Schaefer Advertising Co.

Case Studies

May 29, 2020

Multiple performances, one cohesive campaign

A season of ballet programming is made up of a series of performances, each standing alone as a unique story being told on the stage. How, then, do you create a campaign that communicates these different stories under one cohesive message? That was the obstacle we faced when ideating creative assets for the Texas Ballet Theater’s 2019-2020 season campaign, and here’s how we solved it.

Campaign Goals

Tell the individual story of each performance, while also fitting the unique designs into one cohesive, identifiable campaign.
Conceptualize ideas that work in photography to incorporate the dancers as crucial campaign assets.
Illustrate the ballet’s marriage of art and athleticism.
Attract a wider audience and convince them to become season subscribers.

The Challenge

Branding an entire season of ballet was a huge puzzle for us because each performance has its own story to tell, full of imagery and icons that are significant within the individual narrative but may not translate into one clear campaign. Plus, it was crucial for the dancers to be featured in each advertisement, so finding a way to marry all of those elements into a unified campaign was crucial.

We needed to create a full season campaign that is cohesive, blends together as a collective vision and message, but that also has enough individuality for each performance that a creative asset could confidently stand on its own. For that to occur, there needed to be enough interest and variety on a performance level as there was on the campaign level, so that the creative assets could be used in advertising on multiple platforms and mixed media.

The Creative Solution

We developed “Alive with Wonder,” a concept featuring the tagline Let Beauty Envelop You. This central message was accomplished by creating illustrations unique to each performance and then having those designs envelop the dancer on the page. Each pattern visually represented individual performances with elements that are important to the story on the stage.

This interaction between dancer and design alluded to the immersive experience of witnessing performances on stage and hammered home the overall campaign tagline – Let Beauty Envelop You.

Once finalized, the campaign imagery was extended into a full graphic system that allowed for both consistency and customization in the promotion of each performance. To accommodate the variety of mediums in our cross-platform media strategy, the flexibility of the system was imperative.

Making Life Better

The common misconception about ballet is that the performances are only suited for fans of high art or those that understand the nuances of performative arts. General audiences sometimes mistakenly assume that a barrier exists between them and enjoying and understanding ballet performances. The reality is this: over the course of a season of ballet programming, a performance will occur that is enjoyable for all types of audiences with different levels of ballet experience. Creating a campaign that cohesively communicated the different themes and tones of each performance and enticed a wider audience to attend was a hugely rewarding endeavor.

National Addy Award Winner

An Award-Winning Campaign

The Texas Ballet Theater’s 2019-2020 season campaign took home some prestigious awards from the American Advertising Federation at the local, regional and national levels. All totaled, the 2019-2020 season campaign won 9 Gold Awards, special Special Judge’s Awards at both the local and regional competitions and a National Silver Addy. It is such an honor to be recognized and earn shared success with our clients.

May 18, 2020

Creating integrated digital marketing strategies for Hillwood Communities to increase home sales

Real estate developers and home builders have historically allocated a large majority of their marketing resources to traditional advertising methods. However, digital marketing strategies have unique advantages over traditional advertising methods that can greatly improve the effectiveness and ROI of real estate marketing efforts. We partnered with Hillwood Communities, one of the nation’s largest independent real estate development firms, to shift their focus from traditional advertising methods and refocus their marketing resources for a comprehensive integrated strategy that earned higher, more measurable returns.

Goals:

Evolve traditional marketing strategy into one with more measurable results to drive increased home sales for each Hillwood Community
Broaden the tools of the marketing strategy to include fully integrated digital platforms
In the process, educate the client on the strategic advantages of full-funnel digital marketing efforts in real estate through compelling data points
Map key tactics and touchpoints with the consumer and realtor journey to move beyond awareness and drive action while chronicling engagement

Education and Action

Prior to shifting to a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, it was important to educate our client on the improved transparency and the bottom-line benefits of a focused digital approach. Fortunately, the team at Hillwood Communities was actively interested in learning about digital strategies and how marketing performance and measurement can be improved via a strong digital program. Through collaborative dialogue, we worked together to find strategic ways to pair their business intelligence with our digital marketing strategy and measurement plan.

Incorporating a Prospect Funnel

Hillwood’s prior marketing efforts were heavily focused on traditional awareness tactics, but lacked a lower-funnel, nurture and conversion strategy. Traditional advertising methods do an excellent job of generating awareness, but they are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to a full-funnel strategy. Without the inclusion of digital tactics, it’s more difficult to drive measurable action and clear results. Digital strategies can provide insightful data for ongoing optimization against both short-term and long-term marketing goals.

At the foundation of our recommended strategy was the introduction of a comprehensive prospect funnel that outlined each stage of the buyer journey with corresponding media and messaging tactics. From there, we established key performance indicators and goal metrics at each level of the digital funnel. From awareness to conversion, we set clear goals for the ongoing measurement of the health and effectiveness of our digital marketing strategy.

