At the end of last month, Google announced sweeping changes to paid-ads on desktop search that will undoubtedly impact and alter the ecosystem of both paid and organic search. As most advertisers know, the right-side column on desktop-search results was reserved for paid-ad positions four thru 10. Not any more. Google will eliminate these ads and ONLY display paid ads at the top or bottom of the results page. (more…)
For the past six years, cyclists, runners and walkers alike have come out to participate in the Tour de Broward to raise awareness and support the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital (JDCH). This year, the Starmark Team joined the 2016 Tour de Broward to walk, run and raise awareness for this event, now in its 7th year. To date, the event helped to raise more than $500,000 to support oncology, hematology, and cardiac services at the hospital and will continue to support many other services as it grows. (more…)
In the world of traditional advertising (i.e. television and radio), reach and frequency are benchmark measurements that gauge not only the effectiveness of a campaign but also determine when an ad reaches the point of saturation. Advertisers have asked if there are similar benchmarks in the digital space that can forecast market saturation, which begs the question, do you know when your online creative has reached the point of burnout? (more…)
Are your Facebook ads successful? If you’re among the millions of businesses advertising on Facebook, then you’ve most likely questioned whether or not your ads are performing effectively. Is your image scroll-stopping? Is your copy captivating? Is your audience engaging? If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, Facebook now has the solution for you — Split Testing. (more…)
Karisma Hotels and Resorts is renowned for its signature Gourmet Inclusive® Luxury Experience in Mexico and the Caribbean. Viacom International Media Networks has delivered some of the biggest laughs and most beloved characters on Nickelodeon™. Together, they’ve partnered to bring families and fans the only 5-star Nickelodeon resort in the Caribbean, Nickelodeon Hotels and Resorts Punta Cana, which opened in the Dominican Republic in May 2016.
Starmark is proud to announce Title Sponsorship for the upcoming 2016 Pubcon South Florida Interactive Marketing Association (SFIMA) Summit in Fort Lauderdale on February 24 – 25 at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. (more…)
Playing with synchronized lighting proved to be a fun project for the Starmark Innovation Lab. Our experiment was to reproduce the types of expensive synchronized lighting systems you see at corporate events and shrink it using a smart phone as the controller and off-the-shelf internet of things light bulbs.
The idea here is not just flashing colored lights to draw attention to your trade show booth, but to synchronize the lighting directly with the video in an effort to immerse visitors into an environment with video and light as the star performers.
To get started we purchased several types of Philips Hue lights, a “standard bulb” that is typically used to replace a normal light bulb; a “bloom” wall washer; and a “strip,” used to encircle TVs or run along edges. These are all available on Amazon and at places like Home Depot so acquiring them was rather simple.
Instead of the expensive hardware controllers you need for large corporate events, we built an iOS app as a controller making it readily accessible to virtually everyone on their phone. The phone is able to “listen” to the audio and send commands to the lights to keep them in sync. Think of this as a unique audio fingerprint that’s smart enough to recognize what is being displayed on the screen.
When it comes to apps, as we have mentioned in the past when developing apps, to be successful an app has to be useful, compelling and attractive enough that people want to download it. Our lighting experiment was conceived as a marketing application and this success factor presented a challenge for us. After a quick brainstorm for a “must have” feature, we decided the best way to demonstrate our app would be to let anyone use it with their favorite movie!
We also believe that real world demonstrations make it easier to grasp new marketing concepts, and creating a platform that lets users play and experiment can lead to new thinking for these exciting technologies. You can download the Sync My Lights app for iOs and Android. Will someone please pass the popcorn?
With over 400+ million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the leading professional networking community featuring the largest localized platform to share industry updates, career opportunities and company information. However, many companies are not maximizing its greatest potential. Is your LinkedIn Company page optimized for success? (more…)
For the past few years during the winter months, Starmark has created a mega-wall billboard for Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB in the middle of Times Square — grabbing the attention of freezing New Yorkers with Hello Sunny messaging. This winter, we decided to take this big idea and make it even bigger. (more…)
The way we view content, including traditional television, is a constant evolution. Watching content on-demand shifts the dynamics and empowers consumers to watch what they want, when they want and literally on any device (television screens, desktop, laptop and mobile) of their choosing. As complex as this is, if advertisers embrace the new paradigm, the results can be pretty darn good. (more…)
Did you know that mobile devices now account for one third of all ecommerce sales in the U.S. and is expected to reach 40% globally this month? In some countries, specifically Japan and South Korea, more than 50% of eCommerce was generated by mobile transactions, and UK follows close behind at 45%. It’s staggering to think that an evolution of this proportion has occurred in just a few years and everyone wants in on the game. (more…)
Starmark’s creation of new branding for Show Management and the 2015 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show helped to support the “Best selling show in the past 10 years.” (more…)