COVER STORY 29 AuguSt 2022 www.goodnewsfl.org good News • South Florida Edition high production values.” Interestingly, Hughes also did some acting for Campbell in the early years to help pay the bills while he was in grad school. Stephan Tchividjian, president of the National Christian Foundation South Florida where Mark Alfieri serves on the board, said, “Over the past 20 years, I have only known a humble and generous Mark, who has used his God given talent to honor God. Mark’s willingness to think creatively while being a student of leadership has made him someone that others want to emulate. I have a pen in my hand when Mark speaks and often walk away from my conversations enriched and better.” Servant leadership BrandStar put that leadership to work when tragedy struck at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14, 2018. Five BrandStar employees had someone at the school, including Campbell’s son. Partnering with the BeStrong, a nonprofit combatting bullying, BrandStar recorded and aired a segment sharing a message of hope from Columbine High School Shooting Survivor Crystal Miller including interviews from local students, helping them process the event and bring comfort. Two years later BrandStar honored a Marjorie Stoneman Douglas hero on their popular TV show “Military Makeover,” hosted by Montel Williams. They orchestrated a makeover on the home of Debra Hixon, wife of Chris Hixon, the athletic director at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and a retired Navy veteran who died when he went back into the school and tried to save lives. More than 200 of Hixon’s friends and supporters came out for the big reveal. Carol A. Ray, founder, president and CEO of Gateway Community Outreach, an economic crisis intervention program, recalls she first met Doug Campbell at BrandStar the day of the Parkland shooting. “He carried out the whole meeting with me and in a matter of months he was on our board. Now he is very active in what we do.” Ray said, “The thing that was so impactful about that meeting was how they really wanted to work with charities to help and back them up in whatever way they can. It was one of their main goals besides obviously running a beautiful, successful business. And I was thrilled when I was asked to go on the tour, and I saw on one of the monitors that they had Joel Osteen as one of their clients. It seemed you could feel the peace and the presence of God… I think both of them, Mark and Doug, come up with fantastic visions of what they want to do, and they never forget about the people that are out there helping others.” Chris Gentile, Co-CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Broward, agreed, “BrandStar has been good partners with us and done a lot with our kids, showing them different career opportunities.” BrandStar participates in the Boys and Girls Clubs’ annual career day and have invited 40 to 50 teens to spend the day at their facility learning about their industry, social media marketing and branding work. “The kids get to experience what it would be like to work at BrandStar, and they love it,” said Gentile. “Obviously, this generation loves social media. They love opportunities to do things on YouTube and Instagram and just to see how BrandStar does this for clients. And the TV production, a lot of kids are interested in this technology and want to make careers out of this, so they were very fascinated.” For a while, Todd Paton, president of Paton Marketing, a BrandStar company, served on the board at the Boys and Girls Clubs, and Gentile said, “He did a bunch for us social media wise, specifically around membership marketing. His target marketing campaign two years ago generated about 450 new members for the club. They also introduced us to a partner who gave us a donation toward scholarships. They filmed a segment about it at their studio, which we were able to showcase to our donors, and it helped us expand our reach.” Gentile said, “We have a lot of businesses who volunteer at the club or give financial donations, which is important, but when an organization does more than that by making connections and getting involved on the ground floor, its really special to see them giving their time, talent and treasure.” Recently, BrandStar took an all-inclusive look at Live the Life South Florida for the kickoff of their 10-year initiative entitled “All In” for marriages and families, which is designed to transform Broward County for the better through healthy relationship education. “My first encounter with BrandStar was when I heard Mark Alfieri speak at a Lifework Leadership event,” said Lisa May, executive director of Live the Life South Florida. Then during COVID, BrandStar filmed the livestream event and charities for StrikeForce 421, a giving circle from whom Live the Life received a grant. “Ultimately, I went to them because of what I had seen personally,” May said. “They seemed to really care about what the mission was, so that increased my confidence to go ahead. It’s been a significant investment for us, but I think it will have been worth it.” BrandStar Studios produced a short film for the “All In” launch, Krepps PR, a BrandStar company, is assisting them with messaging, and a team is working on their website. “They are totally immersed,” said May. Admitting the process “has not been without bumps,” she said, “they have exceeded what our agreement was, which doesn’t happen very often. I have respect for them and think they are hugely talented.” Tchividjian acknowledged, “The whole marketing and branding space can easily get a bad name; however, BrandStar’s team, under the leadership of Mark and Doug, are exceptional, and their ability to strive for excellence is why I loudly applaud them.” BrandStar displays more than 135 Telly Awards received for their video and television productions.
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