| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Home Improvement |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Northlake, Illinois, USA |
| Area served | U.S. |
| Products | Carpet Hardwood Flooring Laminate Flooring Ceramic Flooring Vinyl Flooring Window Treatments Area Rugs |
| Website | www.empiretoday.com - Empire Today Home Page |
Empire Today, LLC is a Northlake, Illinois-based home improvement and home furnishing company, specializing in installed carpet, flooring, and window treatments. The company operates in more than 45 major metropolitan areas in the United States, making it one of the leading providers of installed home improvements and home furnishings in North America. Empire Today has served over one million customers.[1] Empire Today was named the country's #1 or #2Specialty Flooring Retailer (in total dollar amount of sales) from 2007 to 2010 by Floor Covering Weekly.[2]
Empire Today is known for making in-home sales appointments and next day installation on many of its products. [3] Empire Today offers next day installation on carpet, hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, ceramic flooring, vinyl flooring and window treatments. [4]
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Empire Carpet is the historical, commonly-known name for Empire Today LLC. Empire was founded by entrepreneur Seymour Cohen in 1959 as Empire Plastic Covers, a private, family-owned business in Chicago from a small office space. Owner Seymour Cohen decided to expand its product line in response to growing customer request. In 1965, Empire Plastic Covers changed its name to Empire Home Services, adding carpet to their product line. Over the years, Empire’s product line grew, as did the company’s national presence. In 2002 the company was sold and then adopted its current name - Empire Today.
Empire Today's advertising is prevalent in areas serviced by the company, especially throughout Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Charlotte; Cleveland; Dallas-Fort Worth; Dayton; Denver; Detroit; Eugene, OR; Flint; Dover; Grand Rapids, MI; Greensboro; Harrisburg; Hartford; Houston; Indianapolis; Lansing; Los Angeles; Manchester, NH; Miami; Milwaukee; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Nashville; southern New England; New York City; Norfolk, VA/Hampton Roads Metro Area; Orlando; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Portland, OR; Naples, FL - Ft. Myers; Raleigh-Durham; Richmond; Sacramento; St.Louis; San Diego; San Francisco; Scranton; Seattle; Tampa; Toledo; Washington, D.C.; and West Palm Beach. The company's prominent television and web ads feature the recognizable "Empire Man" character.
The "Empire Man" was introduced in 1977 as a live action character and later adapted into a popular animated persona that has grown to become a cultural icon.[5] The "Empire Man" has been seen internationally in commercials and other media, has spawned a line of collectible bobblehead dolls and inspired the Chicago Cubs to declare an official "Empire Day" at Wrigley Field in 2007.[6]
The "Empire Man" was originally portrayed on television by Lynn Hauldren, a former ad executive, who continued to provide the voice of the animated character until his passing. Hauldren died on April 26, 2011. Empire Today launched a tribute that indicated that he will, "always have a special place in the hearts of many."[7] Contrary to popular belief, the "Empire Man" was not the company’s owner nor was he one of the installers. In the late 1970s, Hauldren was one of the advertising copywriting forces behind the Empire brand. The company’s owner during the time requested that he serve as the on-air talent for the spots after unsuccessfully auditioning several other people for the role. Hauldren also wrote and recorded the tune used as the company’s famous jingle.
Empire Today's advertising jingle, which has been broadcast since 1977, is a widely recognized meme.[3] It has been covered in concert by such platinum selling recording artists as Pearl Jam. An Empire Carpet commercial is featured in the opening segment of the feature film Wayne's World starring Saturday Night Live alums Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, where the character Benjamin (Rob Lowe) and his partner (Ione Skye) are watching television. The song has been featured on Late Night with Conan O'Brien during his 2006 visit to Chicago, in which Conan stated that "It is impossible to live in the Chicagoland area and not know the song by heart". The Apprentice contestant Aimee Trottier told Chicago Magazine that what qualifies someone as a true Chicagoan is knowing the Empire Today Jingle by heart.[8] On a 2008 episode of The Tom Leykis Show on KLSX, 97.1 FM Talk in Los Angeles, discussion of the Empire Today jingle and some of its history was featured as the lead-in topic of a show on advertising jingles. The Empire Today jingle was played twice on this special episode.
The jingle is simply a small mixed gender vocal group singing out the digits of the telephone number. The original Chicago-centered version was only the seven-digit number:
As the chain expanded nationally in 2002 (though it was first used in a commercial in 1996), the same tune was used, but with a three-note prefix added for the company's toll-free number. In the same year, the company changed its name to Empire Today and the word today was added to the end of the jingle. The word "today" is said, not sung, by who is presumed to be the "Empire Man" :
A variation of this jingle was used in 2002, which combined the "800" from the current version, with the original "588-2300-Empire!" intact. Another variant appeared in 2003, in which a faster and different sounding version of the jingle is heard. In that version, the word "today" was sung along with the other lyrics.
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.
In 2011, Empire Today implemented a carpet & padding recycling program to minimize the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations. In cooperation with Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) and CLEAR (Carpet Landfill Elimination And Recycling), 100% of the carpet and padding removed by Empire Today’s residential, small business and commercial installers that can be recycled, will be recycled. In first quarter 2011, Empire piloted the program in select areas, and the program is currently operational in more than 25 of Empire’s service areas. Since the program’s inception, over six million pounds of carpet and padding have been recycled, according to Empire’s waste tonnage reporting.