Cosentino hopes for Super ad touchdown

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2005-01-23-cosentino_x.htm?csp=34

By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY

Every Super Bowl ad lineup has its surprise rookies. This year, on Feb. 6, the title for most unexpected walk-on looks to go to Cosentino USA, a Houston-based maker of Silestone “natural quartz surfacing.”

The company aims to be the first to bring countertop advertising to the big game. It has spent $1 million producing a funny spot in which ex-Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman and ex-Chicago Bears Mike Ditka, William “The Refrigerator” Perry and Jim McMahon fight about which countertop color best expresses their personalities.

Fox charged Cosentino full price – $2.4 million, half in cash upfront – for the 30-second ad by Houston agency Freed to air in the first half of the game.

Cosentino says buying into the big game was calculated, not ego-driven. It’s counting on its role as the first countertop maker to be on TV’s biggest event to buff its image. “We’re conveying a message that we’re confident, that we’re the best. It’s not just how you say it, it’s where you say it,” says Monica Canales, head of marketing.

Kitchen and bath countertops are an estimated $12 billion business. “It may be crazy, but the day after the Super Bowl, Cosentino will be the best-known maker of quartz countertops, for good or bad,” says Ernest Lupinacci, a partner at ad consultancy Anomaly. “We may be laughing, but they could be laughing last.”