Aussie retailer slams competitors for ‘unethical marketing practices’
Mattress retailer Sleeping Duck has launched a cheeky campaign exposing its competitors for using dodgy marketing strategies to lure customers.
The new four-part video podcast series exposes a fake independent product-rating website, that provides reviews on mattresses based off quality, popularity, durability and comfort.
The site – top5bestmattress.com.au – ranked the Emma Comfort mattress a 8.9, while Sleeping Duck’s Mach II got 6.0. The catch? It is owned by DIBMat GmbH – “a fully-owned subsidiary of Emma Sleep that owns the Emma mattress featured on this site”.
The campaign was created by in-house production at Sleeping Duck, and is live on Instagram and the brand’s website.
Winston Wijeyeratne, co-founder of Sleeping Duck, said: “We made a complaint about this flagrant misrepresentation to the ACCC. In response, they demanded that Emma include a disclaimer on its site, with no further action required. In our view, that’s just not good enough from an industry regulator in this day and age. Consumers shouldn’t be subjected to unethical marketing practices.
“So we decided to take on this dodgy operator and its suss mattress comparisons another way,” he continued. “We have created four educational, albeit tongue-in-cheek, videos as a how-to guide in selecting your mattress that warn consumers of deceitful marketing practices.
“Sleeping Duck began because the mattress industry lacked transparency. Customers weren’t being told what’s inside that expensive mattress. We focus on being transparent and educating the public, not dishonest online marketing and advertising tactics.”
A spokesperson for the ACCC told Mumbrella: “We are concerned about any misleading reviews and have previously taken action against businesses in relation to these. We do not comment on potential investigations.
“Businesses should be honest in their dealings. Businesses shouldn’t try to gain an unfair advantage by making misleading claims about their products or services.”
The series features comedian Lawrence Ola and his wife Ruby, and across four episodes they go through a journey of finding out the website is dodgy, they provide tips to identify unethical marketing tactics and they offer purchasing advice the ‘proper way’.
Wijeyeratne added: “We think our campaign is a timely warning to consumers to use trusted sources each time they shop, particularly during Black Friday and Cyber Monday and leading into Christmas and Boxing Day sales.”
Head of creative at Sleeping Duck, Prateek Bando, concluded: “Lawrence and Ruby have become great characters in the Sleeping Duck brand story. They have the kind of conversations real people have as they try to work out what mattress to buy in a highly confusing market.
“Their natural chemistry and genuineness aligns with Sleeping Duck’s philosophy, which has to do with honesty, transparency, value, quality, health-focused innovation and treating our customers with the same level of respect we would give a family member.”
Got a tip?
Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
Linkedin
I can’t believe that Emma has been reviewing other brands like that, incredible. What is the consumer watch dog doing?
User ID not verified.
Have your say