You Can Have a Stearns & Foster Mattress, But You Have to Help Build It

What is the best way to share with the media the craftsmanship and attention to detail that goes into every luxurious Stearns & Foster mattress?

Make them help build one.

Last summer, along with our PR agency Cornett, we invited a handful of journalists to visit the Stearns & Foster facility in Trinity, N.C. The pitch? You can have a Stearns & Foster mattress, but you have to help build it.

The two-day event was a huge success, as the media members marveled at the R&D, engineering, people, processes and craftsmanship that go into making each bed. They learned firsthand why it takes longer to make a Stearns & Foster mattress, and why only certain, specially trained employees are qualified to build them. And why each build of a Stearns mattress ends with a proud craftsman personally signing the label on the bed.

Each journalist got to try their hand at sewing, gluing, taping and even hand-tufting. And they were relieved that the expert Stearns & Foster craftsmen were on hand to help out when they got in a jam.

The end result: six amazing Stearns & Foster beds (partially) built by some reporters who now have a healthier appreciation for the craftsmanship behind the product -- not to mention all the information they needed to write stories on the process.

Besides having a lot of fun over the course of two days, we ended up with some great brand stories in outlets including Men's Health, The Manual, Reader's Digest, Traditional Home, Lonny Magazine and Furniture Today. Visit the Cornett site to find links to the stories.