• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 10, 2017

Empower MediaMarketing has been appointed Media AOR for Ashley HomeStore, the top furniture retailer in the U.S. and one of the world’s leading furniture store brands, the companies confirmed Monday. 

The appointment came after a review. Previously, Campbell Mithun’s Compass Point Media had been the furniture company’s media agency, having won the account in 2014. In addition to Compass Point, Cramer-Krasselt and Mindshare participated in the review. 

At that time, Ashley HomeStore was spending approximately $125 million annually on ads, according to Kantar Media. In 2016 the firm spent almost $175 million on ads, per Kantar.

Empower counts a number of home and retail clients on its roster including Shaw Floors, Famous Footwear, Champion Windows, Rust-Oleum, Gorilla Glue, Dremel and RotoZip.  

“We are very impressed with Empower’s data-driven approach to media strategy,” stated Kurt Kostur, Ashley HomeStore SVP of marketing. “This expertise, coupled with the agency’s experience in driving results in the retail category, will help our business continue to grow.”  

Ashley HomeStore is the retail arm of Ashley Furniture Industries. It recently opened its 700th store. Most of those stores are in the U.S., but it also has locations in 35 other countries. The company reported revenues of $3.3 billion in 2015. 

For Empower, MediaPost’s 2016 Media Agency Of The Year, it’s the second win in as many months. In March it won the Captain D’s seafood restaurant chain business. In January it won media AOR duties for Fifth Third Bank.