Thomasville Furniture Reveals 2003 Bogart Collection Print Ad Campaign

Furniture World Magazine

Thomasville Furniture’s 2003 print advertising campaign, appearing in home, style and women’s magazines that began February 2003, harken to Hollywood’s Golden Era to introduce customers to its new licensed furniture line, Bogart. The campaign, developed by Boston-based McCarthy Mambro Bertino, places Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart front and center while positioning the Bogart collection furniture as sophisticated and glamorous, yet comfortable and inviting. Additionally, the ads convey Thomasville’s emergence as an innovative purveyor of chic elegance with its “Where Style Lives” tagline. Featuring eight-page heavy paper stock inserts, the ads are styled after an antique leather-bound family photo album stitched with white thread. The front mimics the front cover of the album and simply reads, “All the style of Hollywood’s most romantic era returns.” It opens to reveal what appear to be family photos – some old, black and whites, some new – seemingly attached to the black pages with paste-on photo corners. Humphrey Bogart, in various poses but always elegant and stylishly dressed, and the Bogart collection furniture, in dramatic wide-shot rooms settings and interesting close-ups, are the subjects of the photos. Ad text is minimal, limited to simple statements such as “TO COME TO COME TO COME,” along with the Bogart and Thomasville logos and the tagline, “All the style of Hollywood’s most romantic era returns. The Bogart Collection. Surprisingly within reach.” In addition to the eight-page inserts, two-page spreads and one-page ads will also be used. “The print ads beautifully combine the many elements of the campaign –the furniture’s comfort and elegance, Humphrey Bogart’s style and sophistication and the era’s glamour and romance – and meld them as one in consumers’ minds,” said Chris Pfaff, President and CEO of Thomasville Furniture Industries, Inc. “Bogie is the epitome of elegance and effortless style, and he is still, nearly 50 years after his death, one of the most recognized and cherished celebrities of all time among women and men alike. Like the Bogart furniture collection, these print ads capture his essence and seamlessly link it with beautiful living.” “Humphrey Bogart is remembered equally for his incredible acting talent and tough but romantic onscreen personae as well as for the man that he was—individualistic, stylish and a true bon vivant,” said Jamie Mambro, partner and co-creative director of McCarthy Mambro Bertino. “The print ads convey these qualities and portray the furniture within the context of gracious, yet comfortable living, highlighting the living and dining room pieces as stylish and inviting for gracious entertaining and bedroom furniture as elegant yet cozy for the perfect haven from the rest of the world.” The new campaign will launch in March 2003 issues and is slated to run through November, kicking off with the eight-page inserts. Selected publications include Architectural Digest, House & Garden, Better by Design, House Beautiful, Traditional Home, InStyle, Vanity Fair and Oprah. Starting in April, the two-page spreads will appear with Renovation Style, Real Simple, Living Room and Southern Accents added. Additional inserts, spreads and one-page ads will continue throughout the year to include Midwest Living, Coastal Living, Country Home and Victoria. “The readers of these publications are our target customer: primarily women, upwardly mobile young professionals, single and married alike, as well as adventurous empty nesters, all of whom view their homes as expressions of their lifestyles, attitudes and tastes,” Pfaff said. “They live well and entertain well, and they want to infuse their homes with the glamour and romance that Bogie and the Bogart collection represent.” In addition to the print campaign, Thomasville will unveil a complimenting national and cable network broadcast campaign to begin airing in March 2003. Thomasville Furniture Industries, Inc., a subsidiary of Furniture Brands International, Inc. (NYSE: FBN) is a full-line furniture manufacturer with more than 135 Thomasville Home Furnishing stores, which carry only Thomasville products, and dedicated galleries in more than 400 leading independent retail furniture stores. For more information about Thomasville Furniture’s home furnishing offerings and store locations, please call 1-800-225-0265, or visit their website at www.thomasville.com. McCarthy Mambro Bertino is a full-service marketing communications agency that was formed in April 2001. Its partners include Joe McCarthy, formerly global adverting director for Nike; Fred Bertino, who, among other roles, served as President of Hill Holiday for 10 years; and Jamie Mambro, a high-powered freelance creative director and former executive creative director at Hill Holiday.