A Refreshed Digital Strategy

We began Hillwood’s marketing strategy evolution with prospecting tactics at the awareness level such as display media, paid social, streaming radio, and prospecting emails. From there, we moved down to the buyer research/consideration stage of the funnel, including tactics like retargeting, paid search, and real estate search engine advertising. At the lowest level of the funnel, we focused on action-oriented tactics such as geofencing and personalized content delivery.

This comprehensive approach gave us a detailed look at the buyer’s journey through the funnel while empowering us with the real-time ability to alter the strategy at each level for improved returns.

Data Partnership

The effectiveness of a marketing plan boils down to the final results. Therefore, it was critically important to develop a measurement plan that accounted for data capture through the point of each home sale. We partnered closely with Hillwood’s business intelligence team to sync marketing and sales data. As a result, we were able to establish buyer match-backs, measured as any buyer who has made a sale and can be linked back to marketing engagement through CRM data collection. Aside from total home sales, buyer match-backs became the most essential data point for measuring the effectiveness and ROI of our strategy.

2019 Full-Year Results:

135 match-backs collected, and $42 million in match-back revenue measured, across 9 communities
Lead goals were exceeded for all communities
Directly informed 113 home sales, verified through detailed consumer and realtor match back data
Influenced more than 45 million dollars in sales prior to purchase
Home sales goals were met or exceeded by the majority of communities, despite fluctuations in the market
Use of data to develop full buyer journey maps, from first engagement to sale
More efficient and cost-effective prospect targeting

Through strategy, results, testing and some mitigated risk we were able to shift Hillwood’s marketing strategy into a predominantly digital-driven, measurable marketing strategy that moved them away from the historically traditional plan. This new effort optimized their marketing efforts and has resulted in increased home sales and revenue that can be directly tied to marketing.

April 2, 2020

Centralizing healthcare information for patient engagement and savings

Most prescription savings cards cover a narrow scope of treatments, which overcomplicates the savings process. As a result, patients are often left confused about how to redeem savings and may end up actually paying more for their prescriptions. Discounts change frequently and branded products are not always covered, leading to patients and providers losing confidence in the cards and programs themselves.

Galderma CareConnect is a patient savings program that consolidates Galderma’s prescriptions into one savings portal that’s accessible for patients and “Remarkably Simple” to use.

Goals:

Build awareness of the savings program among qualified patients.
Make the program easier to access for patients.
Inform more potential patients about their eligibility for the program.

Strategy & Execution

Schaefer led the Galderma CareConnect launch with a few key strategic imperatives: communicate the scope of Galderma prescriptions covered under the program and quickly build awareness of the program among patients, healthcare providers, and pharmacists. We developed a comprehensive, multi-channel campaign around the tagline “Remarkably Simple.” This included traditional advertising, digital ads, video, paid digital media, display targeting, customized email marketing as well as personal and non-personal sales support.

Connecting Patients with Care

At the core of this comprehensive campaign was GaldermaCC.com, a centralized location for information about the savings program. The site was strategically developed to communicate key information to each of our core audiences:

Patients – Information about savings, ease of use and a great opportunity to quickly download a GCC card.
Healthcare Professionals – Key points to share with their patients when prescribing Galderma products, information about pharmacy access and a portfolio of products on the card.
Pharmacists – Information about patient eligibility.

The website follows a clean design and user-friendly navigation to make the user experience just as “Remarkably Simple” as the Galderma CareConnect program itself. In addition, the website utilizes a seamless API to connect directly with the card provider, so that a unique card can be generated in just seconds when the user chooses to download.

By making this direct connection, we are able to utilize technology and data to measure card redemption rates at pharmacies across the country and measure the success of marketing campaigns in market.

Results

In less than two years, Galderma Care Connect site metrics have steadily climbed month after month.
To date, Galderma Care Connect has reached more than one million unique patients.
As of June 2019, more than 3 million prescriptions have been processed through the Galderma Care Connect portal, saving patients, healthcare providers, and pharmacists valuable time and money.
MM&M Gold Award for Best Payer Marketing.

Make Life Better

Navigating healthcare can be a confusing process for patients and even some healthcare providers. By creating the Galderma CareConnect website, we were able to help more people download a patients’ savings card and connect them with more affordable care.

March 19, 2020

Creating a vibrant website focused on conversion for Union Park

As one of the nation’s largest independent real estate development firms, Hillwood Communities has spent 30 years creating community through master-planned developments. Hillwood Communities continues to raise the bar in terms of quality, innovation, and the unmistakable sense of community that sets each property apart.

So, when Hillwood tasked Schaefer with creating a new website for their Union Park community, we needed to build a website that communicated the excitement and energy of the community in order to convert visitors into Union Park homeowners.

