Throughout the Fort Worth community, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) is known to most as the beautiful building next to the Botanic Gardens. Beyond the visual attraction of the building, they have a rich history in our community and a tremendous reputation in their industry.
BRIT views the world and their interactions with the planet through the lens of the BRIT Nexus. This perspective prioritizes water, plants, soil, food and energy and focuses on the interactions between those five elements. This focus informs everything the organization does.
Schaefer was asked to inform members of this unique process while showing how it impacted all of their efforts. This challenge led us to create the BRIT Annual Report as two books in one. The “top” book featured the BRIT Nexus and used infographics to communicate specific topical information about each of the primary elements of the Nexus. The bottom book looked back at the year and explored a diverse range of projects and initiatives that they were involved in throughout 2014.
“The BRIT nexus informs everything we do.” Pat Harrison, BRIT Interim Executive Director
The report features a modern aesthetic, with a bright and energetic tone that distances itself from a ‘granola’ stereotype. BRIT has successfully laid down strong roots in our community and continue to look beyond to big issues facing our world today. We are grateful to work with them and help them bring their knowledge to the world.
The Riff Ram cheer has been a part of Horned Frog history for over 100 years, but it had become little more than an occasional homage to the school’s legacy. In 2014, TCU asked Schaefer to devise a way to reintroduce the Riff Ram cheer as part of the game day experience – and the Riff Ram video was born! The 2015 video shows fans and players alike, uniting for the game all saying the words of this chant. They play the video at every TCU football home game and each one ends with a different TCU celebrity saying, ”Give ‘em hell, TCU!” Since bringing it into the game experience last year, the chant has taken on new life and continues to gain momentum.
This year, we showed how the spirit of the chant has taken the Fort Worth community by storm. It is a unifying thread among Frog Fans, and it has deepened the pride we all have in Fort Worth’s university. TCU is further establishing itself as Fort Worth’s team. Alumni or not, Horned Frogs bring an added sense of pride for our city. Riff Ram is unique to TCU, and it is taking root beyond the stadium.
Schaefer worked with TCU athletics to bring a unique finish to each time the video played in-stadium. The final line, “Give ’em Hell, TCU!” was delivered by famous TCU alumni like Bob Schieffer, Jake Arrieta and Matt Carpenter, Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, ISU fan turned TCU fan Abby Faber and Country Music Star Brad Paisley.
In addition to the in stadium video, Schaefer created a range of Riff Ram branded extensions to further deliver what the fans were wanting. We designed t-shirts, coffee mugs, pennants, digital downloads, wall murals, an 80’s workout video and even commissioned a painted SuperFrog portrait. It has been a great project to be a part of and it fires up even the non-TCU alumni in our office. Go Frogs!
Produced in partnership with N8 Visuals.
Each year the Fort Worth Zoo hosts an annual gala event, Zoo Ball, to raise money in support of the zoo’s ongoing mission of conservation. In a city as large and philanthropically minded as Fort Worth, it’s absolutely vital to break through the noise of other worthy charity events. This year being the 30th anniversary, the planning committee held high expectations for all aspects of the party. Dubbed 1940’s Las Vegas nightclub themed, we set on the path to creating a high-end invitation the encompassed the elegant event.
The Work
To define the tone of the event, our first step was to create inspiration boards. Focusing on high end elements, animal details and historic landmarks, we created the visual foundation for the invitation and ultimately the event. During our research, we discovered that Bugsy Siegel’s legendary Flamingo was one of the first nightclubs in Las Vegas. Leveraging the iconic venue, we titled the event Zoo Ball at the Flamingo. Just like that, the perfect animal pairing for our period event was born.
Harnessing the juxtaposition of larger-than-life Vegas shows within dark, unassuming nightclubs, we developed the concept for an elaborate three dimensional pop-up invitation. Though we may not be paper engineers per se, we always aim to seek what’s possible. Concept turned into reality through partnership with Cockrell Enovation and Structural Graphics, good ‘ole trial and error and more than one paper cut.
The end result is a structural masterpiece. The custom envelope was built to ensure the piece would not get damaged in mailing. The guests were presented with what appears to be a flat “standard” invitation. But upon opening, two pink flamingos emerge from the pages of the invitation, unfolding into an incredible display of creativity and paper construction.
The Results
This year’s event sold out in record time and successfully raised a record-setting amount for the Zoo. Invitees began posting videos of the invitation on social media. And yet again, the bar was raised a little higher for next year.
UPDATE:
Schaefer was awarded a gold national Addy for the 2015 Zoo Ball invitation, for the second year in a row! To give it some context, we were one of only 83 gold winners out of 40,000 entries. We’re incredibly proud of our back-to-back wins and excited to represent Fort Worth among some of the top agencies in the country.
Each year, the Fort Worth Zoo brings together some of the best restaurants and music acts in town for a tasting and music event called Beastro. For this year’s campaign, we boiled it down to the essentials.
We love our neighborhood of Near Southside here in Fort Worth, and we try to be neighborly whenever possible. So when residents started complaining about business patrons parking in front of their houses, we were there to help. See, there’s this perfectly good parking garage just off Magnolia street, but a lot of people didn’t know about it. How do we remedy this? With advertising, of course!
Schaefer created the “Park the Garage” campaign using eye-catching street banners to point people in the right direction. We also provided table tents, buck slips and coasters to local businesses to help reinforce the message. With all that hot pink, there was basically no way for upstanding gourmands to miss that great, big, juicy parking garage just waiting for their vehicles.
