LA-Z-BOY LAUNCHES NEW PRINT ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN WITH EMPHASIS ON LIFESTYLE MONROE

Furniture World Magazine

La-Z-Boy Incorporated, the nation's largest manufacturer of upholstered furniture, is introducing a new print campaign promoting its full line of home furnishings. The new "slice of life" campaign marks the brand's first print campaign in three years. "Our goal is to communicate not only how great La-Z-Boy home furnishings look and feel, but how they truly fit into consumers' lifestyles," said John J. Case, vice president of marketing for La-Z-Boy. "One of the distinctive aspects of La-Z-Boy furniture is its 'livability.' These ads are designed to leverage that strength with our target customer." To maintain the integrity of its message, La-Z-Boy elected to use real families instead of actors in its new series of ads. Each spread features a photograph of a family's living room or family room filled with La-Z-Boy furniture. Scattered family photos, mementos and other items that depict daily life, such as children's toys and loose change, border the image of the room. The copy of one of the concepts reads, "It's not hard to find a sofa that fits your living room. It's another story to find one that fits your life." The campaign includes eight creative concepts featuring four different families representing various lifestyles. Households range from those with one child to three children, including toddlers up to teenagers. The creative theme as well as copy direction is similar throughout the campaign and each ad continues the company's ongoing theme, "La-Z-Boy®. We Make The Rooms That Make A Home." The campaign, which targets women ages 25 to 54, breaks in the October issues of both women's and shelter magazines. The schedule includes such publications as Better Homes and Gardens, Country Home, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, Ladies' Home Journal, Traditional Home and a selection of decorating and remodeling special interest publications. "Magazines present a powerful vehicle for reaching a very targeted audience with our brand message," said Kevin R. Wixted, director of advertising and public relations for La-Z-Boy. "In fact, research shows that magazines often are the last stop a consumer makes before shopping for furniture. Magazines provide consumers with ideas, suggestions and impressions that determine and define their style and brand preferences. As a brand marketer. we strive to position La-Z-Boy in an appealing way that ultimately leads consumers from these publications to their nearest La-Z-Boy stores. We feel our latest advertising approach will accomplish that goal. " La-Z-Boy's new print campaign includes nearly 40 placements in nine different magazines with ads running through April 1998. Based on circulation figures, the La-Z-Boy print message will reach nearly 100 million households and a total readership of more than 400 million consumers. E-mail link: cwinkler@la-z-boy.com