The D’Amelio sisters' next TikTok brand act? A deal with mattress brand Simmons for a product line and huge social media push

Simmons might be one of the oldest brands aiming to reach young audiences on TikTok, but it’s showing it can work with some of the youngest and trendiest talent around. The 150-year-old mattress brand is partnering with TikTok superstar sisters Charli D’Amelio and Dixie D’Amelio, two of the top creators on the platform, to launch a line of products to connect with the Gen Z audience and first-time mattress buyers. It’s the Serta-owned brand’s largest influencer-driven partnership to-date. A TikTok hashtag contest and social ad campaign features Charli D’Amelio, 16, who has a following of 113 million; and Dixie D’Amelio, 19, who has 51 million followers. The sisters have grown their TikTok fan base mostly by sharing their moves to popular dances on the social network. “We thought why not go straight to the top and work with the queen of TikTok?” says Melanie Huet, chief commercial officer and chief marketing officer at Serta Simmons Bedding. The “Charli & Dixie x Simmons” product line launches today, starting with a D’Amelio co-designed mattress with a “Simmons Cerulean” cover featuring a white crossover pattern. The mattress is selling online at Simmons, Walmart, Target and Mattress Firm, at $499 for a twin, $549 for a full, $599 for a queen and $699 for a king. In August, the mattress will be followed by a bed and a line of accessories, such as bags and pillows, all sharing the influencers’ branding and design, Huet says. Simmons is negotiating a distribution plan for the accessories, but Huet says it's likely those will appear in department stores. The new mattresses will be plugged with the TikTok hashtag contest and ad campaign, with additional placement on Instagram and YouTube. The premise of the campaign, called “It’s Not Your Mattress. It’s Your Stage,” is that Gen Zers use their mattresses for far more than just sleep. Images and videos show Charli and Dixie taking selfies, writing down ideas and using a mattress as a backdrop for their videos, positioning Simmons as a brand that aims to inspire the young generation. Simmons worked with New York-based Burns Group on the campaign and influencer strategy. The brand researched Gen Z habits and found that beyond sleep, 47% of Gen Zers are more likely to do activities like eating or playing with children on a mattress. Simmons also found that Gen Zers are more likely to buy a mattress that costs less than $1,000, and are more likely to look for recommendations—with 42% wanting a simple buying process and 15% intrigued by ads. “We spend more time than ever in our beds, which is why we wanted to help make sure that this mattress was created for more than just sleeping and dreaming,” Charli D’Amelio said in a statement. “Our beds are the new offices for our generation, where we check messages in the morning, where we listen to music and podcasts, where we stay up late FaceTiming with our friends, scroll aimlessly on social media to get inspired and most importantly, it’s where we look forward to going after a busy day.” To promote the partnership, the two TikTok stars will be giving two fans a bedroom redesign. Fans can enter to win by May 16 by sharing what their current rooms look like and explain why they want an upgrade on TikTok with the hashtags #SimmonDreamRoom and #Contest and share the link with Simmons at simmons.com/DreamRoom. Later in the summer, the sisters will share the remodeled rooms on social media and let their fans vote on which sister had the best design. The partnership ties into Simmons’ new focus on being the mattress brand for Gen Zers. “Nobody else is chasing them in the mattress industry,” says Huet. Last year, the brand’s parent company Serta Simmons Bedding, the largest mattress manufacturer and distributor in North America, relaunched Simmons as a mattress-in-a-box product for a Gen Z audience as it faced steep competition from direct-to-consumer brands such as Casper, Purple and Leesa, even as it acquired competitor Tuft & Needle. TikTok became a key part of the plan beginning in June, at a time when consumers were still in lock down during the pandemic. Huet calls it “the hottest social platform for Gen Z.” Its first TikTok campaign was called #SnooZZZapolooza and positioned beds as a stage by encouraging people to share their own concerts since the pandemic canceled in-person ones. During the six-day challenge, the campaign drew more than 3 billion views and 2.3 million user-generated videos, with help from influencers like Montana Tucker and Joanna Crauswell, who have millions of followers on the platform but nowhere near the levels the D’Amelios have. It's now up to 6.3 billion views. But the effort did not translate to permanent TikTok fans for the brand—@simmonssleep has only added 57 followers. Still, the campaign led to a doubling of traffic to the Simmons website, and a 50% jump in sales in one week. Huet expects the “Charli & Dixie” campaign to do even better. “We anticipate this launch is going to be a big one based on Charli’s reach and the amount of followers she has,” says Huet. Simmons could use the boost. The coronavirus pandemic has hurt sales at publicly traded rivals, with analysts predicting that Simmons has seen the same decrease in sales. “This is the first time in a while that Simmons has had a big investment behind it and it’s all been with our relaunch and our new approach with Gen Z," Huet says. She declined to reveal the cost of the partnership with the D’Amelios. Simmons is prepared to make more products if the first line is a hit. “We already have a second set of designs,” says Huet, hinting that it could include round poufs and some other accessories Gen Z love.

The D’Amelio sisters' next TikTok brand act? A deal with mattress brand Simmons for a product line and huge social media push

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