No one could have imagined
when she joined the Furniture Today team in 1981 that Connie Lineberry would shape the marketing and advertising campaigns of home furnishings companies for the next 35 years. In the early days of the publication, salespeople would return from meetings with company presidents armed with notes about the businesses’ unique selling propositions, where they were headed, what the challenges were and what was working well.
“Then we would do what we called plan boards,” Lineberry recounts, “where we sat around a table talking about the company and formulating creative ideas and campaigns to deliver the message. There were no advertising agencies in the home furnishings industry back then, so we’d write it up, come up with the headlines and then take them out to a stable of freelancers I slowly developed. Remember, there are no computers then. We found artists that could draw market sketches.
Along the way, Lineberry who retires as Executive Vice President of Creative Services and now heads up her own eponymous marketing firm, was instrumental in launch a number of sister publications including Accessories/Today (now Home Accents Today), Upholstering/Today and Design Today among others. She was part of the acquisition team when the company decided to purchase Casual Living and was instrumental in bringing dailies to market and the company’s conference system to fruition.