The story behind that wine glass video

YOU’VE seen the video: the amazing new mattress that can hold a full glass of wine while being jumped on. Here’s why it sparked a bitter slanging match.

The story behind that wine glass video

AS MALCOLM would say: it’s never been a more exciting time to drink wine in bed.

By now you’ve probably seen the video — the amazing new mattress that can hold a full wine glass steady while being bounced on by an attractive white person (or persons).

In fact, there are two virtually identical videos, created by two local Aussie start-ups, whose founders are now engaged in a bitter war of words as they fight for their share of the (apparently booming) ‘zero-disturbance sleep technology mattress’ niche.

Koala Mattress, founded by Byron Bay mates Dany Milham, Mitch Taylor and Phil Johnson, has accused Ecosa, founded by Hong Kong-born entrepreneur Ringo Chan, of stealing its idea.

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“It is definitely heating up,” Mr Milham, 25, told news.com.au. “We’ve seen their version of the wine glass test and it was definitely after ours.

“As a business we’re not too worried or alarmed about them. They were directly after us. I’m very laser-focused and don’t want these things to interrupt our day-to-day business.”

But Mr Milham conceded that having your own idea stolen was a “very different experience” to seeing two brands do it to each other.

“A lot of people do come up to us and say, ‘What are you doing about it?’,” he said. “But [our attitude] is to let it be. They always say imitation is flattery.”

Ecosa, for its part, hasn’t taken the stab lying down. “This is not true,” said the 28-year-old Mr Chan, who moved to Australia when he was 13. “We had the wine test idea before them.”

For the record, Koala uploaded its video to Facebook on 14 November, while Ecosa’s video is dated 21 December. Mr Milham says Koala’s video has been viewed 5.5 million times across Facebook as well as sites like reddit, imgur and 9gag.

Mr Chan says Ecosa’s video has 3.04 million views and counting. But he points out the general concept is not new at all. Mattress maker Tempur-Pedic was the first with its ‘waterglass test’ in 2008, and UK brand Zleeps had one in 2011.

“We had a Jenga test — that’s pretty interesting as well,” he said. (Your move, Koala.)

Mr Chan claims he started selling on interest before Koala but Koala had their business registered first. Ecosa’s website was launched in September and Koala’s launched in November.

“We won’t say they copied our idea because the very first [mattress in a box] company was Casper in the US,” he said.

While similar ‘zero disturbance’ mattresses have been on the market for years, Koala claims its version is a “world-first” due to the way the materials — three layers of polyurethane foam which it dubs ‘K-4’ — are put together.

The technology behind the design means users are guaranteed a “perfect distribution of body weight across the mattress when sleeping”, according to the company.

“No other mattress on the market has the same materials,” Mr Milham said.

“We were originally going to use latex or memory foam but wanted to go further and create this new type of mattress that’s more premium and more suitable for the Australian climate.”

He said since launching in November, Koala — which uses its charity partnership with the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital as its other unique selling point — has sold $1 million worth of its mattresses, which range from $650 to $1050.

Mr Chan says Koala is “talking big”. “In 2012, I started with $5000 selling on eBay from home. In only two years our company is turning over $2 million a year,” he said. “Currently, it is safe to say we will make $3 million a year.”

He says at this rate, he “won’t be surprised to see us making $5-10 million a year”.

And, naturally, Mr Chan argues his mattresses are better. “Koala Mattress is using K-4 foam which is really a polyurethane foam with a fancy name,” he said. “PU foam is way cheaper than latex and memory foam.

“Koala didn’t invent K-4 foam. They are not the producer of their foam. They only branded K-4 foam. Ecosa doesn’t use expensive marketing to promote a type of foam that does not exist. Our customers know how good latex and memory foams are, so they choose us.”

And he doesn’t hesitate to take a stab at Koala’s charity partnership. “Koala adopt a koala for every mattress you buy,” he said.

“I could link our business to charity but I don’t want to. I will donate money to people in need but I won’t use this for marketing. I like to do business honestly.”

So, which team are you on: Team Koala or Team Ecosa? We’ll let you sleep on it.

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