• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer, Yesterday

America still isn’t in the mood to buy a new mattress. But the turnaround team at Sleep Number is rolling out brand updates, including new advertisingwith Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson, and sharpening its emphasis on the role a good night’s sleep plays in wellness and performance. Amber Minson, who joined the company as CMO from Blue Apron in April, says the new work—created entirely by its in-house team—reflects the growing ways consumers are linking sleep to their health.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Retail Insider: This isn’t an easy time to dive into a new role. Sleep Number’s sales fell 20% in the most recent quarter, in part because of a dramatic cut in marketing spending to make way for an efficiency reset. Can you give us an overview of the new marketing strategy?

Amber Minson: One of the things I enjoy about this new job is that’s it’s a privilege to work on something that's very personal to people. That was true for me at Blue Apron, too. What you put in your tummy, what you sleep on every single day -- these are incredibly personal and powerful for people. So I love that kind of marketing challenge.

We also have the luxury of working with 70%+ brand awareness. What we want to do, and what really shows in this new spot with Justin, is find a stronger way to connect people with the meaning and power of a good night's sleep. There’s so much research reinforcing the benefits of quality sleep to mental health and physical health. So that's what you're going to see from us on brand strategy.

And my job is to drive cost-effective growth for the business. When you get the right messages in market, and you're able to see double-digit improvements in your performance and your ROI -- that's where we’re going.

Retail Insider: Sleep Number has been partners with the NFL since 2018. What’s new in the relationship, and how does it reflect the evolving positioning?

Minson: This goes back to the personal nature of a good night's sleep. We’ve worked with Justin before, even outside of the team relationship we have with the Vikings. And he’s been using a Sleep Number bed in his home since 2020, so it’s not a new thing for him. We felt like this ad was a way to showcase the everyday power of getting a good night's sleep. He may be an elite athlete, but all of us want more energy, the ability to think more clearly.

The strategy is working. We’ve only been out there a short time, but it is showing double-digit lift from our prior creative, and that matters in terms of our business performance. It’s still early, but we think this is indicative of where we want to continue to take the brand: tangible, personal and authentic.

Retail Insider: How do you link that brand message to what’s happening in your stores?

Minson: One of the elements of a Sleep Number shopping experience is the in-store iFit experience, which helps customers to find the right fit for them individually, based on their body, their pressure points. That comes through in the ad and connects directly to what's happening in the stores.

We haven’t made any significant changes in the store layouts yet, but we are taking a good, hard look at that. We want to be evolving that shopping experience.

Retail Insider: What brands do you look to for inspiration? The new obsession in our house is sleep metrics on our Apple Watches.

Minson: You can never rule out Apple, and I'm happy to be based in Silicon Valley -- it’s a world that is forward-leaning. Apple does an amazing job, and that level of engagement that you have with them every day is not trivial. We look at other wellness brands and see intersection points with products like Peloton or Oura. Millennials are especially interested in those brands.

Retail Insider: Is a partnership with a wearable something you’d consider? It seems like the next logical step.

Minson: I can't get into anything specific, but certainly our CEO has said that we are evaluating everything and exploring all opportunities ahead. And we are asking all of those questions about logical next steps and ways to make the Sleep Number brand more relevant to both current customers and prospects.

Retail Insider: What’s the benefit of building an in-house creative department?

Minson: We are very proud that our team deeply knows the brand and the customer. There’s a lot of power in that level of understanding.