Designing for our obsession with sleep
From bed-in-a-box businesses to CBD supplements, the sleep wellness market has exploded in recent years. We explore how creativity is setting brands apart
The eternal quest for a good night’s kip has seen the sleep economy boom over the last decade. In 2020 alone, the global sleep aids market generated $59.8 billion, and is projected to reach $111.9 billion by 2030, according to a report by Allied Market Research. Society’s obsession with sleep has also grown hand in hand with a better understanding of its health benefits. An increasing amount of research suggests that not getting enough sleep increases the risk of diseases such as obesity and diabetes, as well as mental health conditions including depression and anxiety disorders.
When bedding brand Casper launched in 2014, the simple idea of stuffing a mattress in a box and selling it online seemed revolutionary. Today, the concept is everywhere, and is joined by retailers offering everything from weighted blankets to luxury bed linens. “As always, as science discovers things, it then makes its way into popular psychology,” Eve Sleep CEO, Cheryl Calverley, tells CR. “There’s a book by Matthew Walker called Why We sleep, which is a massive bestseller. As people’s understanding of sleep has grown, the fundamental nature and role of it in absolutely everything has become clearer. And then as that is happening, brands are realising that it’s an angle.”
Top: Branding for US pillow brand Marlow; Above: Photography for Eve Sleep
Inspired by the success of Casper in the US, Eve was founded in 2015 as a way to reinvent the typical experience of buying a mattress – offering free delivery to customer’s front doors and a risk-free one year trial. “There’s no literally no other product that you spend more time with than you do with your mattress. So the idea of choosing something that fundamental, which you’re going to have for 10 to 15 years, after ten minutes in a store is just ridiculous,” says Calverley, who joined the brand as CMO in 2018 before becoming CEO in 2020.