Mattresses are hard to sell online — customers have to sleep on them for years without ever laying on them, and any claims about how soft, squishy, or comfortable they are go completely unsubstantiated until the product is already ordered.
So, how does Casper distinguish themselves amongst the other mattress companies?
By changing the conversation. With this campaign, Casper isn't competing for the best claims, they're competing to be the first company that comes to mind.
Having weird dreams are a universal human experience, so we'll use surreal, dreamscape imagery to draw attention and create a memorable connection to their brand.
To tie the surreal, dreamscapes to the brand, we had them explode out of the box in the shape of water color splatters and brushes. Each iteration used a variety of washes, drips, and bursts.
Below is the mood board and sketches I made in my initial explorations. I found that it was easy to draw and find surreal imagery, but creating the final executions were more time consuming than I thought. Working with different perspectives, lighting, and compositions made some concepts fall apart.
A few of the initial ideas made it to the final version but had to be slightly altered.