Sinomax breaks Guinness record for the world's largest pillow

The World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) celebrates World Sleep Day on 14 March, but festivities in China, organised by the Chinese Sleep Research Society (CSRS), stipulate the date as 21 March.

21 March happened to be a Friday, so Sinomax decided that 22 March was a better day for its 'Power Nap Your Way to Health' branding campaign, led by DDB Shanghai.

Previously, the Guinness World Record for the world's largest pillow belonged to Comfy Angel D.O.O. of Macedonia, which claimed it on 23 May 2013. Sinomax's pillow, built with giant chunks of normal foam stacked beside the Guangzhou TV Tower, measured 26.161 metres in length and 18.515 metres in width. The event was broadcast live on Sohu Video.

This year marks Sinomax's 11th year in the mainland market. The brand uses the technology in its viscoelastic memory-foam products as its lever of differentiation against main competitor Tempur.

Ken Lam, marketing director of Sinomax Asia, stated that the brand already ranks top in the industry for the past decade, citing Frost & Sullivan. In 2014, his ambition is to grow the brand aggressively to anchor it as a synonym for health in the hearts of Chinese consumers, elevating it from a position as mere bedding.

The obvious consumer insight that fuelled the idea for the campaign was how the accelerating pace of life is causing sleeping problems, according to Jason Wu, business director of DDB Group Shanghai.

Despite the record-breaking gimmick, little buzz emerged on social media about the brand's feat. But Lam and Wu revealed to Campaign Asia-Pacific that this was just the warm-up wave of the campaign to amplify the brand's market stature, because "first impressions are the most lasting". The second and third waves will continue on Sina Weibo and WeChat until August 2014, climaxing in the unveiling of a high-tech "intelligent pillow" (presumably one of normal proportions) co-created with DDB.

When DDB Shanghai won the account in December 2013, it was charged with the co-creation of products with Sinomax's R&D department as well as distribution management through e-commerce and physical stores in tandem with the client.

A separate marketing campaign for Yihaodian on 18 March, also led by DDB Guoan, nabbed another Guiness World Record for selling 1,337,445 cartons of imported milk within 52 minutes and 25 seconds.