Brand Saga: How Wakefit marketed a good night's sleep

In 2015, two entrepreneurs, Chaitanya Ramalingegowda and Ankit Garg, found themselves at pivotal junctures in their professional lives. Both had previously launched businesses that didn’t take off. But instead of being deterred, they shared a passion to create something meaningful. Over a casual coffee conversation, they pinpointed a problem they had both personally encountered: buying a mattress.

Garg, a chemical engineer with experience in foam manufacturing, had faced frustration when purchasing a mattress to alleviate his back pain. He was met with opaque pricing, limited product knowledge from salespeople, and a lack of innovation in the space. Ramalingegowda, who had just wrapped up another entrepreneurial venture, recognized the untapped potential of solving this everyday dilemma. That conversation, casual at first, laid the groundwork for Wakefit.

With ₹2–3 lakhs each, the duo launched Wakefit in 2016 with a goal to fix sleep in India. Operating out of a third-floor apartment, they took orders directly and lowered mattresses down with pulleys. 

Two years later, investors took notice. In 2018, Wakefit raised $1.5 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital. By 2021, they had secured $18 million in Series B from Sequoia and Verlinvest, valuing the company at over ₹2,800 crore. 

In FY24, Wakefit reported a revenue of ₹1,017 crore, marking a 24% year-on-year increase. The company also returned to profitability with an EBITDA of ₹65 crore.

In a category that had long relied on sleepy showroom demos and jargon-filled ads, Wakefit aimed to build a better mattress along with a brand that spoke differently and boldly.

From the get-go, Wakefit’s marketing was filled with cheeky creatives, data-backed sleep insights, and a refreshingly self-aware tone, the brand carved a niche in the D2C space. Who could forget their initial marketing with going live with 100-day-trial. To encourage buyers to test the product in the privacy of their home, Wakefit introduced a 100-day-trial policy. If customers didn’t like it, they could return it.

When legacy brands were busy pushing “spring technology,” Wakefit’s marketing talked about rest, hustle culture, and burnout.

Sleep internship to sleep mascot

At a time when hustle culture was peaking and sleeplessness was worn like a badge of honour, the insight that if sleep was treated with the same respect as productivity laid the groundwork for one of the brand’s most memorable activities, the Sleep Internship.

Launched in 2019, the campaign aimed to position Wakefit not just as a mattress seller but as a company championing better sleep. The concept was simple yet striking: pay people ₹1 lakh to sleep for nine hours a night over 60 days, while monitoring their sleep patterns. It flipped the conventional internship on its head, capturing media and consumer attention alike.

The timing was prescient. With the pandemic shifting perspectives on health and wellness, quality sleep became a sought-after luxury. Wakefit seized the moment to build a recurring property that encouraged consumers to rethink their relationship with rest.

The idea was also to ensure that Wakefit should pop up over the internet or otherwise whenever there is a mention of sleep.

The brand turned to YouTube to build credibility around the campaign. It started chatter with the campaign telling how sleeping on the job or sleeping is the dream job and how people can be paid to do so. 

Through a mix of trailers, intern introductions, winner interviews, and behind-the-scenes glimpses, Wakefit used the platform to turn the Sleep Internship into an ongoing content property that blended humour, cultural commentary, and consumer engagement. 

 As soon as the first edition of the Sleep Internship went live in 2020, it gained enormous traction. This led to a massive interest in the property and the first season witnessed over 1.7 lakh entries from 30 countries followed by a successful second year edition where 5.5 lakh people applied for the internship. Two seasons down, and the third edition received over 10 lakh applications. Eventually the prize money also increased, the season 3 winner earned Rs 9 lakhs for sleeping. 

As the company grew, Wakefit’s marketing strategies began to match their innovative spirit. In one of its campaigns, Wakefit.co introduced its Chief Sleep Officer, Kumbhkaran, as their brand mascot through the ‘Approved by Kumbhkaran’ campaign. 

 

As part of the Wakefit.co awareness campaign, Kumbhkaran also invited people to join him for a live session on multiple platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. During the live session, the audience was met with a snoring Kumbhkaran who shared an email ID to reach out to him if people had any sleep queries. When people wrote to Kumbhkaran from the prompts on the live session, they were met with an out of office email that said he was busy sleeping.

The live event garnered significant traction on Twitter and the #KumbhkaranLiveonWakefit trended at No.7 across India. The overall campaign reach was 3.52 Cr with 6.5M views on YouTube across all Kumbhkaran videos.

Expansion and diversification 

With success came new opportunities. Wakefit’s next logical step was to ask: What else do our customers need? Internal data revealed that nearly 35–40% of mattress buyers returned to purchase a bed frame within six months. By 2019, Wakefit began expanding its product line to include beds, study desks, sofas, ergonomic chairs, and bookshelves.

The pandemic accelerated this expansion. With remote work becoming the norm, demand for functional home setups surged. Wakefit’s WFH range, particularly desks and ergonomic chairs saw significant traction, contributing to a revenue jump to ₹416 crore in FY22.

Marketing efforts evolved in tandem. Campaigns focused on everyday utility and relatable scenarios, such as showing how Wakefit furniture seamlessly fits into home life. 

The brand also leaned into transparency, sharing factory tours and behind-the-scenes content about product design and assembly.

To widen its appeal, Wakefit onboarded Rashmika Mandanna as its brand ambassador in 2022, followed by Ayushmann Khurrana in 2023.

Wakefit’s #Gaddagiri 

In 2024, Wakefit launched the #Gaddagiri campaign, a series of humorous ads that spotlighted the consequences of sleep deprivation on decision-making and behavior. The tagline, "Lafda tab hota hai, jab tum barabar nahi sota" (Trouble happens when you don’t sleep properly), perfectly captured the essence of the campaign.

The first film introduced a fictional interview scenario where a sleep-deprived CEO made absurd statements, like asking for compensation instead of offering it, turning a regular interview into a comedic fiasco. 

This ad dropped shortly after the viral job listing by Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal, which required candidates to pay a ₹20 lakh fee upfront for the Chief of Staff role, sparking widespread debate and online chatter.

In the second film, the brand poked fun at the infamous YesMadam Termination Hoax, with a groggy HR professional accidentally firing employees, drawing a parallel to the salon brand’s workplace stress campaign.

 

 

Wakefit took another satirical swing in the third film, featuring Poonam Pandey herself, referencing her controversial "Death" stunt. The ad humorously illustrated how sleep deprivation could lead to questionable decisions.

The fourth film followed soon after N.R. Narayana Murthy's call for a 70-hour workweek, reinforcing the importance of sleep for both productivity and overall well-being.

By combining humor with sharp social commentary, these films resonated with audiences, driving home Wakefit’s message while keeping the tone light and engaging.

From flipping the script on the traditional mattress market to positioning rest as a key pillar of its brand, Wakefit has succeeded in building a community that believes good sleep is essential, not a luxury. 

By weaving humor, cultural relevance, and a fresh perspective into its marketing, the brand is not just selling products but sparking a larger conversation about the value of wellness and rest.

As Wakefit looks ahead, it plans to go public by 2026.

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