But Five Star Home Services is hoping this helps set them apart from the competition.

“We are always trying to find a unique voice to allow us to set us apart from other HVAC contractors in the area. Columbus is a very competitive market,” Five Star Home Services vice president of marketing Mic Mohler said.

It is a qualified bracket entry contest, meaning you need to either have purchased a product over $250 or referred someone who has during the March 1-20 window. The tournament starts on March 21.

How many brackets you are allowed to fill out is directly related to how big of a purchase you have made. Customers do not need to have a perfect bracket to win. The top five finishers, in addition to five random winners, will have their purchase fully refunded. Those winners will also receive a $1,000 credit for a future purchase.

So, if a customer had a generator installed on March 10 and they finished in the top 5, they will receive a complete refund on the generator.

The idea was the brainchild of company CEO Christian Rattin.

“This has been a weird early start to the year weather-wise. On March 1 and 2, it was 70 degrees. I might love that personally but it is not great for business,” Mohler said. “We wanted to find a fun way to connect with our customer database and people in the community.”

Mohler explained that there are a lot of other HVAC and plumbing contractors in the area, including those that have recently been purchased by private equity.

“They are able to throw money at things that we just can’t do as a family-owned and -operated company. We have done well and grown significantly but we don’t always have those deep products that the other companies might,” Mohler said.

While it might be an extreme longshot for a perfect entry form to be submitted, the company worked with an insurance company on the contest, so it will only be paying the premium. In addition to social media and email marketing, Five Star took out advertisements on the local sports radio station.

Five Star is using a third-party site to manage the brackets. That company will collect email addresses for every contestant and Five Star will have access to them.

While Five Star is expecting anywhere from 500-1,000 brackets to be filled out, the company is viewing it as a win if it just lets people hear its name in this awareness campaign.

“If there are three companies that a customer likes, how do they choose? I hope this sets us apart. We don’t want to be a gimmicky company. That is not who we are. But the truth is I think companies that are not trying to find innovative and unique ways to reach their target audience are just one in the mix. Google’s competitive source makes it harder and harder to stand out. Our quality and service do that, but a lot of other contractors say that too,” Mohler said.

Since 1972, the company has served the region and has maintained heavy involvement in charitable work, funding several area nonprofit organizations.

In fact, Five Star is currently designated as a “profit on purpose” company, meaning a set portion of its profits are donated to specific charitable causes in the community.

"Dive into the excitement with the opportunity to win the grand prize of $1 million!” said Five Star CEO Christian Rattin. "This challenge is not just about luck; it's about making smart choices both in your brackets and in your home by choosing Five Star Home Services.”   

For more information, go to https://www.myfivestarhomeservices.com/madness/.