A client shifted its market focus — and needed a new brand to support it.
Situation
A client with a long history in the ophthalmology space found itself at a crossroads: It had established a reputation as a leader in osmolarity testing, but planned to expand into the broader realm of corneal health. It made a bold decision to rebrand from the foundation up – including changing its name.
Goals
Successfully navigate the company through this crucial transition
Develop a new name aligned with the company’s goals
Create a new logo, identity package, brand guidelines and graphic standards
Relaunch the brand with a campaign that explained the new name, communicated the expansion into corneal health, and elevated the company’s brand presence
Launch the new brand in time for an important annual trade show
Strategy
Equipped with an extensive depth of experience in the vision and ophthalmology space, Schaefer drew up a plan to move the client forward quickly. We began to develop the new name and identity, while simultaneously crafting the preliminary advertising concepts and media strategies. Executing these efforts in tandem would enable us to meet aggressive deadlines and accelerate time to market — while ensuring that everyone had adequate time for development, review and revision of all the pieces of the puzzle.
Solution
The company relaunched under the name Trukera, derived from “true + cornea”. This enabled Trukera to emphasize its total commitment to corneal care in bringing solutions to market that help providers objectively diagnose, manage and advance the health of the cornea. The color choice behind the logo’s green color palette was especially intentional, as a nod to the coloring of a healthy cornea found on a topographic map.
The new advertising campaign unveiled the company’s evolved focus with a memorable tagline: It’s amazing how much rides on something so small. The accompanying images depicted the 12mm diameter of the average cornea.
Along the way, Schaefer added touches to lift the client’s advertising above the competition. For example, we chose a color scheme that broke the sea of blue that typified the industry. In addition, our creative executions diverted from the industry norm of depicting close-up images of the eye. The result: Bold, simple and clear creative that cut through the clutter.
Results
By pursuing the naming and creative portions of the assignment in tandem, Schaefer helped the client launch in time for the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) show. The new name and strategy garnered a positive response from both new and existing customers.
Summary
Schaefer leveraged expertise in healthcare, brand strategy, and design to move the client forward quickly, and differentiate them from a crowded landscape of “look alike” brands. By clearly defining its focus and standing apart from the clutter, Trukera is on a solid path for staking out its territory in the realm of corneal care.
Bringing the conversation to light around depression and suicide so that no one suffers in darkness
In 2014, the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation was created on the principle of bringing the conversation to light around mental health, specifically depression and suicide, after the tragic loss of Jordan Elizabeth Harris. Suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States with approximately 1.2 million suicide attempts every year. Yet the stigma around depression and suicide remains. In order to fight these harrowing statistics, Schaefer had the honor of partnering with the JEHF in 2022 to support and promote their second Light the Trail Ride.
The Ride: A 1,800 mile journey of hope
The Light the Trail Ride is a cross country biking excursion that is supported by riders and donors who wish to pledge their time and support to bring awareness and reduce the stigma of depression and suicide. It is the cornerstone effort of the JEHF and the ride strives to encourage supporters to share their stories and give others all over the country a safe place to speak about their experiences with mental health. Between the two rides in 2017 and 2022, The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation has raised significant funding and awareness around the gravity of this topic and been able to support continued research focused on treating depression, suicide prevention training, creating resources and facilitating education opportunities.
L: Charlie Howlett, Deb Zinderler (Z2 Marketing) and Cory Zimmerman (Z2 Marketing) R: Tom & Ellen Harris, Founders of the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation
Schaefer had the privilege of serving as the marketing partner of LTTR to promote their second ride in 2022. They came to us with a challenge in lack of awareness and support of the their efforts, and we were able to work together through strategic planning, digital asset development and collateral material creation to re-launch the Ride because it aligns with our values as an agency and we were able to share our expertise and skillset. In addition, Schaefer saw the opportunity to bring this crucial event to life in the eyes of more people through a documentary film and trailer. Available budget was an obstacle, however Schaefer was compelled to support this initiative and solicited a like minded partner out of Milwaukee, WI called Z2 Marketing who was willing to provide supporting video production services in exchange for involvement with this powerful initiative. Schaefer was able to donate the remainder of investment to continue bringing the Light the Trail mission to life. What followed was the production of a documentary that captures the riders along their journey in addition to their own personal, compelling stories. This video further advances the mission of Light the Trail and the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, and Schaefer’s goal through these collective efforts was to walk alongside this inspirational team to make their event a success and champion their cause.
