STARMEN is pleased to share our agency has been recognized with an award from the most recent cycle of the Internet Advertising Competition, more commonly known as the IAC Awards. The honored project, our work on national nonprofit LA2DC (www.la2dc.org), has been the recipient of several awards in the past, and we are very pleased to be able to attribute further accolades to this very deserving project.

STARMEN is pleased to share our agency has been recognized with an award from the most recent cycle of the Internet Advertising Competition, more commonly known as the IAC Awards. The honored project, our work on national nonprofit LA2DC (www.la2dc.org), has been the recipient of several awards in the past, and we are very pleased to be able to attribute further accolades to this very deserving project.

What makes this award unique, though, is its emphasis on excellence in digital marketing. Unlike other programs that encompass projects across marketing platforms, the IAC pays strict attention to web development and Internet marketing. 

And for good reason! Ad spend on campaigns directed toward e-marketing initiatives is expected to surpass $137 billion in 2015. With expenditures this high, it goes without saying that the field of Internet marketing is invariably deserving of critique and scrutiny of its own accord. 

The Internet is perhaps less tangible than other, more traditional forms of marketing, yet its ambiguity is perplexed by how intertwined in our daily lives it continues to become. With our phones, laptops, desktops, and tablets, we are a society with a massive digital interdependency. 

The Web Marketing Association was formed as a direct response to this phenomenon. Since 1997 it has sought to set and maintain a high standard of excellence for this subfield of marketing. An assembly of professionals from across the industry, the WMA includes many of the top marketing, advertising, PR, and design professionals working in the field today. These individuals, distinguished by their own contributions to the industry, come together to recognize and honor the finest work being generated by agencies and individuals from all areas of the digital marketing arena. 

In fact, the WMA’s sole emphasis on digital marketing is one of the primary reasons our team at STARMEN is so honored by the distinction. It means that our work is worthy of attention and recognition when placed squarely against other work of its own kind -- apples to apples -- as opposed to other competitions where digital work is grouped and assessed against projects of other mediums.

Our client, LA2DC, approached us with a singular goal in mind: to prevent genocides by recognizing past ones, including the Armenian genocide. Our web design and development work is the result of just how deeply moved we are by our client’s unwavering and altruistic ambition. 

LA2DC is a cross country athletic event with two initiatives: perhaps first and foremost, it encourages participants to push beyond their physical limitations in an effort to remember and pay homage to communities around the world who’ve fallen victim to genocide, and second, it lobbies Congress to use its power for good in the face of the astonishing evils that are still playing out across the world.

We’d qualify our client’s work as both necessary and exceptional, and winning this award from the IACs is perhaps the best way to showcase and further spread our client’s noble mission with further audiences.

It should come as no surprise that having an idea is one thing, and actualizing that idea is entirely another. Take it from us; many are the things that serve to stand in the way of an idea coming to fruition, and what's more, these obstacles can be the difference between a truly game changing idea that comes to fruition, and one that never sees light outside your office walls. 

Ideas are what drive us forward as a people. They are paramount to progress in art, in science, and in moral society, and that’s why our team at STARMEN is pleased to share its foolproof plan for getting those ideas off the ground!

It should come as no surprise that having an idea is one thing, and actualizing that idea is entirely another. Take it from us; many are the things that serve to stand in the way of an idea coming to fruition, and what's more, these obstacles can be the difference between a truly game changing idea that comes to fruition, and one that never sees light outside your office walls. 

Ideas drive society forward. They are paramount to progress in art, in science, and in moral society, and that’s why we are pleased to share our foolproof plan for getting those ideas off the ground!

First, stand firmly behind your concept

As a general rule of thumb, the best way to help your idea take flight is by standing squarely behind it, and going at it with gusto. Consider what makes this idea worth pursuing. What will it accomplish for the betterment of the team or client? What problems does this idea solve or current gaps does it fill? Only once you can truly advocate for your idea can you fully master the art of selling that vision to motivate others to stand with you behind the cause. 

