Case study · Home & Interiors
Sealy, the world’s number one mattress brand, asked us to turn a steady retainer into a press office that could compete with the loudest names in sleep, without spending more. In 2025 coverage more than doubled to 224 pieces, links to the Sealy site rose by 2,030% and detailed mattress reviews went from one to nine.
- 224 pieces of coverage, up 115%
- 312M circulation, up 158%
- +2,030% links to the Sealy site
- 9 mattress reviews, up from 1
- Client Sealy UK
- Sector Mattresses and sleep
- Services PR, social media, influencer, paid social
- Audience People researching a new mattress, retailers
- Period December 2024 to November 2025
- Partner since 2014
What did Sealy need?
We have run Sealy’s press office since 2014. By 2024 it was ticking over. Rival bed and sleep brands were louder, and Sealy wanted more from the same budget.
- Business objective: drive more people to the Sealy site and into consideration for a Sealy mattress.
- Communication objective: increase the quantity and quality of coverage and grow share of voice in the sleep category, measured against the previous twelve months.
- Review objective: land detailed mattress reviews and product placements in broadsheet and lifestyle press.
- Social objective: grow engagement and click-throughs without raising paid spend.
What was the insight?
Sleep is no longer a niche subject. Wellness, recovery and mental health have pulled it into the mainstream lifestyle pages. Journalists want expert sources they can quote all year, not a brand spokesperson in campaign bursts.
So the idea was an always-on press office led by an expert voice. We embedded a partnership with the Sleep Doctor across the year and jumped on every seasonal and topical moment.
What did we do?
- Expert partnership. The Sleep Doctor gave journalists a credible voice they could quote without it reading as a brand plug.
- Reactive first. When the heat broke or the clocks changed, Sealy was first in the inbox with advice on sleeping in the heat and winterproofing sleep.
- Broadsheet reviews. We chased in-depth mattress review opportunities in The Times, The Telegraph and the weekend supplements.
- Social led by data. We started the year on a 50/20/15/15 content split and reset it to 30/28/15/27 as the results came in, moving spend from static posts to video.
- Interiors creators. Gifted partnerships with home and interiors creators, where engagement was consistently strongest.
What did it achieve?
Results by stage of the AMEC evaluation framework, compared with 2024, with the source for each figure.
| Stage | Measure | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outputs | Pieces of coverage | 224 (up 115%) | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | National pieces | 32 | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Total circulation | 312M (up 158%) | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Detailed mattress reviews | 9 (1 in 2024) | Prohibition coverage log |
| Out-takes | Facebook reach | 2.07M (up 2.8%) | Meta Business Suite |
| Out-takes | Facebook engagements | Up 71.2% | Meta Business Suite |
| Out-takes | Total social engagements | Up 75%, on the same paid spend as 2024 | Meta Business Suite |
| Outcomes | Links to the Sealy site in coverage | Up 2,030% | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outcomes | Site sessions from social | 28,901 | GA4 |
What did Sealy get from it?
A press office that now competes with the loudest brands in the category, on the same retainer. Sealy is back in the broadsheets, its reviews run in the weekend supplements, and far more coverage now sends readers straight to the Sealy site.
What did we learn?
- Authority beats brand voice. The Sleep Doctor partnership outperformed every brand-led angle.
- Reactive beats scheduled. Reactive stories overtook planned campaigns as the biggest source of coverage.
- Let the data set the plan. The content split followed engagement, not the original spreadsheet.
- What we would do differently. Plan a premium video shoot at the start of the year and refresh sale ad creative sooner, as click-throughs on static sale assets dipped late in the year.
