How to celebrate progress while changing traveler behavior
As 100,000 people and thousands of vehicles navigate the airport on any given day, pedestrian safety among the congestion became a major concern. Infrastructure updates and a communication plan were needed to change people’s behavior, in order to support years of future airport growth to come.
FLL and Starmark have launched a comprehensive new communications campaign, along with upgraded airport brand identity, to spread the word throughout South Florida about major safety upgrades every visitor will experience on their next visit. (more…)
Starmark’s Agile approach featured in the Wall Street Journal
According the the 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies), there are roughly 13,000 integrated marketing agencies in the U.S. Starmark is one of 1,000 or fewer who are Agile. Today, one of those agencies was featured in The Wall Street Journal. Hint: it’s Starmark.
A university brand makeover the community can rally behind
Starmark helped NSU Florida (Nova Southeastern University) take their new brand to market and increase their national reputation among prospective undergrad, graduate and professional students.
Starmark met the challenge of updating a 50-year-old brand head on. From capturing the fundamentals of what it means to be a NSU Shark to guiding the digital rollout to various schools within the university, Starmark successfully introduced The NSU Edge to the world, rallying students, faculty and alumni behind the brand.
Brand Essence Video
Starmark captured the essence of NSU in a video that brought the new brand to life for prospective undergraduate and graduate students. The music and VO-driven video follows an NSU student from her freshman year all the way to her successful career.
As the camera moves through these situations, viewers catch glimpses of her “inner Shark” by her side every step of the way. In addition to their site, the video was used for social media and other promotional tactics as part of a bigger arsenal of storytelling pieces. Starmark also created other stories versioned for different audiences. For the first time, NSU has a moving, living embodiment of the spirit of their school, and the Starmark team is proud to have been a part of it.
It couldn’t have happened without being Agile
An important part of the challenge for NSU and Starmark was using Agile Methodology to break down a massive branding assignment into a series of roadmap phases that could be vetted with students, faculty and prospects throughout the process. The work also needed to be sequenced to create some early wins to keep momentum up over the length of the 18-month project.
The Starmark team created multiple mini roadmaps covering all aspects of the assignment. This allowed us to start the foundational digital work and brand guidelines much sooner. At the same time, we were able to begin the concepting, planning and pre-production work for the brand essence video.
Later in the project, we were able to use that foundational brand guidelines and digital work to guide the time-intensive but less time-sensitive rollout to microsites for each key school within the university system.
New Homepage and Landing Page
To make a big impact sooner, part of the roadmap was creating a quick turnover of the NSU homepage and web presence. Starmark created a temporary landing page that informed the public about the rebrand, hyping them up for the big transformation.
At the same time the landing page was being constructed, the team was hard at work modernizing the layout and functionality of the homepage. The result was a clean, new homepage, complete with new copy and a shark fin header design. Starmark made the page modular, allowing all aspects of the design system to be repurposed throughout the NSU site over time for consistency and efficiency.
Digital Brand Guidelines
Internal PR communications, academic departments, apparel vendors and student organizations all touch the NSU brand in some capacity. With so many moving pieces and players involved, it was important for everyone to be on the same page. Starmark created an online brand guidelines site to assist each player in knowing how to accurately convey and communicate the brand. NSU now has a new way to tell the NSU story, complete with a brand promise and directions to execute tone of voice, wordmarks, photography/video, editorial copy and more. Easily accessible and convenient, the guidelines ensured the brand will live on.
College Microsites
Since recruiting and increasing international and domestic nationwide applicants is at the core of NSU’s growth plans, Starmark developed a series of 4 college microsites that addressed and appealed to prospective students.
Each microsite implemented the new brand’s tone of voice into concise copy that entices and empowers users to apply. The microsites included new downloadable information, success stories, course curricula, faculty pages, degree descriptions and more. Students seeking degrees from the Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing, H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Fischler College of Education, and the NSU College of Engineering and Computing were able to find all relevant information in a simple way.
Moving NSU into the big leagues
The rebranding effort is already paying dividends. Both faculty and student groups are praising the new campaign as it rolls out.
There’s no way we’d be this far along without a roadmap that allowed us to tackle several different initiatives at the same time. We stayed flexible and stayed in touch with all our stakeholders from the various departments and colleges. We were able to keep everyone aligned and excited, while still giving ourselves room to account for change. – Brandon Hensler, Executive Director, Public Relations and Marketing Communications for NSU Florida
Phase two is coming soon, focusing on work that will up the game of NSU’s athletic department.
When Apple’s ARkit hit the market a couple of years ago, the excuse that AR had no audience would, seemingly, have disappeared. Expensive goggles were no longer needed. Now smartphone owners everywhere became augmented reality (AR) enabled. And, while some industries have found applications and become early adopters, marketers’ budgets and applications have grown much slower than anticipated. (more…)
Facilitate Fundraising by Speaking Theater-Lovers’ Language (The Plot Thickens!)