Second, blueprint your plan of action

Once you have fully wrapped your mind around the idea, you’ll be in good shape to start mapping out the steps required, including the often underthought middle parts of materializing a new idea -- the part where creative exploration gives way to the meticulous, the tedious, and the nitty gritty. It is in this lengthy, drawn out period of tireless work that most great ideas tragically fizzle. Scott Belsky, author of Making Ideas Happen and founder of online portfolio platform Behance, dubs this part of an endeavor the “project plateau.” For artistically-driven individuals, this plateau can be particularly painstaking because it is the time when creativity is at a standstill, and laborious task management is at an all-time high. As Belsky adds, “To escape this pain, we generate a new idea (and abandon the one we were working on). This process can easily repeat itself ad infinitum, without us ever finishing anything meaningful.”

Team STARMEN ardently believes that careful planning and strategic delegating can help your project avoid such a fate. By mapping out the forecast of a project, you’re allowing those involved to have a clear picture of present status and next steps, which leaves little room for doubt or lingering notions of “how will this all come together?” What’s more, when everyone on the team is weighted only with tasks they are truly competent and capable of fulfilling, they’ll be more likely to come through, leaving the team as a whole running efficiently, and the project progressing on schedule.

“All great inventions emerge from a long sequence of small sparks; the first idea often isn’t all that good, but thanks to collaboration it later sparks another idea, or it’s reinterpreted in an unexpected way. Collaboration brings small sparks together to generate breakthrough innovation.”
— Scott Belsky

Now that your vision is clarified, and a plan of action’s in place, it's time to get going! 

Third, be patient

With all of the moving pieces required to materialize your idea, it’s imperative to constantly circle back to that all-important first step. Remember why you embarked on this journey to begin with, and you’ll be much less likely to make decisions in haste or try to rush tedious parts of the process. However, there are a few steps you can take to alleviate any doubts that your venture is moving toward its target. When holding meetings with team members, be sure to commence with each person reviewing next steps for his or her respective responsibilities, as well as a brief synopsis of what each person is taking away from the meeting. This recap should be no more than 20 or 30 seconds per person, and can save immeasurable time down the road because it will confirm not only the overall productivity of your meetings (whether or not goals, feedback, and notes are being clearly communicated, for instance), but it also will help hold individual team members accountable for what they are working on.

Fourth, remain focused

This idea, with you at its helm, is premised on a single, solitary concept. Reduce cluttering that vision by remediating new ideas to the backburner. There may come a time and a place for new endeavors to roll out, and when that time comes, those new ideas will deserve the same undivided attention as the one presently before you. 

Another excellent way to remain aligned with your objectives? “Avoid a reactionary workflow,” Belsky iterates. In a typical workday, we’re inundated with messages -- from our social apps, text messages, array of email accounts, and instant messengers -- and that’s not even considering phone calls and interpersonal conversations. As such, we, as professionals, are suspended in a constant state of reaction, responding to these various entities with little time leftover for proactivity -- which is essential to moving whatever we’re working on forward. To counter this, schedule yourself time each day where you’re totally unplugged to incoming communication, and can focus on outgoing productivity. There is a time and a place for conversation and connectivity, but progress is what truly moves ideas from ethereal into the ether of reality.

It is with great pleasure that we announce we’ve received honorable distinctions from the American Web Design Awards for some of our recent client work. This competition serves as an annual showcasing of the top 100 leading digital design and communications endeavors. Each year, more than 1,000 submissions are received, spanning a variety of platforms including websites, microsites, apps, social media campaigns, and more, and we’re truly honored to have not one, but two, of our initiatives recognized in this most recent awards cycle.

It is with great pleasure that we announce we’ve received honorable distinctions from the American Web Design Awards for some of our recent client work. This competition serves as an annual showcasing of the top 100 leading digital design and communications endeavors. Each year, more than 1,000 submissions are received, spanning a variety of platforms including websites, microsites, apps, social media campaigns, and more, and we’re truly honored to have not one, but two, of our initiatives recognized in this most recent awards cycle.

The first of these plaques was earned for our work with fashion label, KAYAT Design. From designer Laila Aziz, KAYAT Design is an international, forward-thinking yet feminine fashion label that draws its inspiration from all corners of the globe. 

