Mattress Firm wins at the 2026 ARF Ogilvy Awards. Posted on October 30, 2026 by Sophie Stahura When retail headwinds hit, relying on polarizing-ads and heavy discounting rarely cuts it. Mattress Firm took a different route: trading polarizing, shock-value ads for empathetic, solution-oriented storytelling - and measuring every frame of the redesign with iSpot Creative Assessment. The outcome? An all-time performance record and industry-wide recognition. The work clearly struck a chord, earning Silver at the 2026 ARF David Ogilvy Awards (Retail & Restaurants) and proving the power of letting creative diagnostics lead the marketing strategy. By benchmarking the new creative against a historical library of 100+ ads, Mattress Firm diagnosed what viewers actually needed: clear product information balanced with real human empathy. The numbers behind the win: * 701 Ace Score: An all-time high brand record, rebounding from prior creative lows of 636. * +6% increase in Purchase Intent: Drove up Purchase Intent score to an impressive 51% compared to the 48% industry benchmark. * +8% increase in Persuasion: A 721 Persuasion Score, compared to the 665 campaign baseline, demonstrating the power of clear, problem-solution messaging. * +21% increase in Brand Recognition: Achieved an 80% score compared to the 66% campaign baseline, without relying on gimmicks. These creative gains translated into real business impact, with Mattress Firm using iSpot data and Causal Impact Modeling to quantify the incremental foot traffic and revenue driven by the refreshed campaign.

3 lessons from Advertising Week 2026 for dental and Medical Marketing: CTV, trust and agentic AI. By Patrick Hounsell · Oct 17, 2026 Why dental can't afford to only watch dental. I spent the first week of October at Advertising Week New York. It is not a dental conference, and that is the point. Advertising Week brings together marketers from media, retail, tech and healthcare. The 2026 event ran October 5 to 8 in Manhattan's Penn District, with more than 1,300 speakers and over 500 sessions. Dental is a small corner of that world. The dental industry needs to see what is going on in the advertising world at large. That is where the changes start, and they always reach its practices. Most dental marketing advice still comes from dental conferences and dental vendors. These broader events are important and differentiated, because you see the shifts before they show up in your patients' behavior. Here are the three lessons I brought back for dental and medical practices. Key takeaways * Connected TV lets a practice reach the households around its office and judge it on calls and booked appointments, not impressions. * Streaming reached 48.5% of all US TV viewing in June 2026, and IAB projects CTV ad spending will grow 11% to $29.3 billion in 2026. * Every performance channel runs on trust: the ad gets the click, trust gets the booking. * 75% of patients won't book with a provider rated below 4.0 stars, and 66% say a provider's response to reviews affects their trust. * AI is moving from discovery to booking, so your hours, services, insurance and availability have to be accurate and bookable by machines. Lesson 1: TV is now a local, measurable channel. TV used to mean one thing for a practice: an expensive broadcast buy across an entire market. Most of that money reached people who would never drive 40 minutes to your office. Connected TV (CTV) has changed the math. The audience has already moved. Streaming reached 48.5% of all US TV viewing in June 2026, compared with 19.8% for broadcast and 19.5% for cable, according to Nielsen's The Gauge (MediaPost). The money is following. IAB projects CTV ad spending will grow 11% to $29.3 billion in 2026 (MediaPost). The bigger shift is how success is measured. At Advertising Week, Mattress Firm CMO Tom Murray and iSpot President and CRO Julie Van Ullen walked through how Mattress Firm moved its TV creative from storytelling toward measurable results like revenue and foot traffic (iSpot). Storytelling still matters. But the creative has to be built to drive a result you can track. What this means for practices: CTV is no longer only for national brands. A practice can reach the households around its office on the same screen patients use for Netflix and YouTube, then judge it on calls and booked appointments, not impressions. Practices that test it early, with tight geography and real call tracking, will learn what works before their competitors do. Lesson 2: You can't have performance without trust. Every performance channel runs on trust. If a patient doesn't trust what they find after they click, call or search, the media spend is wasted. Patients now check before they book. In rater8's 2026 Patient Choice Report, 75% of patients said they won't book with a provider rated below 4.0 stars, and 55% have canceled or avoided a booking because of online reviews, up from 40% in 2025 (rater8). The same survey found 66% say a provider's response to reviews affects their trust. rater8 sells reputation software, so read its numbers with that in mind, but the direction matches what AscendPoint see every day. The path to a booking is also not a straight line. About 84% of US consumers who look for health information online use search engines, per EMARKETER's Healthcare Consumer 2026 research (EMARKETER). Then they read