As expected, Casper’s dog mattresses are selling like hotcakes.

SAN FRANCISCO — Make no mistake: Casper’s Dog Mattress is a bonafide banger. It is, unquestionably, a hot seller since being introduced last summer; yet the the mattress upstart, in something of a strategic twist, has used it as a Trojan horse designed to get actual people (rather than dogs) hooked on the brand’s way of thinking.

/ Subscribe

Stay current.

We’re currently in beta (full site launches in 2017).

We deliver our articles exclusively to our readers through our newsletter. To stay current on our latest work (and up to speed on what’s happening in the modern luxury space during the week), become an official Lean Luxe subscriber by signing up below. It’s free.

Visit the newsletter archives here. And be sure to connect with us on Twitter.

Writes Fast Company:

Casper is combining science, design thinking, branding, and a winking sense of humor to redefine the humble mattress and its accoutrements into lifestyle statements. . . . To an outside observer, such excitement for selling mattresses—a single model at that—might seem curious. But, as their foray into dog beds demonstrates, Casper’s founders are on a different mission. “When we talk about becoming a lifestyle brand,” says [co-founder] Luke Sherwin…”it really is about the idea that whatever question you have about sleep, Casper will have an answer.”

And it’s the R&D process behind the Dog Mattress that derives directly from this way of thinking. The facts (and remember, this is just for a dog bed):

1. Nearly a year in development. Casper R&D spent exactly 11 months “conducting dog sleep studies.”
2. Over 100 prototypes. Casper consulted with “canine psychologists and churning through more than 100 prototypes.”
3. The Trojan horse play, via co-founder Neil Parikh, who says: The dog bed shows “people how we think—to remind them that, ‘Hey, here is a cool group of people that thinks in an interesting way.’”

This all taps into Casper’s central thesis: Sleep is becoming a ‘thing’ and Casper is positioning itself to be at the center of this new sleep conversation. In short, it’s a lifestyle play, something we see a lot of new brands gearing towards.

Proof that Casper is onto something here: It’s not just twenty-something consumers in urban areas that are buying Casper beds. The value proposition — a “good enough” mattress sold at a decent price and delivered (with remarkable convenience) straight to your door — not surprisingly, has broad appeal: “[H]undreds of thousands of customers later, Parikh and company found their beds appealing to a much wider group of users: “I mean, people who are 65 who live in Nebraska also need mattresses,” he [said].”