The second AWDA plaque was for our work with L.A. Banquets, a premier special events company with over three decades of servitude in the Greater Los Angeles area. Our work with this client has been the subject of many awards, and we’re so pleased we’re able to continue the accolades on behalf of this very valued client.

We suppose it goes without saying that the receipt of awards is only as significant as the client relationships that collaborated to earn them. We’re proud of our team’s work alongside and on behalf of each one of our clients, and look forward to maintaining such standards of excellence with each new partnership we build. We welcome you to get in touch!

Innovation is perhaps the cornerstone of our modern society, and for good reason. Innovation helps us progress; it heals us, enriches us, and entertains us. It connects us as a people in ways prior generations could never have dreamed. But all too frequently, marketers with raw ambition aim to catapult their campaigns into fresh, new territories simply to be the newest or the most different, all without a clear motive in mind.

It’s no secret that the marketplace today is vastly different from yesterday’s, and the intensity at which that is true indicates that we’re in store for even greater change come tomorrow’s. 

As an agency, STARMEN creates brand experiences every day to appeal to a wide variety of audiences, and the strategies developed from each endeavor are carefully crafted so our clients and their products receive the maximum exposure necessary to create movement. Whether that translates into social action, amplified brand awareness, or product sales, there is considerable variance in the methodologies through which each demographic is best attained.

One such target market we’ve studied extensively is the millennials. Aged 18 to 33, these individuals are coming of age, and coming together in ways never thought possible.  Often referred to as the “me” generation, millennials are frequently beleaguered with claims of a poor work ethic, technological dependency, and overall arrogance. 

But ask Snapchat CEO, Evan Siegel, and he’ll tell you that sense of entitlement is truly just his generation’s way of carving their own way through the world they are ever so slowly inheriting. It is for this very reason that millennials are impossible to ignore, and essential to truly understand. 

Here, STARMEN has identified three key objectives that make marketing to and engaging with this demographic a most rewarding endeavor:

First and foremost, master mobile.

Without question, the gentlemen and women of Gen Y go for it in life with gusto, and they are unapologetic about their place in the world. Adventure-seeking, independent, and tech-savvy, this population is as diverse as they come, but one vital element unifies them all: mobility. 

However, it’s worth noting that these active creatures are not the movers and shakers of their parents’ generation. Steadfast in their ambitions, millennials are taking the world by storm, and they won’t let anyone or anything -- not societal norms, crushing student debt, or perhaps least of all, their parents’ expectations -- stand in their way. 

And with them at every step  -- or at least 88% of them! - is a mobile device that connects them to the rest of the world in increasingly new ways. It is precisely this camaraderie between man and mobile machine that makes marketing to millennials a uniquely challenging operation. 

Thus, we think the best medium for reaching your consumers is through their trusted mobile sidekicks. This could mean you have a well-designed mobile website presence or that you’ve strategically placed ads on other mobile entities. It could mean you’re active on social media, tapping into the daily lives of millennials through comments and likes. 

Or it could mean you craft a targeted campaign that integrates your product into mobile entertainment content. Whatever your methodology, mastering the mobile landscape is essential for reaching millennials. Plain and simple.

Focus on the long-term over the short.

If your brand is having trouble communicating with this generation, it may be time to rethink your approach. As a group, millennials will not take kindly to a hard sell, particularly one for a brand or product they can’t directly relate to. Additionally, they can smell phoniness from a mile away, so your best bet is to focus on building a real, long-term rapport with this generation. Connect with them on a human level. 

While this may mean the point of sale -- the coveted return on your investment -- comes at a later time, the extent to which your company builds an authentic relationship with millennial consumers will ultimately mean the implementation of a truer, longer-term loyalty to your brand.

In other words, why be the brand they haphazardly toss into their cart on an impulse when you can be the one they drive to three different shops trying to track down? Millennials are nothing if not impassioned creatures, and that commitment will come back to you tenfold.

Tackle content in ways that prioritize connectivity over persuasion.

As a generation pillared by authenticity, millennials respond more positively and more deeply to content they perceive as being both relatable and aspirational. This means that oversaturated, highly-Photoshopped celebrity endorsements no longer plant the seed. Instead, the millennial audience seeks the opinions of their peers, a circle of confidence growing ever larger thanks to the prevalence of mobile technology and the interconnectivity provided by the Internet.