User experience and activation of the #Ride4 effort
Another key motivator around the effort is the promotion and honor of the #Ride4’s of each rider and the community at large. This is a unique way that the riders and the foundation overall can bring the stories forward of loved ones whos lives have been tragically taken as a result of suicide. Schaefer had a unique opportunity to strategize the best way to promote the submission of Ride4’s and prioritize their position on the website to encourage form fills and subsequent promotion of these empowering tributes on the LTT social media pages.
Schaefer implemented numerous functional and user experience updates to create a more seamless tool to promote and accept donations in advance of the ride, as well as encourage Ride4 submission and sponsorship form fill. In addition to these optimizations, Schaefer also streamlined the Foundation’s existing CRM to further encourage passionate individuals to get involved with the next Ride and the Foundation overall.
Elevating the user experience and showcasing excellence
In addition to digital services, it was important to the client that Schaefer provide traditional marketing services that properly married the digital presence with the real life iteration of the brand and its mission. The Schaefer Account Service and Creative team worked closely alongside the Foundation’s team to ensure a delivery of marketing support materials that communicated the very real impact that mental health has on people and manifested this in printed one pager material, bike shop promotional flyers, and a rebuild of the LTT primary logo for 2022 that would support ongoing efforts for the team internally as they navigated the route in real time.
Overall, the sentiment behind this impactful project is the direct alignment with Schaefer’s mission and ultimate goal to Make Life Better. It’s at the core of what we do and a foundational piece of how we interact with and serve our clients, our partners, and our colleagues inside and outside of work. The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation and the Light the Trail initiative are a real life embodiment of this mission and we’re proud to call them partners in work that truly matters, and to have played a small part in making this event a success.
Get involved or share your story
Whether you participate in a future Light the Trail Ride, make a donation, or share a story, you are helping bring the conversation around mental illness and suicide awareness to light and bringing us one step closer to living in a world where suicide is never the choice.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, help is available. Please dial 988 for support via the suicide prevention hotline.
Crafting a distinctive brand and web presence for Bennett Partners
At Schaefer, we embarked on a meaningful partnership with Bennett Partners, an esteemed architecture, interiors, and planning firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. Guided by their unwavering dedication to responsible preservation and urban design, Bennett Partners strives to create sustainable spaces that enhance and sustain communities. What began as an initiative to enhance their website and showcase their award-winning work evolved into a comprehensive brand refresh, a testament to our shared commitment.
Navigating transitions and embracing a thoughtful ethos
Recognizing Bennett Partners’ esteemed reputation and shared mission to improve lives within the Fort Worth community, we embarked on a collaborative journey with their team of award-winning designers. This partnership provided a unique opportunity to collaborate with like-minded creatives who valued a strategic approach. Following the departure of a former partner, our goal was to develop a new brand identity that authentically reflected Bennett Partners’ thoughtful ethos, starting with a strategic renaming process.
Our recommendation was to preserve the equity of the original name, Bennett Benner Partners, by preserving the namesake Bennett as a prominent element. Thus, the name Bennett Partners was chosen, capturing the essence of a collective of passionate partners united by their mission and dedication to thoughtful design.
From typography to tone: crafting an approachable identity
We meticulously crafted a comprehensive system of logos and a versatile color palette, offering both flexibility and consistency. Our brand design centered around sophistication, simplicity, and purpose, harmonizing seamlessly with Bennett Partners’ core values. The logo showcases a modern, customized typeface that enhances the letterforms, set in lowercase to reflect the brand’s friendly and approachable nature. The secondary logo variation was refined to include “architecture, interiors, planning,” providing clarity about the services offered. Our expanded color palette embraces softer, thoughtful, and intricate color variations, featuring shades of blue and orange that distinguish Bennett Partners within the industry. These colors effortlessly integrate into diverse project plans and graphics. Additionally, we established a comprehensive brand toolkit, empowering Bennett Partners to effectively convey their unique identity.
