Karastan Rug News

Karastan Finds 'Lost' Star

ATLANTA - Karastan has added Evangeline Lilly, star of the ABC television series "Lost," to its growing list of celebrity endorsers, the company said.

Lilly will be featured in four print ads that begin running in the April issues of shelter and lifestyle magazines including Architectural Digest, House & Garden, Martha Stewart Living, Metropolitan Home, Oprah, Real Simple, Southern Accents, Town & Country and Veranda.

Two of the ads promote the company's rugs and two promote its carpets. Both are produced in full-page and spread formats.

The campaign was created in-house and continues the tagline, "Make a statement. Your own." The use of celebrity endorsers was developed by the client's former agency, Austin Kelley Advertising of Atlanta. Karastan ended its relationship with the shop last fall.

Lilly is the third celebrity to endorse the Dalton, Ga., company's carpets and rugs. Previous celebrities were actress Andie MacDowell and entrepreneur Marcia Kilgore, who is the founder of Bliss Spas.

"We've scratched beneath the surface of the public persona of Evangeline Lilly and found quite an impressive and authentic young woman who's independent, adventuresome, a goal-setter and a caring humanitarian," said David Duncan, the company's vice president of marketing. "She possesses extraordinary qualities and has great integrity and we already see many parallels between her and the Karastan customer who seeks out a distinctive, unapologetic lifestyle."

Actress Kelly Preston, who has appeared in a range of films including "Jerry Maguire," "Citizen Ruth" and "For the Love of the Game," will star in the 2008 "Make a Statement" national ad campaign for Karastan carpets and rugs.