Latest Posts

A 4-Day Immersion Reaps ROI for
Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun

THE OBJECTIVE

Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun wanted to increase awareness among moms for the resort’s family-friendly amenities and activities.

OUR SOLUTION

We’ve developed a network of today’s top social influencers, content creators, bloggers, and non-traditional media to curate impactful marketing content. This partnership program includes a strongly routed relationship with Macaroni Kid, a nationwide network of family-oriented websites and newsletters.

To achieve the goal of our client Azul Beach Resorts Riviera Cancun, we arranged for the resort to host the Macaroni Kid Silver Daisy Boondoggle, an annual immersive trip for 50 of the network’s top publishers.

This group of publishers posted videos, photos and articles raving about their 4 days and 3 nights in luxury and splendor. With the hashtag #MKGoesAzul, their fans followed the event in real time, including resort beauty shots, daytime and nighttime resort entertainment, and the picture-perfect food and drink and even a behind the scenes sneak peek at the new Nickelodeon Resort Riviera Maya (coming soon).

THE OUTCOME

The Macaroni Kid influencers were prolific in their content. The strategy we concepted, negotiated and executed included four national articles about the experience, plus local media coverage by all of the attending publishers. They created 1,821 social media posts across all platforms, and we ran two months of digital advertising in multiple locations.

A great Alexa skill needs a developer and a writer

Creating a useful Alexa skill is like writing a play in Javascript. That’s why you need a writer and a developer collaborating closely to create something your customers will love. (more…)

Have you played ‘Stump Alexa’? Maybe you should

Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal.

When it comes to new technologies, there’s always a learning curve. And learning often starts with games and conversations among new users and wannabes. That and much, much more seems to be happening now with Alexa, the voice-controlled personal assistant service that works with Amazon Echo and a growing number of other devices. (more…)

Designing a resort’s website that encourages consumers to stay a while

Azul Beach Resorts is a family of four high-end Caribbean destinations under the Karisma Hotels & Resorts umbrella. However, Azul Beach Resorts lacked a web identity of its own and instead lived within the Karisma website, among the nine other Karisma luxury hotel families.

After completing a rebranding exercise, Starmark recommended a stand-alone website to differentiate the brand and elevate it above the other all-inclusives. The site also needed to further differentiate the Azul resorts from one another in order to better appeal to our target personas. Through compelling visuals and all new copy we highlighted the unique selling propositions of Azul Beach Resorts Riviera Maya, The Fives Playa del Carmen, Sensatori Mexico and Sensatori Jamaica.

Creatively, the new Azul site also needed to align with the new ad campaign, which visually and verbally captures the perfect moments of a stay at Azul Beach Resorts.The mobile-first design incorporated short, informative copy along with large, swipe-ready images.

To fine tune the users experience, Starmark implemented user testing throughout the process. At each stage of the design and development the site received repeated love for the lifestyle and getaway feeling — across mobile, table and desktop. Subjects also praised its “focus on family fun” that everyone can enjoy together and separately.

Other program elements included search engine optimization (SEO), fine-tuning contextual links, a social Instagram feed, a prominent enewsletter form, image galleries and more. Now, www.azulbeachresorts.com tells the Azul story in a modern and engaging way, encouraging busy consumers to browse and plan all in one place.

Greater Fort Lauderdale and Starmark do it again at this year’s VISIT FLORIDA Governor’s Conference on Tourism

Along with our client Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) and first-class DMOs, the Starmark team is honored to have been recognized with top honors at the 2017 VISIT FLORIDA Governor’s Conference on Tourism, which was held on August 28th. Actually, this year marks the fourth time in the last six years that Starmark and GFLCVB won the highest honor, Best of Show Flagler Award; this year for the debut of the Hello Sunny TV network, an innovative extension of the Hello Sunny integrated marketing campaign reaching new markets and sustaining the Greater Fort Lauderdale destination brand.

“The Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB is incredibly proud of all its accomplishments this past year and it is a true honor to be recognized by our peers for the many exciting marketing and public relations initiatives that we worked hard to implement,” said Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Conventions & Visitors Bureau. “From debuting the Hello Sunny TV network to launching the world’s first marketing campaign featuring transgender models, the milestones the GFLCVB has achieved would not have been possible without the amazing teams I get to work with every single day!”