This also means that there’s room for a more conversational approach when crafting your campaigns. Successful campaigns of late have involved a shift in emphasis from the livelihoods of consumers to their personalities. Don’t talk at them, but with them. Make them laugh. Make them fall in love. Leave them in awe. Expose their quirky, mundane habits. Throw it back, and let them reminisce, or let them pitch in. Or both. 

Our takeaway point is this: appealing to their broader senses of self will help propel your brand further in the minds and hearts of millennials, and that’s the ultimate key to driving a long-term relationship with this class of consumers.

We’re innovators at heart, and our craft is one we’re consistently cultivating. As such, there are few awards more meritorious in our eyes than those that commend work that goes above and beyond the status quo in exploration of new technologies, as well as new ways of communicating with audiences the world over. 

We’re innovators at heart, and our craft is one we’re consistently cultivating. As such, there are few awards more meritorious in our eyes than those that commend work that goes above and beyond the status quo in exploration of new technologies, as well as new ways of communicating with audiences the world over.

The New Media Awards held annually by the New Media Institute is one such awards program that honors such a commitment to honoring those industry pioneers. There are five primary categories into which applicants can submit. They are: websites, mobile applications, online videos, social media profiles, and advertising campaigns. It is with pleasure that we’re able to share we’ve received the Outstanding Website Award in the category of Advocacy and Activism for our work with national nonprofit LA2DC (www.la2dc.org).

There is a uniqueness to this particular award that we believe sets it apart from others of its kind. You see, when it comes to the New Media Awards, finalists are not chosen solely on design aesthetic. Instead, they’re scrutinized more comprehensively on how design, usability, and technology unite to serve and communicate to the work’s target audience. Additionally, an agency’s size or budget is not a factor in whether or not a project is awarded, which allows for projects of all shapes and sizes to be evaluated fairly and indiscriminately. Our web design and development initiative for LA2DC has been a frequent award winner, and we’re proud to attribute yet another accolade to such a worthy organization.

It is with great gratitude that we share with you that STARMEN has received recognition from the Interactive Media Awards for two of our recent client initiatives. We were given the highest honor in the category of Advocacy -- the Best in Class -- as well as an Outstanding Achievement award in the category of Bridal and Weddings.

It is with great gratitude that we share with you that STARMEN has received recognition from the Interactive Media Awards for two of our recent client initiatives. We were given the highest honor in the category of Advocacy -- the Best in Class -- as well as an Outstanding Achievement award in the category of Bridal and Weddings.

About the IMAs

The Interactive Media Awards is a program created by the Interactive Media Council (IMC), a nonprofit assembly of industry leaders, including designers, developers, programmers, and marketers. Through its awards program, the organization seeks to recognize the highest standards of merit in the field of website design and development. 

The IMC maintains total autonomy over its extensive and rigorous judging process, which means that those who ultimately win did not do so lightly or without truly presenting a comprehensively excellent campaign. In fact, the act of honoring those agencies and individuals who each year continue to push the envelope serves to further uphold these standards of excellence, keeping the bar set high as the industry continues to pave its way into the digital unknown.

At STARMEN, we believe that striving for excellence is a futile endeavor, indeed, if the work is not motivated by a concise pairing of goals. For us, above all else, we work to drive action and results, which allows our ideas and end products to live longer, thereby facilitating measurable brand growth.

About LA2DC

The client ventures honored in this year’s IMAs are two we’re quite proud of. National nonprofit LA2DC (www.la2dc.org) is organized and supported by a community of interfaith and interracial Americans all across the country. United in the belief that genocide only serves to beget more genocide, this group is pivotal in promoting heightened sensitivity to these types of war-related atrocities. Additionally, the group tirelessly lobbies world leaders to take the necessary actions in the resolution and prevention of genocides across the world. Our work for this client was both impassioned by its admirable agenda, and motivated with a fiery tenacity to produce the most effective work possible in order to further advance this noble cause. It is our hope that this our recognition as Best in Class will allow new audiences to learn about this truly incredible organization.

