North Star Marketing Earns Four 2026 dotCOMM Awards, Including Platinum for Stella

FISHERS, Ind. — August 10, 2026 — North Star Marketing, LLC has earned four honors in the 2026 dotCOMM Awards, including a Platinum Award for Stella: The North Star Integrated Intelligence System.

North Star Marketing is the only marketing firm in Indiana to receive a Platinum Award in the 2026 competition and the most-awarded marketing firm in the state, receiving one Platinum Award, two Gold Awards and one Honorable Mention.

The firm was recognized for:

• PLATINUM — Stella: The North Star Integrated Intelligence System
  Digital Marketing & Communication Campaigns | Interactive Brand Experience
• GOLD — Capstone Rail Website Redesign
  Website | Redesign |  CapstoneRail.com
• GOLD — North Star Marketing
  Website | Marketing, PR, Advertising, Digital Agency
• HONORABLE MENTION — i3 Manufacturing Website
  Website | Manufacturing |  i3mfg.com

North Star’s highest honor went to Stella: The North Star Integrated Intelligence System, which received Platinum recognition in the Interactive Brand Experience category.

Stella was developed as more than a traditional website chatbot or standalone artificial intelligence feature. The system is designed to connect a company’s digital presence, brand knowledge, services, customer questions, lead-generation process and marketing infrastructure into one integrated experience.

“Stella started with a pretty simple question: What happens when a website actually understands the company behind it?” said Tim Riethmiller, Principal and Lead Marketing Strategist at North Star Marketing. “Not just the words on the website, but the brand, the services, the customer and what that person is actually trying to accomplish. We wanted to build something that could become part of the marketing infrastructure itself. Receiving Platinum for Stella is an incredible validation of that direction.”

The recognition also extended across North Star Marketing’s website development work.

The complete redesign of CapstoneRail.com earned a Gold Award in the Website Redesign category. The project rebuilt Capstone Rail’s digital presence around the needs of developers, contractors and commercial construction partners while creating a stronger platform for projects, services, industries, search visibility and lead generation.

North Star Marketing’s own website received a second Gold Award in the Marketing, PR, Advertising, Digital Agency category.

The firm also received an Honorable Mention for the i3 Manufacturing website in the Manufacturing category.

“What makes these four awards especially meaningful is how different the work is,” Riethmiller said. “Stella is interactive technology. Capstone Rail is commercial construction. i3 is manufacturing. Then there is our own brand and website. Each one had a completely different audience, purpose and strategy behind it.”

The four recognitions reflect North Star Marketing’s broader approach to building marketing systems rather than treating websites, content, search, branding, public relations and technology as separate efforts.

“A website cannot just look good anymore,” Riethmiller said. “It has to help people find the company, understand it, trust it and take the next step. Everything has to work together. That is really what we are trying to build for our clients.”

About the dotCOMM Awards

The dotCOMM Awards is an international competition honoring excellence in web creativity and digital communication. The competition recognizes work across websites, interactive experiences, digital marketing, social media, content, video, applications and other forms of digital communication.

Entries are evaluated by judges from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), an independent organization that has judged more than 300,000 entries since its formation in 1994.

Entries receiving scores of 90 to 100 earn Platinum recognition, scores of 80 to 89 receive Gold, and scores of 70 to 79 receive Honorable Mention. There may be multiple winners—or no winners—within an individual category.

About North Star Marketing

North Star Marketing, LLC is a boutique marketing firm based in Fishers, Indiana, specializing in deeply integrated marketing strategy and execution.

The firm works across digital development, brand strategy, SEO and generative search optimization, content development, social media management, public relations, analytics, creative development and emerging marketing technology.

North Star Marketing is also the developer of The North Star Integrated Intelligence System, the framework behind Stella and future client-specific intelligent brand experiences.