Empire Today

Empire Today, LLC

Formerly	Empire Plastic Covers (1959–1965) Empire Home Services (1965–2002)
Type	Private
Industry	Home Improvement
Founded	1959; 62 years ago (1959)
Founder	Seymour Cohen
Headquarters	Northlake, Illinois United States
Products	Carpet Hardwood Flooring Laminate Flooring Ceramic Flooring Vinyl Flooring Window Treatments Area Rugs
Parent	H.I.G. Capital (2016–present)
Website	www.empiretoday.com

Empire Today, LLC is an American home improvement and home furnishing company based in Northlake, Illinois, specializing in installed carpet, flooring, and window treatments. The company operates in more than 75 metropolitan areas within the United States. They are most well known for their TV ads featuring their jingle.

History[]

Prior logo from 2008 to 2014.

Empire Today LLC (commonly referred as Empire Today) was founded by entrepreneur Seymour Cohen in 1959 as Empire Plastic Covers, a private, family-owned business in Chicago from a small office space. Cohen decided to expand the company's 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 November 2002, the company was sold, and then in December 2002, adopted its current name: Empire Today.^[1]

Carpet recycling[]

In 2011, Empire Today implemented a carpet and padding recycling program to minimize the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations. All of the padding removed by Empire Today's installers that can be recycled, will be recycled as part of their program in cooperation with Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) and Carpet Landfill Elimination And Recycling (CLEAR). 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 eight million pounds of carpet and padding have been recycled, according to Empire's waste tonnage reporting.^[2]

Advertising[]

Empire Today's advertising is prevalent throughout major metro areas across North America. The company's television and web ads feature the "Empire Man" character. He was originally portrayed as live-action but is now portrayed as a cartoon character at the end of their advertisements.

Empire Man[]

The "Empire Man" was introduced in 1978 as a live action character and later adapted into a popular animated person that has grown to become a cultural icon, especially in the Chicagoland area.^[3] 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.^[4]

The live action "Empire Man" was portrayed on television by Lynn Hauldren, a former ad executive, from 1978 through 2011. After Empire Today retired the live character in favor of a computer-animated version, Hauldren continued to provide voiceovers for the ads until his death in 2011, though ads with his voiceovers continue to air on television.^[5] Since 2017 the “Empire Man” has been portrayed by Ryan Salzwedel in various television spots.

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.^{[citation needed]} Hauldren also wrote and recorded the tune used as the company's famous jingle.^{[citation needed]}

Advertising jingle[]

Empire Today's advertising jingle, which has been broadcast since 1977, is a widely recognized theme.^[6] The jingle is simply a small vocal group singing out the digits of the telephone number. The original Chicago-centered version was only the seven-digit number:

"588-2300, Em-pire!"

In 1988, Empire Today added 3 extra digits to the number so their number would be (312) 588 2300 but when the number showed up on their commercials, they did not sing the 312 bit. Instead, they would sing the number but then the 312 appeared after singing "Em-pire!" Here is what it would look like when sang:

"588 2300 Em-pire! (312) 588 2300"

As the chain expanded nationally in 2000 (though it was first used in Chicago in 1996 to compensate for the Chicago area's surge in area codes from just 312 to the current nine, beginning in 1989, and just after the suburban 708/847 1996 split), meanwhile, the greater New York City metropolitan area was the first region to participate in Empire's roll-out in 1999 where the same tune was used, but with an 800 number prefix added for the company's toll-free number:

"800-588-2300, Em-pire!"

After changing its name to Empire Today on December 23, 2002, the new name was added to the jingle, which resulted in a sped-up version of the song so "Today" could be included. Starting in 2003, the jingle reverted to the original, but with the Empire Man saying "today" at the end ("800-588-2300, Em-pire Today!").

References[]

External links[]

• Official website