Elevating the user experience and showcasing excellence
Following the brand refresh, Bennett Partners sought a website redesign that would seamlessly showcase their exceptional work, engage users, and mirror their commitment to responsible architecture and community impact. Frustrated by their previous website’s inability to communicate their core values and meet their business needs, the objective of the new website was clear: effectively communicate their mission, prioritize their team members, and empower them to effortlessly showcase new projects. The final website encompasses key elements such as a visually striking portfolio, improved organization and categorization, seamless content management, responsive design, and personalized employee pages. Our team at Schaefer delivered a fully customized website with a clean and flexible modular system, enhancing navigation and user interaction to improve their online presence and reinforce their position as an industry leader.
Results
The partnership between Schaefer and Bennett Partners led to a successful transformation of their brand and website, capturing their expertise and unwavering commitment to responsible architecture. Through the reimagined brand identity, Bennett Partners’ captivating story resonates, attracting new business opportunities within their region. By collaborating closely with our team, Bennett Partners achieved a brand and website presence that authentically reflects their excellence in architecture and design, solidifying their position as a leading firm within the industry.
Amplifying Perot Jain’s impact with the perfect balance of strategy, design, and technology
Perot Jain, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage capital funding, is intentional about investing in innovative companies that are developing disruptive, best-in-class solutions. Founded by the collaboration of Ross Perot, Jr. and Anurag Jain, Perot Jain focuses on funding leading-edge companies in the mobility innovation, healthcare, and real estate sectors. With a long history of entrepreneurial success and a strong infrastructure in place, Perot Jain sought to convey their unique approach to venture capital. Unlike other firms, their investment support goes beyond capital and extends to mentorship, access, and alliances within the Perot and Jain family of companies, including Access Healthcare, Hillwood, and the Mobility Innovation Zone. It became evident they needed to enhance their brand identity, create a distinct positioning, and develop a new website that would effectively communicate their unique value proposition.
Through their relationship with Hillwood and the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone, Perot Jain had already established a rapport with Schaefer, leading them to choose the agency for this significant brand transformation initiative. With a shared vision, Perot Jain and Schaefer embarked on a journey to redefine the venture capital firm’s brand strategy, positioning, and visual identity, ultimately showcasing their commitment to investing in and mentoring disruptive companies that have the potential to shape the future.
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From mission to position: uncovering Perot Jain’s unique differentiators
Schaefer initiated a full brand strategy initiative, delving into Perot Jain’s organizational mission and identifying their unique positioning compared to other VC firms. Collaboratively, the team identified the key values and advantages that set Perot Jain apart: collaboration, authenticity, a straightforward approach, leadership, entrepreneurial success, strong infrastructure, and partnerships/alliances. This thorough understanding formed the basis for a strategy that would effectively communicate Perot Jain’s strengths and resonate with their target audience. The strategy aimed to convey success stories and the current portfolio, positioning Perot Jain as an organization focused on investing in innovative companies aligned with their parent organizations’ business goals.
Building on the strategic foundation, Schaefer developed a brand archetype recommendation, selecting the Hero archetype. This choice aligned with Perot Jain’s commitment to investing in and mentoring innovative companies that aim to improve their industries and the world. This archetype dovetailed seamlessly into the positioning recommendation, Transformational, and a powerful positioning statement that highlighted the art and science of experienced entrepreneurialism, emphasizing Perot Jain’s role in driving transformative change.
Uniting Perot Jain’s positioning with a captivating brand identity and website
To visually represent the brand, Schaefer designed a logo and brand identity that perfectly balanced the Perot and Jain family names. The logo mark, a harmonious integration of ‘P’ and ‘J,’ symbolized the partnership between Perot Jain and the companies they support. The customized letterforms, with their subtly rounded edges, reinforced the logo mark and evoked a sense of balance and synergy. The animated version of the logo added dynamism and represented movement within the brand.
With the positioning and brand identity as a solid foundation, the website was crafted to build the brand’s presence online. The website’s information architecture (IA) was thoughtfully developed to feature Perot Jain’s portfolio of companies, leveraging the legacy of Perot and Jain ventures and driving a holistic conversation. The modular page structure empowered Perot Jain to easily expand and update content, ensuring long-term scalability and independence. The comprehensive portfolio system showcased Perot Jain’s wide-ranging investments, offering a clear demonstration of their expertise. The visually captivating website, with its compelling imagery, videos, and clean typography, wowed potential clients and instilled trust and credibility. The website’s design, catering to both desktop and mobile experiences seamlessly, ultimately provided a modern and future-ready platform.