On the evening of February 6, 1967, Parker Playhouse opened its doors and raised the curtain on its first production, Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. Fifty years later, the iconic Fort Lauderdale venue needed to be restored and renovated for the 21st century. The Broward Center called upon a partner that was completely in sync with its goal to build community through the arts. (more…)
The top 4 things you aren’t tracking – and why you really should be
If you feel like you’re drowning in marketing data with no direction, this is the article for you. Let’s put the science back in data science together with this Starmark guide to the top 4 things you aren’t tracking — and why you really should be. (more…)
AI assistants will disrupt the marketplace in 2019
We used to call them voice or virtual assistants (VAs). Now scientists call them AI assistants (AIs). If your business depends on search or repetitive ordering, you must prepare to protect your customer base. Amazon.com has sold more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices. And Apple and Google are catching up. Some of the reason for the rapid rise of these AIs is the novelty. But the main reason is their ability to save users time and energy by making a simple, intuitive voice request, rather than fumbling with a phone or some other device. (more…)
Engage a specific type of U.S. traveler when re-introducing a Caribbean hotel brand to the U.S. market
The Idea
What is an experientialist? If you’ve seen any of the new ads Starmark created for Elegant Hotels Group, then you have some idea. Experientialists are those who live to explore different landscapes, cultures, flavors, sights, and sounds. They seek escapes that become deeper journeys, and that desire leads them to Elegant Hotels — because when you stay at an Elegant Hotel, the experience stays with you. (more…)
What’s the difference between AR, MR and Spatial Computing? Here’s why you should care.
The barriers to entry for augmented reality and mixed reality are lower than they’ve ever been. To avoid getting scooped by your competitors, now’s the time to take these technologies seriously and start investigating how you can incorporate them into your content and marketing approach. (more…)
Commemorating 25 Years of Heartfelt Health Care
Starmark helped Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital (JDCH) celebrate its 25th anniversary with a commemorative campaign that captured hearts across South Florida.
A Milestone Worth Memorializing
In 1992, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital opened its doors as a dedicated facility of the Memorial Healthcare System to care for sick and injured children in South Florida. It was a grand vision that started out modestly and grew from a couple of pediatric units on one floor of Memorial Regional Hospital to the only freestanding children’s hospital in Broward and Palm Beach counties. As their 25th Anniversary approached, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital turned to Starmark to assist them with a marketing campaign that celebrated their history.
An Idea with a Whole Lot of Heart
When Starmark was presented with the opportunity to raise awareness for South Florida’s best-kept secret and celebrate 25 years of patient- and family-centered specialist care, we created a campaign featuring the hospital’s iconic symbol—a red baseball glove with a heart at its core—as a tribute to Joe DiMaggio himself.
Ideation for the Red Glove campaign began in April and by June, MLB-style red baseball gloves were in the hands of our “heavy hitters.” This was an elite group of South Florida’s leaders, including big names from the sports world, like Jeff Conine and Giancarlo Stanton, to Congressman Ted Deutch and Florida Senator Lauren Book. We recruited more than 60 heavy hitters, all to give their “Red Glove salute” and share the impact that JDCH has had on the community and/or their personal lives.
See who’s raising their red glove in support of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital: (Top Left) James Donnelly, CEO of Castle Group with Aurelio Fernandez, President & CEO Memorial Healthcare System; (Top Right) Peggy Nordeen, CEO Starmark International; (Middle Left) Chantal Laconte, former CEO Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital with Robert Runcie, Superintendent Broward County Public Schools; (Bottom Left) Chicago Cubs First Baseman Anthony Rizzo; (Bottom Right) Dr. Richard Dodge, Professor & Dean NSU Halmos College of Science and Oceanography
Celebrating the Home Team
Any organization’s employees are their most effective brand advocates. And internal communications were a major part of this effort — to reinforce morale, pride and a sense of shared purpose among the hardworking physicians and staff of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. The campaign included special messages and shout-outs in meetings and through the hospital’s employee intranet. After all, building a winning team is what’s going to carry the hospital into its next 25 years of success.
A Home Run
In addition to being featured in high profile photos, social and web videos and broadcast TV spots, the red glove campaign appeared at community events, schools, and more. Inspired by the whimsy of this playful brand icon, we were able to generate buzz, excitement and energy surrounding the 25-year celebration. Starmark and JDCH put the icon directly into the “gloves” of the community in an execution that will continue to empower everyone for many years to come.
Sell that first augmented reality project: Our 8-step guide to getting it done and getting promoted
Augmented reality and virtual reality have been around for years. And new hardware advances have also brought new technologies like spatial computing, mixed reality and 360 video into the fold, as well. If some of those terms are new to you, check out our infographic: Which reality is right for you? (more…)
Psychologists may tell you to ask yourself “What do I want?” but tomorrow’s advertisers are going to, through machine learning and automation, give you an elaborate menu of the things that they know you want – or will want. They will know who you are, who you know, where you go, what you have already purchased, and so on. (more…)
