branding and the lure of celebrities and designers.

In the past few months, Boyd Specialty Sleep licensed the Simmons Bedding Co. name to introduce Boyd's line of Simmons Beautyrest Luxaire airbeds and Simmons Beautyrest Natural Spring waterbeds. Both Boyd and Simmons are eagerly anticipating working together to promote this line. According to Dennis Boyd, Boyd's president, the Simmons sales team will open retail doors that Boyd, a smaller specialty bed vendor, has not been in.

Simmons also continued with its licensed lines featuring pajama guru Karen Neuburger and fashion leader Joseph Abboud.

Therapedic Sleep Systems was awarded the Kathy Ireland bedding line early this year after Kathy Ireland Worldwide and Lady Americana parted ways. Gerry Borreggine, president of Therapedic, said he expects to unroll the line later this summer with the big push in the fall.

Kingsdown unveiled the Oscar de la Renta line of bedding, Personal Sleep, early this year as part of de la Renta's Home collection. Interior designers are the target.

"We are going after the designer niche in furniture, which is a little harder to reach," Pat Flippin, Kingdown president, said. "We are going through the design network, which has not been a channel of distribution that we were not familiar with. But we feel good with the initial contacts we have made."

Select Comfort hired actress Lindsay Wagner to play a high-profile role as print and on-air spokeswoman for the company. The company's on-air radio personalities include Rush Limbaugh, Paul Harvey and Garrison Keillor of National Public Radio's "Prairie Home Companion."

Sleep Innovations enlisted the name recognition clout of sports legend Dan Marino by launching the Marino Recovery System foam bedding line. The program has quietly been building steam since last fall. With Marino's upcoming induction in the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, Sleep Innovations expects to score a touchdown with this bedding line.

Local bedding commercials and print advertising will probably never break away from the "50% Off!" and "No -- No -- No" themes. But the use of national television continued to move up in quality and substance.

Cable television, in particular, offers the chance to run 15- to 30-minute infomercials containing testimonials and actual demonstrations of the products. Kingsdown, for example, has been running a 30-minute feature nationwide that is demonstration-based and features its DormoDiagnostics measurement system. Select Comfort continued with its feature with Wagner as spokeswoman. Shopping channels on cable have also become an effective means for demonstrating beds' features to a national viewing audience and letting them purchase by phone.

The national commercials airing on network television have also stepped up in quality and substance -- with a touch of humor. Last year, Sealy ran a series of lighthearted, athletic-themed commercials during the Olympics. Since then, Sealy has continued to run its ongoing series of "It's a Sealy" commercials. And, of course, Serta has continued to captivate viewing audiences with its award-winning Counting Sheep program.

Caption(s): When Sealy's humorous commercials mention "It's a Sealy," people automatically get drowsy, including this desperate salesman. / King Koil has broadened its appeal through a licensed collection with Jaclyn Smith Home. / Kingsdown is selling its Oscar de la Renta's Personal Sleep bed through select interior designers.