Australian mattress maker, Sleeping Duck, has launched a marketing campaign that humorously exposes a competitor's online sales and marketing practices.

The campaign includes a video podcast revealing an 'independent' product-rating website, top5bestmattresses.com.au, which is operated by DIBMat GmbH, a subsidiary of Emma Sleep. The website ranks its own 'Emma Comfort Mattress' at the top, while placing the 'Sleeping Duck Mach II' lower.

Sleeping Duck, a two-time winner of the CSIA Champion Awards in 2022 for Customer Service and Service Excellence, and a two-time recipient of the annual Canstar Blue Most Satisfied Customer Award (Mattresses), has taken a light-hearted approach to tackle its rivals marketing. The company has created four educational videos, featuring comedian and actor Lawrence Ola and his wife Ruby, to guide consumers in selecting a mattress and warn them of misleading marketing practices.

Sleeping Duck co-founder, Winston Wijeyeratne, expressed dissatisfaction with the ACCC's response to their complaint about the misrepresentation. 'We made a complaint about this flagrant misrepresentation to the ACCC. In response, they demanded that Emma include a disclaimer on its site, with no further action required. In our view, that’s just not good enough from an industry regulator in this day and age. Consumers shouldn’t be subjected to unethical marketing practices,' Wijeyeratne said.

The co-founder further explained their decision to take action. 'So we decided to take on this...operator and its suss mattress comparisons another way. We have created four educational, albeit tongue-in-cheek, videos as a how-to guide in selecting your mattress that warn consumers of deceitful marketing practices,' he added.

Wijeyeratne emphasised Sleeping Duck's commitment to transparency and education, contrasting it with dishonest online marketing and advertising tactics. 'Sleeping Duck began because the mattress industry lacked transparency. Customers weren’t being told what’s inside that expensive mattress. We focus on being transparent and educating the public, not dishonest online marketing and advertising tactics,' he stated.

Prateek Bando, Head of Creative at Sleeping Duck said: 'Their natural chemistry and genuineness aligns with Sleeping Duck’s philosophy, which has to do with honesty, transparency, value, quality, health-focused innovation and treating our customers with the same level of respect we would give a family member.'