Results: driving success and solidifying market presence
The results of this brand transformation were significant. Perot Jain’s new brand identity positioned them as a global competitor, attracting potential customers and garnering increased visibility among relevant venture capital partners. Perot Jain now has a solid foundation for all future communications, driving continued success in attracting high-quality deals and fostering partnerships that align with their growth goals. In essence, Schaefer’s partnership with Perot Jain exemplifies the transformative power of strategic brand positioning and creative excellence. By combining insights, innovative design, and a client-centric approach, Schaefer has enabled Perot Jain to elevate their brand to new heights, solidifying their position as a trailblazing force within the venture capital landscape.
With over 40 years of experience, VoidForm Products is a trusted business specializing in customized, innovative carton void forms that protect structures from the damaging impact of expansive soils. Their extensive range of products is designed to provide added fortification during concrete foundation pouring, offering a cost-effective and reliable solution for both residential and large-scale commercial projects. Though sales were strong, VoidForm faced the challenge of an outdated and disjointed brand ecosystem encompassing the parent brand and over 20 sub-brands. Recognizing the need for a modern, scalable, and cohesive brand strategy to support their increased business goals, VoidForm partnered with Schaefer Advertising to position themselves as an industry thought-leader and support the expansion of their products and services.
Embracing VoidForm’s unique circumstances as a long-standing enterprise, Schaefer recognized the challenge of working with a brand ecosystem that was built over time. VoidForm had yet to take a comprehensive top-down view of their branding and marketing approach and how it could support the future of the business. Schaefer served as a pivotal partner for this rapidly growing company, providing support during leadership changes, aligning their history and success with a modern approach, and creating a future-focused brand strategy and web presence for sustained growth.
Elevating protection and stability: uncovering VoidForm’s key differentiators and core values
Schaefer embarked on a comprehensive brand refresh, starting with an assessment of the brand positioning and hierarchy. This strategic approach began with a deep dive into VoidForm’s brand landscape, including identifying key differentiators for the company and each product, reflecting on the company’s core values, and understanding key target audiences and what compels them.
As a result, the Hero archetype was selected as the perfect fit for VoidForm. This archetype captured VoidForm’s commitment to delivering best-in-class solutions and leading the industry with products that outperformed the competition. To complement this, Schaefer introduced the powerful positioning of “Safeguard” into VoidForm’s brand language, embodying the essence of their products which provide an invaluable measure of protection and stability in expansive or complex soil structures with customizable, easy-to-install, quality forms.
Building upon this foundation, brand language was enhanced to include the main line “Protect Your Project,” which positioned the product appropriately and served as a strong call to action. The brand voice was defined as determined, confident, innovative, dependable, trustworthy and approachable, which served to influence the way the brand is expressed in writing.
Unifying identity and differentiation: the cohesive visual system for VoidForm
Schaefer implemented a cohesive visual system that combined the branded house and sub-brands strategies, enabling VoidForm to effectively showcase their individual product offerings while maintaining brand recognition. The brand system was built to support the seamless integration of new products, allowing VoidForm the ability to easily launch new, innovative solutions and meet the needs of their customers. The logos were designed to be simple, functional, and easily recognizable, with the updated mark serving as a monogram of their initials where the negative space creates a void – a key feature behind the strength of each product. The vibrant orange color, an integral part of their original palette, honored their history while presenting a modern and impactful identity. A comprehensive guideline was created to ensure long-term internal alignment and consistent brand usage across all products.
Embracing creativity, enhancing user experience: the transformative website redesign
To complete the brand transformation, Schaefer tackled the challenge of creating a visually stunning and user-friendly website for VoidForm. Despite the initial lack of strong image assets, the team embraced creativity and ingenuity by utilizing stock imagery to develop custom brand assets inspired by VoidForm’s products. The website redesign resulted in an appealing and intuitive interface that catered to both laypersons and experienced engineers, effectively conveying information and specifications while providing an engaging user experience. Integration with Google Analytics supported awareness, engagement, and lead generation objectives, while the addition of a gated content section facilitated the seamless migration of existing coursework and offerings. The implementation of a content management system empowered VoidForm’s internal team to easily update and maintain the website for long-term adaptability.
