Specifically, I need to know how much the mattress industry (as in,
the people who make the mattresses you sleep on) spends on advertising
each year (across all medias). For as many years back as possible.

Hi javahava, 
I don't think any body can give you the correct answer for the entire
industry as a whole.
I'm giving you some references of mattress industries and firms along
with their expenditure on advertising. On having a look on it, you can
then judge about the overall expenses.

Check this one for "SELECT COMFORT CORP". It will give you the
expenses from 1998 to 2000.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/010515/scss.html

Check out this one also for the same company:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/020205/scss.html

To find out more on The Sleep Train Inc, check this one.
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/1997/05/19/story4.html

To find out about VERLO MATTRESS FACTORY STORES, here is the url:
http://www.worldfranchising.com/Top50/Retail/VerloMat1.html

This is an interesting article on how much indistry is willing to
spend on advertising.
http://www.futonlife.com/magazine/2000/spring/feature.php3

Search terms used:
mattress+industry+Advertising budget

Advertising budget in mattress industry
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Advertising+budget+in+mattress+industry

I hope this will give you the required info.

Regards,
netcrazy

Hi javahava!

I found some information that you might find helpful, and can suggest
some additional search terms for you. Although I found a source for
your answer, I am at a loss as to how to interpret the results, but
I'll leave that to you...

The US Census Bureau conducts surveys by industry on a regular basis.
The frequency of the reports vary by industry. The [annual] Mattress
Manufacturing Industry Report is published every 5 years. The last
report was 1997 so another will be published sometime this year. The
US Census breaks all industry classes into specific numbered codes.
The code for this industry is:

1987 [old code] SIC #2515 (Standard Industry Code)
1997 [new code] NAICS #337910 (North American Industry Classification
System)

Bridge Between NAICS and SIC 
http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97brdg/

The NAICS and SIC define the Mattress Industry as this:

..."This US industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in
manufacturing innerspring, box spring, and noninnerspring mattresses,
including mattresses for waterbeds..."

...so I would conclude this is the category you are interested in. 

Here's the link:

Mattress Manufacturing Industry Report
Detailed Statistics by Industry - Cost of Purchased Advertising
Services
http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97m3379a.pdf
Your answer is on Page #13 of this PDF document, and is in the right
hand column near the bottom.

If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can still view the document
here:
http://tinyurl.com/64n

There is a series of reports done on the Manufacturing Industry and it
is safe to assume if one took the time to sift through them that more
numbers concerning advertising could be found by NAISC or SIC could be
found.

1997 Economic Census - Manufacturing Industry Series
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/manu-ind.html
Click on Economic Census, then Manufacturing Reports, to view the
online documents.


More information:

Sources of Information on Market Research
http://www.cba.ua.edu/bruno/resources/guides/sguide13.htm

International Sleep Products Association
http://www.sleepproducts.org/industry.htm

Advertising Age:
http://www.adage.com/


Search Terms used at Google:

1) "Advertising Statisitcs" industry
2) NAICS +advertising +statistics

Additional search terms - suggestions:
"Mattress Industry"
advertising
statistics
NAICS 
337910 
advertising "expenditures by industry"


I hope you have found this informatipon to be helpful in your project!


Cynthia

Official statistics for the U.S. industry as a whole (Mattress
Manufacturers) are available through the U.S. Census Data. An Economic
Census is published every five years, the last in 1997.

According to that 1997 data, advertising expenditures by industry were
$140,836,000. 75% of the manufacturers queried by the Census Bureau
responded to this query.

The full report, in PDF format, is available at:

[ http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97m3379a.pdf ]

The advertising expenditure figure is in Table 3, on Page 13.

Comparison figures for Household Furniture Manufacturers is available
from the 1992 Economic Census, also in PDF format:

http://www.census.gov/prod/1/manmin/92mmi/mci25af.pdf

Market Research Guides and Reports that will answer your question in
greater detail are available for purchase from these sources:

http://www.rkmillerinc.com/book02.html
http://www.furniture-info.com/141.htm
http://www.marketresearch.com/browse.asp?CategoryID=1107&SID=47373808-226444132-263036564

~larre-ga