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August 3, 2009 -
In an unprecedented initiative
to unite and energize the $133
billion home furnishings
industry,
World Market Center Las Vegas,
along with leading industry
groups, is launching “Is it
Home yet?™” campaign.
Designed to position home
furnishings as a needed and
desired enhancement to the
family’s home and lifestyle, not
a luxury, the campaign will
simultaneously ignite consumer
interest and increase retail
traffic and sales. This broad
based initiative is being
launched by World Market Center
Las Vegas, in collaboration with
the National Home Furnishings
Association (NHFA) and Western
Home Furnishing Association (WHFA)
who will drive retailer
participation among their
10,000-plus member stores. The
industry wide initiative is
further endorsed by other
leading trade associations
including Sustainable
Furnishings Council (SFC),
WithIt (Women in the Home
Furnishings Industry Today), the
Home Furnishings Independents
Association (HFIA) and the
American Society of Furniture
Designers (ASFD). In the
mattress/ bedding realm, the
Specialty Sleep Association
(SSA) also endorses and supports
the concept of the Is it Home
yet™ campaign. The campaign also
marks September as “National
Home Furnishings Month”
culminating in a highly promoted
10-day sales event at the end of
the month. The $20 million
multi-year program is
financially underwritten by
World Market Center Las Vegas,
which has awarded the creative
contract to Ogilvy North
America.
“Is it Home yet?TM” campaign is
designed to provide an entirely
new and unified platform for the
benefit of the home furnishings
industry, empowering
manufacturers and retailers to
market their businesses, brands
and products more cohesively.
The first phase of the campaign
will be supported by
advertising, branding,
education, promotions, sales
events, policy efforts, public
events, social media outreach,
and consumer research. The
marketing program aims to
motivate and inspire consumers,
by connecting people’s
investment in their home, to the
intrinsic and emotional value
home décor and furnishings can
add. September was chosen as the
ideal launch window for this
initiative due to consumers’
focused attention to their home,
family and holiday planning, and
because it marks the start to
the critical fourth quarter
retail sales period.
“Is it Home yet?TM” is a
consumer-facing marketing
strategy designed to reach
people at multiple touch points
that will ultimately benefit the
entire home furnishings
industry,” said Robert Maricich,
president and CEO, World Market
Center Las Vegas. “This is a
rare opportunity to bring
together the entire industry for
the benefit of raising awareness
and positively changing the way
people view purchasing home
furnishings. Through this
campaign, we will offer our
partners the tools and resources
they need to reach consumers
through in-depth industry
analysis and creative content
that will reinforce transforming
a house to a home. This
initiative aims to unify the
marketing efforts of home
furnishings retailers and brands
in order to deliver a powerful
and emotional ROI to consumers.”
“World Market Center Las Vegas
has introduced a new approach to
marketing that unites the home
furnishings industry and speaks
to the consumers in a new way –
something that has been missing
from the industry’s landscape,”
said KeyBanc Capital Markets
analyst Brad Thomas. “This
initiative intends to engage all
constituents and help breathe
life into an industry that faces
a number of challenges as a
result of the challenging
housing and consumer
environment. By building
strategic partnerships with key
associations and multi-media
organizations, the campaign is
positioned to reach a broad
audience.”
The campaign is targeted toward
the household’s core furnishings
decision maker— the ‘every
woman’— who turns to the
Internet as her number one
source for information about the
home, according to Market
Research Insight data. The
advertising plan, which consists
of print, outdoor and digital
components, will have messaging
that will be relevant to ‘her’
through content and behavioral
targeting. “Is it Home yet?TM”
takes a two-pronged approach to
generating awareness: a national
media plan that will reach
consumers who are looking for
content about refurnishing their
homes; and retailers, that will
be provided with a tool kit to
help them activate the campaign
in their own local markets. The
core of the national media
campaign is an innovative
digital program anchored by
owning and designing the “Room
Design” section of MSN’s
Lifestyle network, which will
run from August 24 to September
30. A robust display and search
program will run on MSN and
several display advertising
networks, and through Google
AdWords platform. The national
print advertisements will run in
Elle Décor and Metropolitan
Home. In addition, outdoor
billboards will run in several
key markets. The brand is
expected to be further leveraged
by retailers in their existing
advertising spend for September,
which will significantly
multiply the frequency and reach
of the message.
