this article from Business Insider. Read the article …
Watch the “unboxing” video:
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