Last December saw the debut of Hello Sunny TV network with multiple channels featuring 24/7 programming. A “Live” channel for beach cams, local events and hot spots, plus on-demand choices to promote everything you can do in Greater Fort Lauderdale. We also created channels in other languages and markets including meeting and convention planners. Tools were developed to allow Greater Fort Lauderdale to interrupt programing with LIVE broadcasts from special events that streams simultaneously across all devices plus streams on Facebook LIVE and Apple TV.

“Hello Sunny TV is a perfect example of how the Starmark Lab benefits our clients by going way beyond marketing to create a product that addresses a fundamental need in the marketplace. With more people cutting the cord and relying on streaming services, now we have an owned media channel for Greater Fort Lauderdale and partners that addresses this trend in a consumer-friendly way,” explained Matthew Wood, Director, Innovation Lab.

Additional wins include a Silver in “Creativity in Public Relations” as a result of a partnership with GFLCVB and FINN Partners on the “Greater Fort Lauderdale Goes Luxe” event – an upscale mall takeover orchestrated by FINN Partners, GFLCVB’s PR firm, in New York City promoting Greater Fort Lauderdale as THE haute couture LUXE destination replete with fashion show, beach cabanas and Hello Sunny signage —all against the backdrop of larger-than-life photography that transported mall visitors to the beaches of Greater Fort Lauderdale.

GFLCVB also took home a Bronze in “Mixed Media Campaign” for the Riptide Music Festival that not only launched the Hello Sunny TV network, but featured beachy-themed Snapchat geofilters, selfie banners and logo design – an integrated campaign that resounded with the sounds of Fort Lauderdale.

“We are extremely proud that our creative has been recognized with top honors as the best destination marketing in the state of Florida in four of the last six years,” said Starmark President Jacqui Hartnett. “Our collaboration with Greater Fort Lauderdale is an incredible synergy of marketing talent and resourceful individuals who are committed to making Greater Fort Lauderdale a top U.S. destination.”

Why should your business embrace the UX principle?

Having a smart User Experience (UX) design could be the competitive advantage you need to achieve those aggressive business goals so it’s critical that businesses, large and small, start thinking about the end-user and how they’re going to feel when they experience your product or service. Solid UX design will generate meaningful engagement and results; while a poorly-executed UX design will have customers moving on to the next best thing. (more…)

5 ways brand values set you up for success

Having a strong and consistent brand identity is essential to stand out in today’s marketplace. The strongest brands are based on delivering upon the organization’s mission and remain true at every point of contact. But how do you create strong values for your brand to ensure success for your company? (more…)

Fresh marketing data helps boost the bottom line

Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal.

When business leaders look at financials the question is: “How did we do?” When business leaders look at marketing data the question is: “What can we improve?” In other words, financials show history; marketing data helps make history. And, the fresher the data, the better the opportunity to make a course correction to optimize profit. (more…)

Charting a new course for a south-Florida university website

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is based in Boca Raton, serving 30,000+ students through its 10 colleges and multiple campuses in southeast Florida. The school’s current website was fragmented, lacked responsiveness needed for today’s mobile-centric society, and didn’t fit the needs of its core audience: digital native millennials. Students and faculty alike struggled to find essential information and navigate through the site; leading to underperforming recruitment and user retention. Most of all, it needed to communicate in FAU’s voice and showcase its impressive research, teaching, and service credentials. (more…)

Combine creative and innovative technologies for out-of-home advertising

Combine creative and innovative technologies, and out-of-home (OOH) becomes highly engaging as advertisers find more meaningful, ubiquitous ways to be relevant in this out-of-home renaissance. Brands are creating experiences and evoking feelings through interactions with digital advertising; not only to engage their audiences, but to integrate data and technology into their targets’ day-to-day. With the rise of our connectivity, we see increased interaction between the physical outdoor assets and our mobile devices; and now we’re able to trace intelligent data to physical locations with real profiles as opposed to the billboard locations only. (more…)

Make sure your style guide is on-trend

In the rush to experiment with new media, technologies and platforms, businesses often neglect to think about how all of this affects the pillars of style that guide their core brands. Is your style guide keeping up with the latest trends? (more…)