Empire Today

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Empire Today, LLC is a Northlake, Illinois-based home furnishing company, specializing in flooring installation. As of 2006, the company operated in at least 30 metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada, and employed over 600 people, making it one of the largest home improvement companies in the United States, despite having no retail outlets or showrooms.[1][2] In addition to hard flooring and carpet installation, Empire Today also offers and installs windows, window treatments, vinyl siding, rain gutters, and shower liners. The company was founded in 1959 by Seymour Cohen and was a family-run business under its original name, Empire Carpets. In 2002, the company was sold and incorporated and had an estimated $90 million USD in sales.[3]

Contents

[edit] Advertising

Empire Today's advertising is prevalent in areas serviced by the company, especially throughout Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Washington DC and southern New England. The company's prominent print and television ads feature the recognizable "Empire Carpet Man", Lynn Hauldren.[4] Empire Today's advertising jingle, which has been broadcast since the late 1960's, is a widely recognized meme.[1] The jingle sings out the company's toll-free telephone number:

"Eight-hundred five eight eight, two three-hundred, Em-pire!"

According to the company, this phone number is one of the ten most recognized phone numbers in the United States, and the jingle is among the 7 most recognized in the US. ([1][5] Prior to the 800 number, the company had the same telephone number locally in the Chicago area, "five eight eight, two three-hundred", which aired frequently on Chicago superstation WGN-TV. The melody has covered by such artists as Pearl Jam. On the May 12, 2006 episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien La Bamba dressed up as the Empire Today spokesperson and the audience started singing the jingle. It has also been parodied.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c Empire Today, LLC. About Us. Retrieved on 2 March 2006.
  2. ^ Empire Today, LLC. General FAQs. Retrieved on 2 March 2006.
  3. ^ Distribution Evolution. Floor Focus (2002). Retrieved on 2 March 2006.
  4. ^ Chicagoland Memories. Lisa's Web World. Retrieved on 2 March 2006.
  5. ^ "Empire Carpet Ads, Getting the Burnt Popcorn Smell of out Microwaves", NBC 4 News, 2003-04-24. Retrieved on 2006-03-02.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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