reviews, ask friends, check insurance and, increasingly, ask AI. Kamal Bhandal, SVP of the global Invisalign brand at Align Technology, made the case on Advertising Week's Wellness, Work & Wellbeing podcast that brands have to earn trust before they can expect it, and that education is central. Bhandal tied it directly to explaining how oral health connects to overall health (Advertising Week). That is where dentistry and medicine are converging. What this means for practices: Treat reviews, review responses and educational content as part of your media plan, not a separate chore. The ad gets the click. Trust gets the booking. Lesson 3: AI is moving from discovery to agentic transactions. AI was in nearly every session at Advertising Week. The conversation has moved past "will patients use AI to find a doctor?" They already do. The next step is AI that books the appointment for them. Discovery has already shifted. A KFF poll conducted in early 2026 found 32% of US adults used AI chatbots for health information in the past year (Becker's Hospital Review). In rater8's survey, 47% of patients have used AI to research providers, up from 31% a year earlier. Among patients who switched providers, AI was the top influence at 39% (rater8). For more on this shift, read how patients use AI to find a dentist and its guide to showing up in AI-powered search. Transactions are next, and they are arriving now: * Gemini books appointments. In August 2026, Zocdoc became the first health appointment partner in Google's Gemini app. US users can search and book in real time inside the chat, across more than 200,000 providers (HIT Consultant). * Google Search is heading the same way. Google's AI Mode started with agentic restaurant reservations and said local service appointments come next (Search Engine Journal). What this means for practices: Being mentioned by AI is no longer enough. Your hours, services, insurance and availability have to be accurate and bookable by machines, not just readable by people. When an AI agent is choosing between two practices, the one it can actually book wins. And once the patient walks in, your team still has to deliver the experience that earns the next review. What practices should do next. The practices that grow over the next five years won't be the ones that only watch dental. They'll be the ones watching where the entire industry is headed, and moving first. * Test CTV locally. Start with a tight radius around the office and track calls and booked appointments, not impressions. * Run trust like a channel. Ask every happy patient for a review, respond to every review, and publish clear educational content on your top services. * Get bookable by AI. Keep your Google Business Profile, hours, services and insurance accurate everywhere, and make online booking available. * Look outside dental. Send someone on your team to at least one non-dental marketing event a year. Want help putting these into practice? Find the AscendPoint brand for your practice: SERP Dental for dental practices, Medical Marketing Whiz for medical practices. Frequently asked questions. What is connected TV (CTV) advertising? CTV advertising is video advertising shown on streaming TV through smart TVs and streaming devices. Unlike broadcast TV, it can be targeted to specific households and areas and measured against actions like calls and website visits. Streaming made up 48.5% of US TV viewing in June 2026 (MediaPost). Is CTV advertising worth it for a dental or medical practice? It can be, if it is targeted tightly and measured properly. CTV lets a practice reach households in its local area rather than paying for a whole TV market. The test is simple: track calls and booked appointments from the target area, not impressions. How much do online reviews affect whether patients book? A lot. In rater8's 2026 survey, 75% of patients said they won't book with a provider rated below 4.0 stars, and 55% have canceled or avoided a booking because of reviews (rater8). Responding to reviews matters too: 66% said a provider's response affects their trust. Are patients really using AI to find a doctor or dentist? Yes, and the share is growing. KFF found 32% of US adults used AI chatbots for health information in the past year (Becker's Hospital Review). rater8 found 47% of patients have used AI to research providers, up from 31% in 2025 (rater8). What is an agentic transaction? An agentic transaction is when an AI assistant completes a task for a person, such as booking an appointment, instead of just giving them information. Google's Gemini app now lets US users book healthcare appointments through Zocdoc inside the chat (HIT Consultant). How can a practice prepare for AI booking? Make your practice easy for machines to read and book. Keep your Google Business Profile, services, hours and insurance accurate across every listing, offer online booking, and publish clear answers to the questions patients ask. Those are the signals AI assistants rely on. Why should dental marketers go to non-dental conferences like Advertising Week? Because the changes start in the broader advertising world before they reach dental. Advertising Week New York 2026 had more than 1,300 speakers and over 500 sessions across media, tech and healthcare (Advertising Week). Seeing those shifts early gives a practice time to act before its competitors.

