Ashley Furniture, one of the world’s largest furniture manufacturers and retailers, splashed at the Super Bowl by transforming a Las Vegas restaurant into a cozy living room. The brand invited Super Bowl viewers and country music fans to enjoy the game and the music from the comfort of its sofas and recliners.
A Unique Activation for a Big Cultural Moment
The brand took over the Dawg House Saloon & Sports Book inside the Resorts World casino, the largest activation in the brand’s history around the game, according to its director of brand activation field marketing, Alexa Richardson. It decked the restaurant in its signature orange color scheme and moved sofas and recliners into its Sports Book section. The activation gave Super Bowl viewers and country music enthusiasts a chance to try Ashley’s products. It set up QR codes on coffee tables so that Sports Book section visitors could view inventory and specs online for future consideration.
“We’re trying to pop up at a lot more of those big cultural moments—trying to go where the consumers are,” said Richardson.
A Celebration of Country Music
The brand also wanted to leverage country music, a genre usually underrepresented at the Super Bowl. It also offered merchandise giveaways and staffed the activation with brand ambassadors. Over 21-year-old customers could access the experience for free, and the brand hosted performances by three of country music’s rising stars, Cooper Alan, Ernest, and Hardy.
For Ashley’s marketers, it was an opportunity to connect directly with consumers—and without ever having to draw them into one of its stores.
“To have them sitting with their friends, watching sports, really getting to visualize how Ashley could look in their house,” is a key component of the experience, she continued.
A Strategic Partnership with Barstool Sports
To let passersby know about the activation, the brand also launched an out-of-home LED display on the Resorts World facade. Elsewhere on the Strip, it outfitted Barstool Sports’ podcast headquarters with its products.
“All eyes [are] on Barstool Sports during this week. [It’s about] tying it all back into Sports Book, tapping into the Millennial-Gen Z audience, and then getting that reach even outside of Vegas,” Richardson said.
The brand also sponsored the Barstool Sportsbook app, which offered exclusive betting odds and promotions for the Super Bowl.
Ashley Furniture is not new to experiential marketing, having previously partnered with Live Nation, iHeartRadio, and the Country Music Association. However, this was its first time creating such a large-scale activation for the Super Bowl, and it proved to be a success.
The brand received positive feedback from the customers, the media, and the influencers who attended the event. It also generated buzz on social media, with the hashtag #AshleyHouse trending on Twitter.
Ashley Furniture hopes to continue to create memorable experiences for its customers and potential customers and to showcase its products in unexpected and engaging ways.
