There are many ads that have the Howard family shouting at the tele. And Dreams have always been up there with the best of them.
Classic down 'n' dirty retail advertising, never has buying something so significant to your well-being (physical, mental and emotional) seemed so much like buying a bag of widgets.
In fact, if you're Wickes, buying a bag of widgets can actually seem more emotive!
And what is it with people never putting sheets on the bed. Despite what Dreams might think, it doesn't make a bed look attractive.
So it was with some surprise that we sat thru a new bed-related film at the weekend: vignettes of people in (real) beds...with bedding, all with great dollops of Hushabye Mountain ladled over the top. Not a Dreams ad surely, was my first thought. But yes it was...
My son's response (usually a vociferous Dreams hater): "that was actually quite good" (praise indeed from a 13 year old!).
Now it isn't the greatest ad I've ever seen: pretty 'must have seen it before' derivative in fact, without much of an idea. But, for a furniture retailer, it was a huge improvement on the usual tat.
It was nice basically: nicely shot, nice music, with a nicely human and emotive feel for what is the most important piece of furniture you'll ever buy, that was sorely lacking in the previous 'cheap cheap cheap' approach.
Here was the start of a journey to actually caring about where you buy your bed from...and believing that Dreams might just be a retailer who understands your needs beyond price.
Whether a genuine change in direction for the business, only time will tell.
Many are the retailers who dabble in brand building comms, and their longer term rewards, only to get cold feet and turn back to the (I'm guessing) more quantifiable short term 'returns' of undifferentiated 'pile it high sell it cheap'.
But I hope they don't, or else I'll have the family shouting at the tele again!!