Results
The collaboration between Schaefer and VoidForm during a pivotal time yielded remarkable outcomes. Overall, Schaefer’s partnership with VoidForm Products supported their growth by aligning their history and success with a modernized brand strategy and web presence. The new brand system and website positioned VoidForm as an industry leader, and the comprehensive implementation and widespread adoption of the brand by the internal team demonstrated the empowering strength and impact of the brand refresh initiative.
We all see and feel the challenges facing companies of all sizes in today’s business landscape. We see it across all of our business verticals and within our own walls. As an agency with 27 years in the business we have also seen that challenges like this often beget opportunity IF you can embrace it with the right mindset.
In order to grow our agency and navigate this ever-evolving industry, we believe being proactive and investing in our leadership is essential to our success. We launched a new program called the Make Life Better Leadership Series and though this inaugural workshop may be the first in a new series, it’s really the embodiment of a larger initiative at Schaefer called Schaefer University. It started with a need to gather training documents for onboarding and best practices and has grown into a philosophy of continued learning and exploration for the whole agency. We strive to be experts in our field, and in that effort, we have to be open and curious about the “what” and “how” we pursue knowledge.
Schaefer University acts as a platform for exploration, training and teaching. It keeps each of us focused on the pursuit of better instead of simply complacent with what’s been done. It’s a reminder for each of us to look for ways to learn and step into challenges with curiosity and humility. If we want to provide a dynamic environment for people to work, we have to embrace this mindset of pursuing knowledge and sharing experiences.
This workshop was created with the goal of making our purpose as an agency – to Make Life Better – tangible, and we set out to empower and equip our leaders, partners and a few clients to step into some of the shared challenges of this industry with a shared goal. We saw it as an incredible way to create opportunities to collaborate from a space of shared experience.
We had the pleasure of hosting Kristen Hadeed, author of Permission to Screw Up, and hearing her vision for the future of work. Our team unpacked these ideas with our very own Doug Austin, who facilitated a discussion around how these ideas are relevant to our business.
The workshop brought new ideas to the table, affirmed some of our current efforts and opened our thinking to how we can improve and refine our processes for developing talent.
We partnered with the TCU Department of Design, holding the workshop in the heart of the Fine Arts Building and Red Productions to capture video and photography from the event.
“Career Cushioning, Quiet Quitting, Conscious Quitting, Quiet Promotion, and the impending Silver Tsunami are contributing to a very interesting workforce landscape, especially as it relates to tomorrow’s leadership formation.”
Kristen Hadeed
Kristen’s book, Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing Almost Everything Wrong, is a memoir that details her journey as a young entrepreneur who started her own cleaning company while still in college. In the book, Hadeed candidly shares her many mistakes and failures as a leader, and how she learned and grew from them.
Through her personal anecdotes, Hadeed provides valuable insights on leadership, including the importance of building a strong company culture, giving employees the freedom to make mistakes, and learning to lead by example. She also emphasizes the value of persistence and resilience, and the importance of taking risks and embracing failure as part of the learning process.
Permission to Screw Up is a refreshing and honest take on leadership, presented in an engaging and relatable way. It serves as a source of inspiration for anyone looking to become a more effective leader, and highlights the power of learning from one’s mistakes and embracing failure as a necessary step toward success.
Kristen’s live message centered on 4 key areas that lead to employee engagement: passion, growth, freedom and belonging. We explored finding the sweet spot where your motivations and talents combine, talked about career growth and the difference between rock stars and superstars, investigated what it means to have freedom at work and renewed our call to maintain our authentic culture of belonging at Schaefer.
This time with Kristen was an experience like no other and was incredibly valuable time spent focusing on leading as our most authentic, human selves.
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For the TearCare® System, a crucial step in promoting their solution was to become an advocate for change.
Situation
At first glance, dry eye disease (DED) sounds like a mere inconvenience. However, left untreated, this chronic, progressive condition can impact the vision, surgical outcomes and quality of life of millions of patients. Even though meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) is the most prevalent form of dry eye, in-office procedures to address it are relatively new — and none are reimbursed by insurers. As a result, only patients who can cover the out-of-pocket expense receive treatment.
