Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal
The answer is: Maybe today, but probably not in 2016. The waves of change are lapping against the accepted tenets of research, marketing and advertising at hurricane speed. (more…)
Following months of top-secret planning in anticipation of Florida’s marriage equality ruling, Starmark and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) rolled out the rainbow carpet with a ground-breaking LGBT campaign titled “Love is Love.”
The campaign, which was created within the GFLCVB’s popular Hello Sunny brand, was the first of its kind, inviting 100 couples of all loves to exchange vows on beautiful Fort Lauderdale Beach. Elements included videos, print and digital ads touting the headline “Finally, We All Do,” and a microsite where couples could enter to win a trip and hotel stay, and take part in the sunrise ceremony.
At the Love is Love ceremony, (which took place January 6, 2015 – just one month after the court ruling) NSYNC member and Dancing with the Stars alum Lance Bass delivered a moving address on the meaning of love as the event’s official “Love is Love” ambassador with his new husband Michael Turchin. He also posted about the event on his social media channels. A highlight of the ceremony was the pronouncement that the couples were all legally married, which was commemorated with an all out beach ball toss.
The campaign captured the hearts of viewers, and the press, with Passport Magazine creating a touching video recapping the event.
As Google continues to improve its personalized search results, it’s becoming nearly impossible to implement and deploy standardized Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Results are more customized with the staggering influx of factors affecting those results including demographic information, geolocation, search history, device type and even social personas.
With the millennial market continuing to be a major target audience for travel and hospitality, Starmark created a new campaign for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau that is geared toward this generation that represents 25% of the United States population. (more…)
Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal.
Most brand marketers saw value in 6.5-second Vine videos targeting teens when they first came out two years ago. However, those days of teen exclusivity are gone. Vine is one of the fastest-growing media channels for Millennials (18 to 30-something) with nearly 350 billion loop views in the last nine months. (A loop is the term used for each time a video is played on Vine.) Where Millennials go, so, too, will older age groups. (more…)
Since our previous eTip about Local Search, we find times have changed and local-search-engine optimization (local SEO) is undergoing a social revolution! (more…)
Greater Fort Lauderdale (GFL) needed a distinctive positioning and a brand-defining campaign that would differentiate it from Palm Beach, Miami and Key West (its closest competitors) and promote the destination both domestically and internationally. The campaign also needed to drive traffic to sunny.org, create desire and ultimately increase hotel bookings.
Starmark created the award-winning “Hello Sunny” campaign to develop an entirely new identity for the destination. Hello Sunny took advantage of every medium to brand Greater Fort Lauderdale as a state of mind – relaxed, carefree and happy go lucky. Hello Sunny represents the deeply personal moment when a visitor mentally arrives on vacation. Greater Fort Lauderdale gives you permission to relax and let your sunny side shine through. The new GFL brand resonates with all audiences, and was communicated seamlessly through an integration of print ads, a Fort Lauderdale Vacation Planner, web, social media, TV and outdoor.
Consumer activations have also been a major component of the Hello Sunny brand. Starmark has created and implemented several Brand Bridging events in New York City, Chicago, Boston and Washington D.C., as well as Toronto, London and Sao Paulo. Engagement ranged from free ice skating and pedi cab rides, to 3D sidewalk chalk and a beach on wheels. In each city, Hello Sunny welcomed passersby with a warm smile and a very cool vibe — giving the brand an immeasurable global presence.
In the three years since the Hello Sunny launch, GFL has seen unprecedented results with year-over-year growth in occupancy. Last year (2014) more than 14 million people visited Broward and spent $11.4 billion, tourism records show. That increased from 13.4 million visitors and $10.6 billion in spending in 2013. Winter 2015 was another record breaker for both occupancy and ADR. This is the 4th month in a row that GFL has been the #1 destination in Florida in terms of occupancy. And 2015 is record breaking and outpacing 2014 overall.
Sunny.org has also experienced tremendous success. In the months following the launch, website traffic increased by 5%, as did time spent on the site, which went from an average 2:43 minutes to 5:01 minutes. Traffic to hotels page increased by 21%, and sunny.org hotel bookings increased by 54%.
The campaign has also garnered numerous awards including a record number of Flaglers, Addys, a Smartie, Marcom, Hermes and Communicator.
The Mall at Millenia, Orlando’s world-class shopping destination, is a spectacularly designed 1.2 million-square-foot center, offering 150 of the world’s finest stores, services and eateries. The Forbes Company, owner and manager of the mall, sought a redesigned website to showcase the mall’s fusion of cutting-edge fashion and world-class shopping, as well as the exceptional guest service. (more…)
At CES this month, there were 900 exhibitors promoting the Internet of Things, also know as The Internet of Everything. Samsung’s CEO said “the Internet of Things is no longer science fiction, but science fact.”
As the ever-changing landscape of marketing evolves, getting a glimpse into what’s coming can help marketers prepare and stay ahead of the curve in connecting with their customers and capturing new ones as well. (more…)
Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal.
With most CEOs and company leaders engaging their employees and the community through the use of social media, 2015 will be a good year to either initiate or expand your efforts in this arena. (more…)
In Q3 of 2014, Facebook reported a staggering $3.2 billion in ad revenue.
The biggest challenge that businesses face when advertising in Facebook is the bidding wars that result from competing advertisers driving up the prices of one ad to reach that coveted target. The price you pay is dictated by this bidding structure, think of Google Adwords a few years ago; so as more and more compete, the prices rise and so does our advertising budget. (more…)
Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal.
Marketers planning for the twists and turns of change in 2015 have to consider a plethora of opportunities. Being in front of the curve is no longer an option; it is a requirement for marketers to be passionately, even radically, prepared. (more…)