World Market Center, Industry Groups Launch "Is It Home Yet?" Campaign

August 3, 2009 By Powell Slaughter

World Market Center Las Vegas, along with leading furniture industry groups, has launched "Is It Home Yet?", a $20 million, multi-year campaign designed to position home furnishings as a needed and desired enhancement to the family's home and lifestyle, not a luxury.

The campaign's goal is to ignite consumer interest and increase retail traffic and sales simultaneously. The broad-based initiative is being launched by World Market Center Las Vegas in collaboration with the National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA) and Western Home Furnishing Association (WHFA), who will drive retailer participation among their 10,000-plus member stores. The industry wide initiative is further endorsed by other leading trade associations including Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), WithIt (Women in the Home Furnishings Industry Today), the Home Furnishings Independents Association (HFIA) and the American Society of Interior Designers.

The campaign also marks September as "National Home Furnishings Month" culminating in a highly promoted 10-day sales event at the end of the month. The program is financially underwritten by World Market Center Las Vegas, which has awarded the creative contract to Ogilvy North America.

The "Is It Home Yet?" campaign is designed to provide a new and unified platform for the benefit of the home furnishings industry, empowering manufacturers and retailers to market their businesses, brands and products more cohesively. The first phase of the campaign will be supported by advertising, branding, education, promotions, sales events, policy efforts, public events, social media outreach and consumer research. The marketing program aims to motivate and inspire consumers, by connecting people's investment in their home, to the intrinsic and emotional value home décor and furnishings can add. September was chosen as the ideal launch window for this initiative due to consumers' focused attention to their home, family and holiday planning, and because it marks the start to the critical fourth-quarter retail sales period.

"'Is It Home Yet?' is a consumer-facing marketing strategy designed to reach people at multiple touch points that will ultimately benefit the entire home furnishings industry," said Robert Maricich, president and CEO, World Market Center Las Vegas. "This is a rare opportunity to bring together the entire industry for the benefit of raising awareness and positively changing the way people view purchasing home furnishings. Through this campaign, we will offer our partners the tools and resources they need to reach consumers through in-depth industry analysis and creative content that will reinforce transforming a house to a home. This initiative aims to unify the marketing efforts of home furnishings retailers and brands in order to deliver a powerful and emotional ROI to consumers."