Silentnight, the country’s largest manufacturer of beds, asked us to lead a campaign to cement its position as the sleep expert. We responded with innovation and national headlines based on simple universal truths rooted in the brand: the most common problems preventing people from catching 40 winks.

Our client- and its partner, sleep consultant Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan, set out to help the nation achieve a better night’s sleep via a publicly visible Sleep Clinic, wherein ten people with problems sleeping are given professional advice as to how they can combat those issues along with recommended personal plans for a more restful night. Along the way their achievements will be recorded and made available to view online, in the hope of helping thousands of others. Here’s how we went about attracting thousands of applicants, blanket national media attention and significant online buzz for the initiative.
Objectives
Raise awareness of the Silentnight brand and consolidate its status as a market leader and expert in all things sleep related.
Drive public engagement with the campaign and applications to participate through press, digital and social media exposure of the Sleep Clinic concept.
Secure branded national and regional editorial coverage.
 
Strategy and plan
We began by commissioning independent research on the subject of Britain’s sleep habits, with a specific focus on the issues stopping people from getting a good night’s rest. This gave us clear statistics and evidence to prove which were the most common problems. Once the results had been compiled we set about creating content based on that data.
This included press releases and news stories detailing the most widespread issues, the effect loss of sleep is having on the British economy as a result of absences from work and an invitation for the public to take part in the new Sleep Clinic. This content was then issued to selected media, with a high level of blogger outreach involved.
After the initial news, we created an additional story linking research suggesting Britons rarely lie-in with Dr. Nerina’s advice, the Silentnight Sleep Clinic and the clocks going back to winter time. This was distributed via the same channels as before, and helped attract renewed attention for the overall campaign.
 
The results
Silentnight’s Sleep Clinic launch was a success. The early content secured several on-message national media hits (including The Sun, The Star, Daily Express, i, Mail Online and Daily Record) and hundreds more on a regional and online level, with the follow up story achieving further major national column inches. Overall, we helped drive the highest level of organic traffic to the Silentnight website for years, with the number of applications to participate in the Sleep Clinic also indicative of the overall quality of results. We’ll keep you abreast of how the volunteers get on, or take a look at their progress by clicking here.