About L.A. Banquets

For over 30 years, L.A. Banquets has provided for the special events needs of the Greater Los Angeles area. Their unwavering commitment to servicing each event as if it was their own celebration has allowed them to remain at the forefront of their industry, and a staple in the lives of their oftentimes repeat customers. We knew our digital work for L.A. Banquets had to not only speak to the company’s longstanding prominence, but also carve a significant presence for the company to use the Internet more efficiently as a tool to connect with customers old and new. Our receipt of the Outstanding Achievement award in the category of Bridal and Weddings validates our belief that we have truly come full circle with our goals for this initiative.

What’s in a name? Turns out, when it comes to branding, quite a lot. 

True, a name is not the substance of your company. But in a world where nearly every industry is experiencing inconceivable overcrowding, it simply doesn’t do your business any favors to have a misinformed brand name. 

What’s in a name? Turns out, when it comes to branding, quite a lot. 

True, a name is not the substance of your company. But in a world where nearly every industry is experiencing inconceivable overcrowding, it simply doesn’t do your business any favors to have a misinformed brand name. 

The first rule of naming a brand is...

There are no rules! That’s right. There is no comprehensive set of rules that can globally apply to the naming of all brands. The enterprise of naming a brand could go in a number of directions — expressive like Yahoo!, descriptive like Coffee Bean, General Motors, or Toys R Us, or completely esoteric a la Zappos, Google, or Prius. 

But rest assured, there is a method to this seemingly mad endeavor, and our team at STARMEN hopes to shed light on this typically daunting process. 

Go broad or go home.

Naming a brand is as much a science as it is an art, so experimentation and trial-and-error exploration should always be heavily exercised. Thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of names are oftentimes considered by today’s top naming firms before a winning alias is arrived at. 

“You can be cautious or you can be creative (but there’s no such thing as a cautious creative).
A creative thinker must be fearless. If you’re more tentative than decisive, if you’re more cautious
than creative, you’ll never be an innovative business leader,
and certainly not a great communicator. A cautious creative is an oxymoron.”
 —  George Lois

If this sounds dispiriting, we offer the following perspective. Your brand name is the designation your company and its products will carry through the course of its operation for the foreseeable — hopefully very long-term — future. Your name is what consumers in your marketplace will use to identify your products when discussing them with friends and making purchasing decisions. Your name will also be the first point of contact for customers new to your brand, and it can make or break buying decisions when circumstances preclude all other components of your brand strategy (its visual presentation, its social activity, and so on). With this kind of pull, it is worth your while to heavily screen potential names. Eventually, with due diligence, the right fit will grow more apparent, and you’ll be thankful you held out.

People will question your brand name. Let them.

Much like naming a baby, naming a brand opens up the floor for debate and criticism. People will like, dislike, or even feel indifferent to a name. But, so what? 

Brand naming guru, Hayes Roth, echos this sentiment in his work, and in an interview with The Atlantic. "I was interviewed multiple times when iPad was announced because it sounded to everybody like feminine products," Mr. Roth explains. "I was asked, 'Is this a disaster? Will it sink Apple?' I said it fit with their conventions. A week later, people saw the product and nobody asked the question again." 

At at the end of the day, the quality of your product will speak much more loudly and pervasively than your name ever could.  A name carries with it a certain nuanced suggestive power, but it doesn’t actually employ the key elements of your brand’s personality — its behaviors, its values, or its look and feel.

Nurture your brand, and it will grow into its own. Let it.

Ever met a newborn, learnt its name, and thought, “But… he doesn’t look like a ____.” That’s because the association we, as non-newborns, have grown to assign certain nomenclatures has yet to be established in fresh little lives. The same is true for a brand new brand. Given time, it will grow to acquire an ample repository of personality and attributes, and its name will become as much a part of that complexion as anything else. Which leads us to our final point…

Remember: your brand is a tactile, kinesthetic summation of many working parts.

Nurture it. Grace it with a logo that reflects its personality. Indoctrinate it with your company’s mission, values, and objectives. Remember that your brand is not a static entity, but a dynamic one, and the retribution you take is equal to the investment you make.