The TearCare® System is designed to address MGD by evacuating obstructed glands using therapeutic heat and natural blink responses. However, to gain wider adoption, fair reimbursement was needed. The company sought to change reimbursement policies and broaden access to care by raising awareness of the situation. TearCare® tapped Schaefer to lead this effort.
Goals
Reiterate the threats associated with MGD
Raise broad, industry-wide awareness of current compensation and reimbursement limitations
Reach an array of stakeholders with a message of “Fair Access”
Rally the market to support reimbursement and accessibility for the benefit of patients, practices and payors
Increase awareness of the TearCare® System
Strategy
The client was ready to promote the need for change and had allocated resources to do it. However, to truly influence the market, the brand also needed to demonstrate the growing support of this movement from eye care professionals (ECPs), patients, employers and other key constituents.
Solution
To convey this message, Schaefer created a campaign that captured the feel of a public protest or political rally. In each execution, a real ECP, patient or eye care industry figure appeared with a sign that read “MGD Care Is Not Fair For All.”
Using precise targeting, Schaefer reached optometrists, administrators, payors and other audiences with a “protester/spokesperson” relevant to them. Using faces and names that are known throughout the industry helped build momentum over time, and, ultimately, drove awareness over the top.
Results
By cutting through the clutter of standard medical device advertising, the campaign achieved a high degree of visibility and effectiveness. Within the first few months, the brand realized noticeable results, including:
228 new requests for information on the TearCare® System from qualified users
More importantly, the industry is becoming aware of the need to recognize MGD as a reimbursable procedure — which is a crucial first step to change.
Summary
In this campaign, we effectively humanized a client’s treatment. Rather than promoting features and benefits of a specific solution, we showed the basic need for access to care — and the simple lack of fairness of not covering a widespread condition. We made the cause personal by featuring people our audiences knew — and who unquestionably held the best interests of patients and ECPs as a top priority.
How we helped NCODA translate membership benefits into an actionable message — and surpass goals by 3X.
Situation
NCODA is an organization that provides resources, events and educational opportunities that enable oncologists, oncology pharmacists, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare students to connect and collaborate for optimal cancer patient outcomes. However, low awareness was keeping the organization from realizing its full potential as an information hub for HCPs seeking unbiased information on innovative oral and IV cancer treatments, as well as career-building tips to keep them engaged in this vital specialty.
Initially, Schaefer Advertising was enlisted to help drive awareness of the organization and its full suite of benefits. As the campaign progressed, internal business priorities shifted from awareness to membership growth. Schaefer partnered with NCODA to determine how to best adapt the current in-market campaign to aligning with the goal of growing the organization’s base through new member sign ups.
Goals
Expand awareness of the organization, its mission and its extensive array of member benefits
Distill an extensive and complex array of member benefits into a succinct, motivating message
Adapt to changing priorities by shifting the campaign focus from brand awareness to new memberships
Drive new memberships through paid media
Strategy
To drive awareness, Schaefer initially developed a strategy that helped humanize the organization by speaking directly to the membership about the difference that interaction and collaboration can make. The aim was to communicate that by joining NCODA, you’re collaborating and connecting with the best minds in the industry – and helping further advances in cancer care. The message was delivered through an omni-channel campaign — a first for the client.
Solution
Schaefer delivered a campaign and helped control creative costs by photographing actual NCODA members who were attending a scheduled conference. By using actual members, we were able to communicate in a realistic and convincing manner how NCODA helped members benefit by staying connected and tuned in to the latest developments in oncology.
When the business priorities changed the focus of the campaign from awareness to membership enrollment, our media efforts easily adapted to the new direction; it was a matter of moving an already interested audience toward signing up. The Schaefer team responded with speed and agility, making seamless changes to the existing digital assets. We then quickly set a tangible new member goal using estimates based on our experience with average costs per acquisition (CPA).
The revised media strategy was launched — and quickly surpassed expectations.
Results
All clients have finite resources. For NCODA, the limitations of total media dollars were more pronounced than usual. This challenge was something Schaefer was ready and able to overcome. As a result, building a symbiotic creative and media strategy was key to expanding the brand’s awareness and significantly exceed membership goals in record time.
