Nov 27, 2017

It was a sight Singaporeans have never seen before: a mobile bedroom making its way around the island.

With four out of 10 Singaporeans unable to get a good night’s sleep, Courts Singapore decided to bring good sleep to them.

So for four days in October, they equipped custom Courts recharge pods with ultra-comfortable mattresses and asked Singaporeans to “Come Sleep with COURTS”.

The trucks were styled in a comfortable room setting and accompanied by soothing aromatherapy, warm tea and a headset playing relaxing tunes.

The mobile bedrooms then travelled to MapleTree Business Park in Pasir Panjang, Ocean Financial Centre in Raffles Place, Ang Mo Kio Hub, as well as heartland and neighbourhood towns and shopping districts.

Everywhere the recharge pods went, phones and cameras were whipped out to take photos of the novel sight. Passers-by pointed and took double takes as they caught a glimpse of the mattresses taken from Courts’ Hotel Collection through the glass window of the pod.

More than 12 people fell asleep on the pod hourly, as they eagerly hopped onto the bed to burrow under the comforters and catch forty winks.

Denise, a project executive said: “I think that it’s great that we can just jump in and take a short nap and not have anyone look at us, and it’s perfectly right to do so!”

Laura, an international school teacher, concurred: “I’ve never seen it before and I think it’s amazing! Especially in the place where it’s located, the financial district where everyone is working, stressed...sometimes you just feel like taking a break.”

Sleep wasn’t the only reward they got, as guests who visited the Recharge Pod trucks got a chance to pick up free goodie bags comprising premium sleep accessories and mattress vouchers amounting to over S$100.

At the same time, contests were run on social media to promote the trucks and to reward the public if they took selfies/took part in the contests.

All these were done in a bid by Singapore’s largest bedding retailer in Singapore, COURTS, to share the importance of mattress selection in ensuring Singaporeans get a good night’s rest.

Mr Ben Tan, Country CEO of COURTS Singapore, said: “We hope that the integrated campaign will raise awareness of quality sleep for a healthy lifestyle, and of the wide range of over 900 mattresses available at our stores which covers all degrees of price, firmness and materials in the spectrum.”

And the results of the campaign speak for itself. Over the eight-hour event activation, the campaign received hundreds of likes on social media, and more than 100 people fell soundly asleep on the recharge pod.

The pods attracted over 100,000 eyeballs, with over 60 per cent considering purchasing a new mattress from COURTS after trying out the bed.

Ms Elsie Chua, Chief Marketing Officer of Singapore Press Holdings, who took part in a tongue-in-cheek campaign visual together with COURTS Asia Group CEO Mr Terry O’Connor said: "SPH is delighted to be the media partner of COURTS in promoting the association of quality mattresses with quality sleep. The experiential campaign uses bedrooms on wheels to pique interest and engage the audience in a memorable way. We used a strategic combination of SPH print and outdoor platforms to boost awareness of the creatively designed Recharge Pods.”

It may have been a unique experience to spot and these pods, but with people queuing for hours to take their power naps, it was also a welcome one!