COVER STORY 28 AuguSt 2022 www.goodnewsfl.org good News • South Florida Edition A highly successful production studio and integrated marketing company, BrandStar is using its forces for good, supporting local charities and going beyond to impact the South Florida community. Founded by Christian businessmen Mark Alfieri and partner Doug Campbell, BrandStar’s client list includes fortune 500 companies such as Home Depot, Microsoft, Ford, Amazon and Google, and local clients such as the Levan Center of Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University. Yet they’ve also harnessed their talent behind nonprofits, giving back to the community through organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, Gateway Community Outreach, Live the Life South Florida, BeStrong, Kids in Distress and 4KIDS, among many others. In the TV production business for close to 30 years, BrandStar’s founders made their mark on what they call branded education, through programs such as Access Health, The Balancing Act, Designing Spaces, Military Makeover and Inside the Blueprint. The focus of each show is connecting people to brands so they can do life better. They also work in partnership with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment on a show called Going for Broke, starring Ashton Kutcher. As you walk into their 43,000 square foot, state-of-theart facility in Deerfield Beach, you can’t help but notice their prominent display of Telly Awards, 137 in all, honoring the video and television production for these shows, which air on the Lifetime Television Network and are syndicated to over 200 stations around the country. Recognized as South Florida’s largest production studio, BrandStar Studios recently invested millions in technology and equipment to provide in camera virtual production, augmented reality and mixed reality capabilities utilizing state-of-the-art LED walls and the unreal gaming engine. “We can basically put anyone, anywhere, in real-time,” said Alfieri. “The combination of equipment and technology makes us a true next-generation studio comparable to the most sophisticated movie studios in California.” Beyond the studio, BrandStar has developed into a fully integrated production company, marketing agency, and content exchange platform. The company has grown both organically and through strategic acquisition to develop what they call the BrandStar ecosystem, consisting of 37 brands within 16 operating divisions. “The whole concept of BrandStar is vertical integration,” said Alfieri. “The idea is to build an ecosystem where a brand can walk into the door, and we can do everything from building their brand architecture – that’s the I Lab team – to developing creative assets. If it's a TV commercial, BrandStar Studios. If it's a social media campaign, BrandStar Agency. If it's PR for the brand, it's Krepps PR. With everything about the go-to-market strategy of the brand, we continue to bolt on other divisions. We even have BrandStar Connect, which can do outbound telemarketing, outbound customer service to help brands figure out what customers are saying about their brand or help sell products or services…. You don’t need to hire 10 different companies. You can hire BrandStar and we can quarterback.” Hitting the reset button However, it’s BrandStar’s mission of positively impacting lives that sets it apart. After more than 12 years in business, BrandStar hit the reset button in 2018, intentionally determining to drive the company culture first. “We came up with our company values and decided we were going to run this company like a family, people first, with a culture of accountability,” said Alfieri. “We even hired a full-time communication coach to teach people healthy communication, mutual respect and lean into difficult conversations instead of running to talk around the water cooler.” Since then, the company has grown from 80 employees to about 350. Campbell explained, “We use the word TRAITS – Teamwork, Respect, Accountability, Integrity, Trust and Service. We started to define these core values and not just speak about it, but we really made sure that we lived it out and we did things.” This passion for making a difference became BrandStar CARES, an active committee of BrandStar staff who come together to support local nonprofits and go beyond to impact their South Florida community. It’s no surprise this move came shortly after both Campbell and Alfieri graduated from Lifework Leadership, a program designed to give Christian business leaders a clear understanding of their calling, connect them with other Christian influencers and captivate them with a desire to utilize their God-given influence for the good of the city. Describing BrandStar as a secular company that deploys Christian values, Alfieri admits, “Everything has been learned by us from our experience going through Lifework Leadership. I’m also in CEO groups and on boards of impact organizations (such as the National Christian Foundation and Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale), but for me this is the ministry. This is our mission field.” Campbell grew up in the church and has attended Church by the Glades (CBG) with his family. He describes CBG Pastor David Hughes as a positive influence in his life, and said they looked to Church by the Glades as a model when first installing LED screens at BrandStar. “Doug is a good guy and has been with us for years,” said Pastor Hughes. “He told me what caught his attention with CBG was what he called a “wow factor” – that we presented a clear, uncompromising biblical message with very Creating a Culture to Positively Impact Lives, BrandStar Gladly Pays It Forward Shelly Pond Good News Editor Mark Alfieri, Founder & CEO BrandStar, and Doug Campbell, Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer
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