Exceeded paid media membership projections by 3X
Surpassed assisted conversion goal
Attracted new users to the NCODA website through paid media
74% of all member enrollment page views were generated from paid media
Summary
Schaefer met the initial task of distilling a very robust array of benefits into an easy-to-digest creative and media strategy. But when the strategy shifted to membership, we illustrated our ability to provide significant real bottom-line value. Our agility and flexibility enabled us to quickly re-tool our approach, then develop a media strategy that exceeded all projections. Working within a limited budget, the agency was able to leverage the client’s marketing dollars as effectively as possible. In the end, we clearly illustrated the type of ROI that could be generated by a smart, results-oriented campaign.
The Charles Schwab Challenge is one of the longest-running PGA TOUR invitational tournaments. The highly-anticipated event brings together top golfers from around the world to compete at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. The historic course and club has hosted the event every Memorial Day Weekend since 1946, making the Charles Schwab Challenge one of the premier events on the PGA TOUR year after year.
Rising to the challenge
Coming off a global pandemic, 2022 was a year of transition for the Charles Schwab Challenge. People were still embracing intimate gatherings and with the tournament being played without fans one year and with limited attendance the next, the tradition of attending the Charles Schwab Challenge wasn’t top of mind for many fans. Additionally, 2022 ushered in a new pricing model for the tournament and increased revenue goals that required a shifted approach to marketing from awareness-based to conversion-focused.
An integrated campaign that drives conversion
Before partnering with Schaefer, the tournament utilized more traditional mediums to promote the event to a general North Texas audience. But as we prepared for the 2022 tournament, Schaefer recommended a more granular approach to targeting individual ticket buyers by splitting the audience to focus on two primary markets — avid golfers and social attendees. The goal was to create a more integrated campaign that not only got people excited about the tournament, but spoke directly to each audience’s particular area of interest wherever and whenever their needs arise. By leveraging a more individualized approach to messaging and targeting across tactics such as paid search, retargeting, geofencing, and paid social, we were able to capitalize on the buying period leading up to the event and increase opportunities for conversion.
Creative that can adapt to audience needs
If we had to achieve one thing to make this campaign successful, it was adaptability. A robust media strategy meant the creative needed to scale across a wide variety of mediums, from high-level awareness spaces like streaming TV to high-intent micro moments in the customer journey. That meant keeping design elements functional. So we opted for an abstract reference to course topography. The organic shapes allowed us to create compelling composites that featured the most important textures of the experience — environment, competition, and up-close views of the PGA TOUR’s best players.
Since we were targeting two audience sets, it was important that the messaging be specific yet modular. The line, Texas’ Best, extended across both target audiences while communicating the notoriety and pride North Texans have for the Colonial tournament. It also worked well with new player announcements.
The tournament field greatly impacts ticket sales. Top-ranked players and fan favorites draw big crowds, but player commitments can finalize weeks and sometimes days before the tournament. To improve performance, we build every concept to accommodate on-demand optimizations and leveraged that flexibility to announce new player commitments, some finalizing in the eleventh hour of the campaign. In the final weeks leading up to the event, we saw a big uptick in action, selling 80% of tickets in the last 30 days.
Results
Moving the tournament from more traditional mediums to a digital-first, multi-audience campaign allowed us to reach people at every touch point – connecting the dots across channels to guide consumers from I-want-to-go to I-want-to-buy. Overall, our campaign strategy outperformed industry paid media standards in Sports and Recreation to produce nearly 14K in daily ticket sales and $1.2M in revenue.
A few top channel results include:
Paid Search: 16% CTR, 31% CVR and $3.72 cost-per-conversion Industry Average: 8.8% CTR, 5.9% CVR and $31.50 cost-per-conversion
Email: 39% open rate out of 575K+ emails delivered to a qualified audience Industry Average: 20.5% open rate
Display: 0.11% CTR on location-relevant geofencing campaign Industry Average: 0.08% CTR
Generation Z, also known as the Digital Generation, consists of those born between 1997 and 2012. This generation is skeptical about taking the leap into first-time home ownership, and they are discouraged by the challenging feeling of figuring out how to buy their first home. In fact, the percentage of Gen Z that feel they will never be able to purchase a home on their own has increased from 27% in 2019 to over 33% of the generation’s population today.
