In honor of its 80-year anniversary, leading custom upholstery specialist, Sam Moore is launching a series of year-long initiatives aimed at celebrating the milestone with the local community, its employees and its customers. The first of several activities will make their debut in April, including a program supporting local Bedford-area charities and a social media campaign. The company has also designed a special 80th anniversary logo with a new tagline, “Celebrating 80 Years” and a Blue Ridge Mountain range, which was inspired by its central Virginia location. The new logo will be used across all of its marketing materials in 2020.
To kick off the milestone, the company is launching a social media contest in search for vintage Sam Moore designs and a social media campaign to creatively chronicle its 80-year history. Using the hashtag #80MooreYears, posts will highlight significant milestones and feature a variety of historical photos, including the vintage chairs.
The local philanthropic effort, called “Eight Months of Community Giving,” is designed to benefit local-area charities through a variety of company-sponsored fundraising activities, community sales and employee volunteerism. To-date the effort has benefitted Ronald McDonald Charities of Southwest Virginia, Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital and Roanoke Fire and EMS. Ronald McDonald Charities received a portion of the proceeds from a community sale at the Sam Moore factory earlier this year, and in March, Sam Moore made fabric masks for healthcare providers and first responders at the local hospital, fire department and EMS to wear over N95 medical masks to extend their usefulness in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has plans to support other local organizations in the months ahead.
“This is a tremendous milestone and we are excited to celebrate our rich 80-year history with our community, employees and industry partners,” said Sandi Teague, vice president of sales and merchandising for Sam Moore. “Although the company was founded in Ohio, we have called Bedford home for 60 years and employ more than 200 local residents. We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to honor our anniversary than to reflect on our past, while looking forward to our future and giving back to the community that we so proudly call home.”
The social media contest, “Search for Vintage Sam Moore,” encourages consumers, employees, designers and retailers to submit images of antique Sam Moore designs. The participant who submits the oldest image of a Sam Moore item will receive a brand new chair, fully customized in the fabric and finish of their choice. All of the images that are collected throughout the contest will also be shared on Sam Moore’s social media platforms as part of the #80MooreYears campaign.