What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas...until now!

Posted Date: 12/5/2014

About a month and a half ago I received a video invite from the marketing folks at Mohawk asking me to fly to Las Vegas for the weekend for a "Top Secret Reveal.” I have to admit that my initial thought was that I was being asked to leave my family and fly to Vegas for the weekend — and I had no idea why.

I had lots and lots of questions and then a funny thing happened. I became a little obsessed with what the "Reveal" was — a new plant, a distribution center, an acquisition. I even pored over financial and corporate reports for clues. Off I went to Vegas for the weekend.

Saturday morning, we arrived at the location of the World’s Toughest Mudder challenge. Curious. Elise Demboski simply said, "We love extremes."

Indeed, here at the challenge, Mohawk unveiled the next generation of SmartStrand carpet and it's partnership with Tough Mudder — extreme conditions for extreme carpet, they said.

The introduction of SmartStrand Forever Clean is a multi-faceted program. First, a proprietary technology — Nanoloc — is a secondary protection for SmartStrand, which already offers an inherent protection. It will make all SmartStrand products, including Silk, easier to clean and maintain.

But to make sure that Forever Clean is not mistaken for just another carpet protection, Mohawk's partnership with Tough Mudder will give the company and its retail partners a story to tell and what it expects will be an effective marketing tool.

Here at the Toughest Mudder challenge — a grueling 24 hour obstacle course — SmartStrand Forever Clean was placed at a few locations on the course including the exit of the mud run. Some 2,000 muddy, wet athletes running over the carpet again and again may just rival the first SmartStrand challenge against Ricko the Rhino at the Birmingham Zoo in 2009.

But according to Tom Lape, that's the point. "We wanted to create an event to show what the next 10 years of SmartStrand will be like. It has been a decade of innovation and it's about to get a whole lot better."

The promise of SmartStrand Forever Clean is that it will offer consumers an ease of dirt and stain removability. And the technology will be supported at retail. Even better, this new, changed product has been in production since earlier this year so that when aligned dealers hear about the innovation at convention, it's not some future opportunity but a right now opportunity.

So was it worth a weekend in Vegas? Did Mohawk deliver on its promise? Witnessing the Toughest Mudder, driving a dune buggy through the desert and dinner at the hot new Meat Bazaar restaurant aside, it was. Because maybe this is what is needed to help grow the soft surface market. Maybe it is a sexier way to talk about carpet. Maybe it is a way to connect with and attract the Millennial consumer.

I for one am looking forward to the next decade of innovation.

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