Has the American Dream become a Pipe Dream? Are the roadblocks to home ownership real or perceived? Are they weighing all the long-term benefits of home ownership? Let’s take a look at this conundrum, including where we can be proactive from a marketing perspective to help this generation see the opportunity to embark on this rite of passage into adulthood.
Perceived obstacles Gen Z faces
Right now, the dream of home ownership is clouded by so many factors that the future seems dismal for this digital generation. Everything from crushing student loans to rising interest rates and job insecurity all play a role in this recoil from a first-time home purchase. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the average age of first-time home buyers is now 36 years old, up from 33 years old just last year, adding even more time before Gen Z is in the average home buying years. According to a Freddie Mac survey in November of 2022, Gen Z adults identified the following as the top five hurdles to homeownership:
Another obstacle in the way of home-buying decisions for Gen Z is their anxiety about making large purchases. They remember what happened during the recession and the pain felt by so many families as they lost their jobs and homes. Although this is a lasting image, there is a silver lining to this recollection. While some were affected directly by the recession, they did learn from those whose parents were prepared for the downturn and were good financial stewards, capable of navigating through it. Keeping the hope alive that even though tough times might come again, there is a way to pass through them.
For Gen Z, who were in college or graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a prolonged period of living at home. The extension of living under their parent’s roofs delayed this significant milestone even further, making it more difficult to achieve. This had an impact on their readiness and timing to purchase their first home.
The competitiveness of home buying in the past 18 months has caused a lot of Gen Z to rethink their first-time purchase. High prices, all-cash offers, over-bidding, and “as-is/no inspection” purchases all played a role in the downturn of homebuying activity.
These roadblocks have real stopping power which led to the market responding in ways to help this generation, and others bridge the gap between first-time home buying and first-time home feeling. As a result, we are seeing an increase in build-to-rent options from developers, providing a gap fill between true ownership and the feeling of ownership. We also see first-time buyers investing in smaller, outer market homes, and keeping them for rental properties or second homes.
This perspective would not be complete without the recognition that technology has changed the home-buying game for Gen Z in a material way. This digital generation looks to technology first for solutions and options, which is no different when buying a home. The ability to search, identify, walk, and purchase a home without ever having set foot inside the door is here and Gen Z has embraced it. YouTube and other social platforms have demystified the home-buying process to a large degree. This includes step-by-step instructions available on our smartphones, with links to the tools to make it happen. Ironically, however, with all this technology at their disposal, one area of hands-on, in-person interaction which remains important includes the use of a realtor to help with the final execution of the purchase.
Of course, technology includes AI applications and other capabilities. We’ve highlighted a few AI tools here real estate marketers should all be aware of.
Zillow 3D Home: Allows realtors to create virtual tours of properties using Ai-generated 3D models. This tool allows you to create a 3D model of the property and make it available for the clients to walk through the property virtually.
Homie: An Ai-powered virtual home-buying assistant. This tool uses natural language processing and machine learning to communicate with buyers, answer their questions, and assist them through the home-buying process.
Hyro: Conversational AI that provides an around-the-clock agent to step in whenever your agents can’t, capturing every lead from call centers, SMS and web-based inquiries.
It is clear, the market has met Gen Z where they are with a variety of options to help usher this digital generation calmly into first-time home ownership. Home builders will continue to include affordable housing in their portfolios, Zillow and Redfin are making it easy for Gen Z to browse homes from their couches, and we, as marketers, can help too. Here are a few strategies to consider when marketing real estate to Gen Z.
Leveraging technology
AI
Virtual tours
Educational and empathetic communication
Trustworthy messaging
Emotional aspects of homeownership
Demystifying homeownership
Industry is cyclical
First home isn’t forever home
In the end, Gen Z will continue to age, and as they do, we will be right alongside them to understand how they are feeling about their first-time home purchase to ensure we are prepared to intersect with them along their future buying journey. At Schaefer, our focus on the Real Estate development market means we stay up to the minute on not only the realities of the market but importantly the mindset of the home buyer. We understand how to best develop your brand, tell your story, and, most importantly, how, and where to intersect with homebuyers of all ages to drive action.