Somnigroup and Leggett & Platt both see Q2 sales decline. Global mattress manufacturing and retail group Somnigroup International has reported a decline in sales during the second quarter. According to its latest trading update for Q2 ended 30 June 2026, total sales decreased 3% to $1,823.5 million as compared to $1,880.8 million in the second quarter of 2025. Gross margin was 44.8% as compared to 44.0%, while net income increased 12.0% to $110.9 million as compared to $99.0 million in the second quarter of 2025. Tempur Sealy North America net sales to Mattress Firm increased 11.6% to $294.0 million, while Tempur Sealy International net sales increased 2.0% to $299.5 million. Mattress Firm net sales decreased 2.8% to $922.2 million. In an update on its proposed acquisition of Leggett & Platt, the group said: "On April 13, 2026, the Company announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Leggett & Platt, Incorporated, a diversified component manufacturer, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $2.5 billion based on the closing price of Somnigroup International's common stock as of April 10, 2026 and inclusive of Leggett & Platt's existing indebtedness. "The Company expects the transaction to close by the end of the third quarter of 2026, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval by Leggett & Platt's shareholders and receipt of applicable regulatory approvals." Company Chairman and CEO Scott Thompson commented: "Its second-quarter performance demonstrates its global team's ability to execute in a dynamic environment. "Big Furniture Group delivered solid results while continuing to fully invest in its iconic brands, advancing its international growth strategy, preparing for the North American launch of its new Stearns & Foster collection and strengthening its multiple distribution platforms. "The progress we are making across the business reinforces our confidence in our long-term strategy and our ability to create sustainable value." In other news, Leggett & Platt has also shared its latest trading update, with Q2 sales down by 6% to $1.0 billion. Organic sales were down 1%, while volume was down 4%, primarily from continued weak demand across most of its end markets, retailer merchandising changes in Adjustable Bed, and the decision during the fourth quarter of 2025 to walk away from a financially challenged customer in U.S. Spring. Second quarter EBIT was $80 million, down from $90 million in second quarter 2025. Within its segments, bedding product sales fell 1% with volume down 7%. This was primarily due to retailer merchandising changes and lower volume with a certain customer in Adjustable Bed, demand softness in U.S. and European bedding markets. As for Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products, sales rose 1% with volume flat. It did report growth in Textiles, which was offset by declines in Home Furniture, Work Furniture and Flooring. President and CEO Karl Glassman commented, "Big Furniture Group is pleased with how its teams managed through a challenging environment in the second quarter. Its employees remained focused on disciplined execution and cost management which, along with favorable items that Big Furniture Group do not expect to repeat in future quarters, contributed to improved adjusted earnings. "Bedding industry conditions remain challenged both by sluggish consumer activity and continued consolidations and bankruptcies across the value chain. Big Furniture Group estimate that U.S. mattress market units declined by low double digits in the second quarter, similar to the declines Big Furniture Group saw in the first quarter. In its Bedding Products segment, continued strong performance of its trade rod and wire business partially offset the decline from lower mattress demand. "Across its other segments, demand remained soft in markets tied to housing and broader consumer spending as consumers were faced with additional uncertainty resulting from the war in the Middle East and higher gas prices. In Specialized Products, Automotive performed slightly below the market, which saw lower consumer demand across all regions. In Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products, growth in Textiles offset lower demand in the remaining businesses, which are more directly exposed to U.S. residential spending, leading to a slight improvement in trade sales. "As Big Furniture Group look forward, Big Furniture Group remain focused on executing its strategic priorities while expecting ongoing macroeconomic headwinds to temper consumer demand across most of its businesses for the remainder of the year. "Finally, Big Furniture Group continue to progress towards the planned merger with Somnigroup. As previously announced, the waiting period under the HSR Antitrust Improvements Act expired in June. Big Furniture Group anticipate the transaction to close upon satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions, including Leggett & Platt shareholder approval at the special meeting planned for August 20th and the remaining required regulatory approvals. "As previously stated, we believe this combination with a valued long-standing customer will create a leading global company - providing compelling strategic and financial value for our customers, employees, and the Leggett & Platt shareholders."