COVER STORY
longevity. Priced to retail at $80, each pillow is finished with a hidden-zippered bamboo cover to further facilitate a tranquil sleep environment. In response to the popularity of Blu Sleep pillows and a growing demand for Blu Sleep mattresses from retail partners, the company debuted its new Nature Collection earlier this year. Designed to coordinate with the brand’s top-selling pillows and priced to retail from $1,499 to $2,199, this collection features five unique mattress models. Encouraging a more cohesive sleep experience for the con- sumer and streamlining the selling proposi- tion for the retailer, each mattress and pillow combination share specific characteristics. Across all of its mattresses, Blu Sleep deliv- ers three construction features that are essen- tial to sleep comfort: pressure relief, airflow and temperature regulation. By blending high-qual- ity foams together with exclusive technologies, the company has crafted a mattress collection that provides tangible value to the consumer. Creating more substantive support and enhancing the durability of the sleep surface, each mattress in the collection is made with a minimum two to two and a quarter pound base foams—nearly double the weight found in standard foam beds. By including a layer of the company’s trademarked AirPods, the mat- tresses provide unparalleled pressure point re- lief. Each foam pod works independently from one another, allowing the mattress to contour to the unique size and shape of the body. “Each mattress will adapt to a wider variety of sleepers,” Ciccolella explains. “The bed will always completely adapt to the body. It’s just a question of what firmness the consumer prefers in their mattress: softer or firmer.” In addition to contouring comfort, cooling was another key consideration for Blu Sleep when developing this new line. Sleeping hot is a main concern for today’s consumers— and this worry can often deter people from purchasing all-foam beds, as they have been known to heat up more drastically than their innerspring counterparts. “There are two factors that make your bed
hot,” Ciccolella explains. “One is heat reten- tion and two is humidity. If you eliminate those two factors, it makes for a much more com- fortable night sleep.” To eliminate these factors, Blu Sleep fo- cused on airflow and phase-change materials.
10 Sleep Retailer / Summer 2018
While there are plenty of high-tech cooling treatments available in the market, air is the most efficient medium for evacuating heat absorbed in a mattress. In addition to provid- ing an adaptive comfort feel, Blu Sleep’s Air- Pods also allow air to circulate continuously throughout mattress, with air channels running left to right and head to toe. This helps dissi- pate any built-up heat and eliminates humidity, which enhances comfort and prevents bacte- ria, mold or mildew from accumulating. Dedicated airflow further enhances the inherent breathability of all of Blu Sleep’s foams and gels. While some mattress makers opt for thick layers of gel to provide an im- mediate “cooling” sensation, those materials often lose that effect over the course of the night. The lack of airflow means that it will simply absorb the heat emanating from the body—and will eventually become warm. Oth- er gel products are little more than memory foams infused with gel beads, which often- times do not provide adequate cooling. Blu Sleep took an entirely different approach with its IceGel foam. Made from highly breathable, open-cell foamed gel and featured as a full layer at the top of the mattress, this unique gel formulation delivers real cooling and en- sures that the air is consistently moving the heat away from the bed. With an internal construction designed to regulate temperature, Blu Sleep’s mattresses up the ante on cooling on the outside as well. Each mattress cover is treated with a cool- ing yarn made from phase-change materials. Rather than simply delivering the coldest possible feel, the company tested varying de- grees of cooling to see what was most ap- pealing to consumers. “When it comes to the coolness of the bed, we view it as more of a marathon than a sprint,” Ciccolella explains. “We didn’t want to go with something too cold, or something that feels cold for just three, four, 10 minutes. We want to put you on a mattress that will keep you cool all night. So we went with something that is as high as you can go in the PCM so that, instead of having that initial shock and then warming up within seconds, you’ll stay cooler longer.” Attention to detail has always been a cor- nerstone of the Blu Sleep brand—and that extends beyond the comfort and support components to include the styling as well. For
the Nature Collection, the company searched high and low for a specific type of fabric for the covers. Using machines to knit and laser cut each cover individually, they were able to eliminate the need for seams between the top layer, waterfall and border. This creates a sleeker look to the overall mattress. “We wanted to make our beds and pillows visually appealing so that consumers are au- tomatically drawn to them,” Ciccolella says. “Then we provide them with a product that is exceptional at a very good price for what they’re getting.” While eye-catching product design has always been the company’s forte, Blu Sleep recently enhanced its overall aesthetics to make an even bigger impact. In addition to the new pillow and mattress collections, the company also debuted a stylish new brand identity at the Winter Las Vegas Market. “The rebranding process gave us the oppor-
tunity to self-examine and refresh what every- one thinks about the brand,” says Dell’Accio. “We did a brand audit and the results were clear: yes, we had beautiful, colorful products— but the messaging was not so direct. To ad- dress that, we created consumer messaging that speaks to all the features of our products and the culture of Blu Sleep and who we are.” While the distinctness of Blu Sleep’s prod- ucts comes from its technical prowess, the average consumer is rarely swayed by manu- facturing acuity. With the rebrand, the company translated its key assets into a consistent and evocative aesthetic, expressing clear brand val- ues and product benefits that consumers con- nect with. While the technical process behind its water-expanded foam is unique, it may not be entirely accessible for consumers. Reflecting the more restorative aspects of the materials, Blu Sleep crafted new branding assets that il- lustrate how its products work together to cre- ate a truly luxurious sleep environment . Inspired by the coastal beauty of Southern Italy (where most of the foam is manufactured), the com- pany’s new streamlined logo touts a refreshing blue color supported through oceanic imag- ery. These visual assets not only highlight the aquatic element of Blu Sleep’s products—they emphasize the sense of tranquility consumers can experience by choosing to sleep on them. Blu Sleep’s stronger visual identity further differentiates the brand in the increasingly
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