Today, the garage is in use, the neighbors are happy and there is peace and tranquility in Near Southside once again. All thanks to some well-placed, brightly colored information.
Four years ago, Schaefer was asked to create a spokesman character for TTI, Inc., a $2B electronic components distributer that had just been acquired by Berkshire Hathaway. Thus the Specialist was born, and since then he’s been fighting bad guys and saving production lines both in videos and a comic book series. Both have been very successful within the industry. “TTI – you’re the guys with the Specialist, right?”
Wanting to maintain our momentum but keep things fresh, Schaefer went back to the drawing board to think of a new way to capitalize on The Specialist character’s infinite knowledge of all things electronic.
Now, Schaefer is proud to introduce Ask the Specialist, a new video series that features our intrepid hero answering questions on a wide range of topics – everything from parts and components to relationship advice.
This was the second year Schaefer got to produce the annual TCU Baseball video. The team was coming off a very successful year, yet they still felt the sting of coming up short in the College World Series. For 2015, both the coaches and players had an even greater resolve to take it all the way to the championship.
Based on the Boy Scout oath, “On Our Honor” is a promise to themselves, their teammates, coaches and fans to follow the path of selflessness, energy and excellence.
This was another fun shoot with N8 Visuals out at Heart of the Ranch in Clearfork, another Schaefer client. Even the non-Horned Frogs here at Schaefer are excited to see how far TCU Baseball can go this year. Go Frogs! #toadtoomaha
On Friday night, advertising professionals from all over Fort Worth gathered for the 2015 American Advertising Awards. As last year’s Best of Show winner, Schaefer was responsible for this year’s event theme, which was “Amendment 28,” a modern take on prohibition except that it was advertising and not booze that was illegal.
In typical Schaefer fashion, we had a lot of fun with it. From a fake theme to fake government agents to real posters taped on real agency doors, we used a wide range of media to keep the game going. It all culminated last Friday with “The Event” – a secret meeting of ad pros at the Fort Worth Masonic Temple to celebrate in secret another year’s worth of work.
Results are still coming in, but early returns suggest that the event was a success. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and drinks while sizing up with each other’s work and catching up with old acquaintances and coworkers. The awards presentation video, courtesy of our friends at Studios 121, maintained the underground theme with glitchy effects and the subversive statement that, “If advertising has been outlawed, then we are all outlaws.”
Fitting then, that we made off like bandits, coming away with 16 total awards including five golds and another Best of Show award for the 2015 Zoo Ball invitation we did for the Fort Worth Zoo. Designed by Blair Babineaux with art direction by Charlie Howlett and production by Maren Gibbs, this piece is a fitting jewel to crown a busy and productive 2014.
Of course, winning Best of Show again means we get to put on the show next year, but we’d rather not think about that for a few months. It was a lot of work.
Here’s to a great 2014 and to our three-peat next February!
Clearfork is a new mixed-use development on what was the last undeveloped piece of the legendary Edwards Ranch. Many Fort Worth landmarks like Texas Christian University and the Fort Worth Zoo now sit on what once was Edwards Ranch property, but the Clearfork portion remained virtually untouched since 1848. Having just completed the Clearfork branding and positioning, the client asked us to produce some vinyl banners to announce the coming development.
“Sure, we can do that, but…”
The Work
With a newly completed road cutting through the property, this was the first time most people had seen this property since before Fort Worth (the actual fort) existed. We felt this called for something a little more unique than a vinyl banner.
Pulling back from the assumed solution of banners and focusing instead on the goal of attracting passersby’s attention, our ideas included an iron ranch sign, cattle guards and a water tower. What won out in the end were what the team dubbed “word crops.” Three eight-foot-tall words were strategically placed around the property: discover, legacy and vision.
The road to the final product was a long one, since none of us had ever seen word crops before. We cut an “A” out of a sheet of plywood in the side yard of our office and hauled it out to Clearfork to see where the words should go. Our production manager then talked with a variety of vendors to see if anyone could do it on-budget (one could). We had a test letter made with three colors of paint to see which worked best (silver).
The Results
The word crops were a success in several ways. First, they captured people’s attention and made them curious about what was coming to the property. Second, they garnered some social shares as people took photos with the words and shared them on their networks. Thirdly, (shameless plug) they earned Schaefer the Best in Show American Advertising Award for 2014.
Best of all, they’re a perfect example of what we mean when we say, “Give us your goal, and we’ll seek what’s possible.”
TTI, Inc. is a $2B Berkshire-Hathaway company that supplies electronic components to practically every major electronics company in the world. A few years ago, Schaefer created TTI’s spokesman, the Specialist, whose ongoing adventures have been a successful video series for the company. Three seasons in, they asked us if there was a way to expand the Specialist into other media and broaden his reach.
The Work
Comic book movies are coming out left and right, but our idea was to do the reverse. The Specialist had always been a live action video character. Why not got 2-D with it? We proposed comic book-style direct mail series that would take the Specialist and his adventure directly to the desks of our target audience. We sourced an illustrator who could do the old-school comic book style, and wrote a series of adventures involving everything from jetpacks to spaceships – two things we (so far, at least) haven’t been able to pull of in video.
The Results
In just a few months, TTI was able to grow their direct marketing database by 500 leads, and they have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both clients and partners. To date, we’ve produced seven issues of The Adventures of The Specialist and have more issues in the works. What crazy jam will the Specialist find himself in next time? Schaefer only knows.
