Verlo Aims for Fun With Ads

Verlo’s mascot, Mattie, replaces Santa in holiday advertising, with expected awkward results.
Verlo’s mascot, Mattie, replaces Santa in holiday advertising, with expected awkward results.

Milwaukee-based factory-direct chain Verlo Mattress took a humorous tack in its 2019 holiday commercials streamed online and on broadcast television in select markets. 

The “Bad at Marketing, Great at Mattresses” commercials featured Verlo mascot Mattie replacing Santa Claus for holiday photos with children, with awkward results. 

“’Bad at Marketing’ draws attention to the fact we offer a superior product without the hype, and we’re poking a little fun at ourselves and the retailing industry in the process,” said Dirk Stallmann, Verlo’s executive vice president. “As the nation’s largest retailer of locally built, custom-fit mattresses, our focus has always been on creating the best quality product and providing excellent value for customers, many of whom come back because of the high quality sleep and comfort they get from a Verlo mattress.”

Since the beginning of 2019, Mattie has been seen attempting to draw attention for Verlo by trying to jump a bicycle over stacked mattresses like Evel Knievel, wearing roller skates and flipping a ‘sale’ arrow sign along a busy road, disco dancing with store associates, waving sparklers in front of a Fourth of July sale banner and attempting a water ski jump (like Fonzie jumping the shark on TV’s “Happy Days”)  — each with disastrous results. In each commercial, a message flashes on the screen: “Our marketing ideas may not be great … but our mattresses are.”

“The feedback we’ve received on ‘Bad at Marketing’ has been overwhelmingly positive,” Stallmann said. “People seem to appreciate companies and brands that don’t take themselves so seriously and can poke fun at themselves. We’ve had a lot of fun with ‘Bad at Marketing, Great at Mattresses’ because it’s allowed us to highlight the high-quality, direct-to-consumer service that Verlo has delivered for 61 years.” 

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