Ogilvy North America was tapped
for creating this unique home
furnishings industry campaign.
Representing many Fortune 100
clients including American
Express and IBM, Ogilvy was the
developer of “The Fabric of Our
Lives” campaign for America’s
Cotton Producers and Importers
and the “Real Beauty” campaign
for Dove. Having studied and
analyzed the home furnishings
industry, Ogilvy concluded there
is a void and a significant
opportunity to own a collective
voice in order to increase the
industry’s brand-share and
access a greater percentage of
consumers’ disposable income.
“For years, families have
thought about investing in their
homes to make them more
saleable," Doug Scott, president
of Ogilvy Entertainment said.
“The goal of this campaign is to
remind people that home
furnishings helps shape the way
we live, and that making an
investment in what’s in your
home is also a long-term
investment in your family. We
want to help make the old adage
‘home is where the heart is’ a
palpable reality.”
Scott added the positioning of
the campaign, “Is it Home yet?TM”
is designed to engage the
audience in thinking about
furnishings and decorating her
home as a continual process –
not a single event – and as such
believes the phrase is both
timely and timeless.
“We are extremely proud to be a
part of this initiative in
cooperation with World Market
Center, which brings together
retailers and manufacturers and
presents an incredible
opportunity for consumers to
connect with home furnishings
information, education and
product to make ‘her’ home more
comfortable, inspirational,
beautiful, and warm,” said Steve
DeHaan, executive vice president
of the National Home Furnishings
Association. “Through this
campaign, manufacturers and
retailers will have an
opportunity to work toward the
same common goal, with a unified
message that reinforces the
incredible value for consumers.”
In addition to the campaign’s
own advertising, participating
retailers across the country
will have special access to a
kit with marketing tools,
including print advertising
templates and other components
that they can adapt to promote
themselves during National Home
Furnishings Month and beyond.
Moreover, during the last 10
days of September, there will be
“Is it Home yet?TM in-store
promotions to help drive traffic
and build sales in retail
stores. By visiting the MSN Room
Design micro-site, consumers can
access a robust Store Locator
powered by National Home
Furnishings Association’s 10,000
strong store database, plus
World Market Center’s
participating registered
retailers. Through this Locator,
consumers can identify
participating home furnishings
retailers within their
geographic region.
In celebration of National Home
Furnishings Month, there will be
a 10-day industry-wide event
supported by retailers, and
designed to engage consumers.
This first annual event will
include a sweepstakes throughout
the month of September in which
five lucky winners will be
awarded weekly with room
makeovers valued at $5,000.
Consumers will be able to visit
the campaign’s website,
www.HomeYet.com, beginning
on August 24 for more
information including the
sweepstakes rules and
regulations.
About World Market Center Las
Vegas
Opened in 2005, World Market
Center Las Vegas (WMCLV) is a
dynamic new international hub
for the home furnishings
industry, providing marketing,
branding, sales, thought
leadership, education and
information resources to the
industry. A $1.1 billion
state-of-the-art, integrated
home and hospitality contract
furnishings showroom complex,
WMCLV hosts the preeminent
semiannual Las Vegas Market,
bringing together over 50,000
industry retailers, designers
and manufacturers. WMCLV’s world
class complex showcases
furniture, decorative
accessories, gift, lighting,
area rugs, home textiles and
other home furnishings
industry’s segments. In
addition, WMCLV is the home of
the Las Vegas Design Center,
featuring a vast array of
showrooms open daily to interior
designers and consumers.
For more information on World
Market Center Las Vegas, visit
www.LasVegasMarket.com. |
