Xcelerate Wellington Aims To Boost Area Businesses
Story and Photos by Julie Unger
When CEO Aaron Itzkowitz and CFO Alan Berkun pitched their company Jinglz LLC to the judges at Xcelerate Wellington last November, they didn’t really know what might happen. As it turned out, they walked away with a $10,000 grant after winning the business competition created by the Young Professionals of Wellington to engage and stimulate the local business community.
The Jinglz idea was pitched to a distinguished panel of area business leaders, including Mark Bellissimo, CEO of Equestrian Sport Productions; Robbin Lee, CEO of Wellington Regional Medical Center; Wellington resident and Beebo inventor Martin Hill, who appeared recently on ABC’s Shark Tank TV show; and Jeff Brown, entrepreneur in residence at Florida International University.
“We’re so excited. The nature of the project may be simplistic in its concept, but what is being built, the platform behind it, is very technically complex. It’s also going to be about big data and scalability,” Itzkowitz said of Jinglz, an app that uses proprietary technology to ensure that users are more engaged with video advertisements.
It all started about two years ago, when Itzkowtiz’s son Yoseph was watching the Super Bowl, the commercials in between the game, and realized that there was an opportunity for a business idea.
“Advertisers pay a significant amount of money for their commercials to be played during commercial breaks,” said Itzkowitz, who has a background in marketing, sales and commercializing new ideas.
They discussed the potential of gaining feedback for advertisers as a means of targeting an audience, and the idea took off.
The program, an app for phones and tablets, allows the user to watch up to four commercials at a time and be entered into a jackpot where they are guaranteed to win money. The winnings come from the money that advertisers pay to join in the program. Currently, Jinglz is set up for multiple jackpot games, with drawings every hour, and the ability to increase the frequency as needed. “It only takes 30 seconds of time to enter into a jackpot,” Itzkowitz said.
The hourly jackpot could be $40,000. First prize might win $8,000, with multiple other prizes. “You’re guaranteed to win something,” he said. “It’s almost like a Robin Hood type of story.”
The advertisers pay to participate, and Itzkowitz expects advertisers to flock to Jinglz as they realize just how targeted the program is. The audience, in turn, receives financial compensation for their feedback. Referrals and contests are also going to be built-in ways for consumers to engage with one another. Eventually, the plan is to provide feedback to marketing companies, allowing them to better target their advertisements.
“People are inundated with advertising in all walks of life. Most of the time, the advertising is not relevant to them. As much as advertisers try to promote their brand, their products or their services to an audience, they don’t truly know their real audiences,” Itzkowitz said. “Our mission is to really connect advertisers to consumers.”
Jinglz creates a way for users to engage with advertisements. The beta version of the app is expected to be available in early 2016 and is limited to 2,000 participants. After beta testing has concluded, the app will be open to more users. In the meantime, Jinglz, a portfolio company working with Miami-based Rokk3r Labs, plans to start an internship program utilizing Wellington High School students interested in marketing, advertising and social media. Interested students should e-mail info@jinglz.com for more information.
For Itzkowitz, who has attended various competitions and pitches, the Xcelerate Wellington event was organized, professional and impressive. “It was a great experience, and we are very appreciative that we took first place,” he said.
Learn more about the Jinglz concept at www.jinglz.co.
Jinglz competed against three other companies — EnergyBionics LLC, InnateRX Inc. (Bridge Builder Docs) and Lotus Psychological Center/Psychological Wellness Center — for the chance to win the grant.
“Everybody has heard about Shark Tank,” Lee said. “And to do something in our local community like this is thrilling.”
The judges were looking for a company that would contribute to Wellington’s community and beat the odds to be successful.
“When you start analyzing patterns of behaviors and strategies around, how you take a concept to a reality is really exciting to me. I love to see how people think through it,” Bellissimo said. “A great company is a combination of a great idea, with great capital and the ability to build a great team. Those three components have to be in sync for it to work.”
Hill kept his focus on the community. “My biggest thing was to find someone who is going to bring something to Wellington,” he said. “It’s all about the community. I think that’s why the Young Professionals of Wellington was developed, to enhance the community and make this place even better than it is.”
The Wellington Plaza, Equestrian Sotheby’s International Realty, the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and Rm5 Design sponsored the $10,000 grant prize.
Young Professionals President Meg Krueger was thrilled with the momentum generated by the event.
“It’s a win-win,” she said. “We can be a part of putting a great event on like this and maybe, hopefully, one of these businesses will use this money and one day become incredibly successful. That will help build Wellington. It will bring us together, but it also helps strengthen them.”
For more information about the program, visit www.xceleratewellington.com.
