ALEXANDRIA, Va.–With Englander and Carpenter back in the association’s fold, Don Wright, recently named chairman of the International Sleep Products Association, said he would seek to better define ISPA’s mission, and would begin efforts to bring Sealy and Serta back as members.
The manufacturers, two of the top three manufacturers in the U.S. mattress industry, left the association several years ago. “We need their input,” Wright said in an interview with HFN. “I will be happy to just get a dialogue started with them.”
Regarding the association’s focus, Wright, who is vice president of Wright of Thomasville, said, “The actions over the last few weeks have made sure we are listening to our membership.” He was referring to the departures of Englander, Carpenter and Anatomic Global from ISPA in protest of the chairmanship of Rick Anderson, president of Tempur-Pedic North America, and Tempur-Pedic’s patent-infringement suit against several association members. Wright replaced Anderson when the latter resigned two weeks ago—followed a week later by the resignation of ISPA President Dick Doyle.
“Our history is based on advocacy and statistics,” Wright said. “We’ve added marketing and branding initiatives that may have taken us off the focus a bit. The charge is fairly clear, but needs some definition.” Among the marketing efforts is the campaign for a national advertising message for mattresses, along the lines of the “Got Milk?” campaign in the dairy industry.
“We’re not getting rid of this, because in my opinion it’s a great plan,” Wright said. “But the membership has made it clear that we need to pay more attention to the core mission, advocacy and statistics.”