Goals

Educate prospective homeowners about Union Park
Improve website functionality to encourage more user interaction
Increase qualified lead collection through the website to grow the Union Park marketing database
Encourage foot traffic to model homes at Union Park

Strategy & Execution

Our strategic imperative was to evaluate Union Park’s existing website and streamline the information to more accurately represent the community under the tagline “Live a Vibrant Life.”

Our team utilized existing user data from two of Hillwood’s other community websites to craft high-level strategic conclusions that informed how we built the Union Park website. We used sophisticated web tools to identify user engagement patterns through on-site heat mapping, screen recordings, and behavioral pattern flow.

The Union Park website was integrated with home inventory feed to give site visitors real-time information about available homes. We added a testimonial portal that gave prospective homebuyers insight into the active lifestyle and community that powers Union Park. We incorporated a live social feed that gives visitors up-to-date information about what’s happening around Union Park, and we added a Google Maps integration that empowers people to easily find Union Park on desktop or mobile.

Furthermore, we continued to optimize and improve the website based on reporting and detailed analysis. One core improvement that we made was building a chatbot to automate conversations with prospective home buyers, deliver relevant content, and collect qualified leads to pass along to the builders. The chatbot also helps direct users to specific pages of interest to help create a frictionless consumer journey.

Results

We designed the website to have user-friendly functionality that encourages engagement but also helps the consumer effortlessly move through the home-buying journey.

Since the new website launched:

Average website session duration has increased by 30%
Union Park website form fills have increased by almost 4X
PDF downloads have increased by more than 20X
Pageviews have increased by 15%
High-quality foot traffic has increased to the community.

Make Life Better

Creating communities doesn’t happen overnight – it can take years of strategy and ongoing marketing efforts to cultivate the right audience to buy into a new development and call that space “home.” As a result of creating Union Park’s new website with improved functionality, we were able to connect the community with more qualified leads in a much shorter period of time.

March 9, 2020

How we used audience segmentation to help Texas Ballet Theater grow their subscriber base

When the Texas Ballet Theater needed a way to reinvigorate their marketing, we created a comprehensive marketing campaign that expanded their ticket sales from a steady group of subscribers into a larger group of new season ticket holders.

The Problem

Season subscriptions to Texas Ballet Theater, while strong, had stagnated. Subscribers were offered the same options year after year, purchase the entire season or purchase single tickets at a later date. Within performing arts, the prospective ticket buyer ranges from the devoted fan to the person that wouldn’t even consider attending. Marketing resources are precious, and we have to ensure they are being invested where they will yield the highest ROI.

The Solution

Using data to drive decisions, Schaefer proposed restructuring subscriber packages to give existing patrons more choice and convince new people to become subscribers and single ticket purchasers. Beyond subscriptions, the campaign was designed to have a positive impact on single ticket purchases. Single ticket sales launched in the middle of the campaign on July 1^st, and within the first day, more than 3,500 individual tickets were sold.

The Approach

One of the largest components of our overall campaign was audience segmentation. To accomplish this, we appended audience data from TRG Arts – the Ballet’s consultant.

We divided the Ballet’s existing consumers into four distinct groups of:

1 – previous year subscribers
2 – lapsed subscribers
3 – multi-performance buyers
4 – single ticket buyers

By building package options, we were able to convince larger subsets of people to subscribe to Texas Ballet Theater.

We added historic subscribers and single ticket purchaser data to create persona profiles based on audience demographics and psychographics. We then built lookalike audiences based on the four groups and mapped each of the groups’ behaviors to identify purchasing trends across multiple digital channels. This gave us the insight needed to better understand their consumption habits and likelihood to purchase either a full or partial season or if they were likely to be a single-ticket purchaser.

Once we isolated recurring trends in the audience segments, we hyper-targeted the right ticket package to each group through paid digital media. Further, website retargeting enabled us to identify those that had expressed interest but not yet purchased and then retarget them with the TBT message most likely to yield a purchase.

Goals

Clearly brand the full 2019-2020 ballet season, while also promoting individual performances on their own merits.
Earn more new, full-season subscribers.
Define the main buyer personas and outline their purchase-decision journeys to understand their motivations for purchasing a full-season subscription and a single-performance ticket.
Outline a way to recapture people that did not renew their full-season subscriptions from the previous year.

Results

Paid media campaign delivered 1.8 million targeted impressions, and generated more than $40,000 in ticketed revenue in just a few weeks.
After only 2 weeks of a dedicated full-season campaign, subscription sales up by nearly 3% YOY.
New subscribers up by 45% YOY.
Exceeded last year’s launch-day single ticket sales by more than 10%.
Total ticket sales up 18.43% YOY, despite a later season launch than 2018.
During the campaign, overall website sales totaled $199,000.

February 17, 2020

Earning Pomona qualified real estate leads through targeted geofencing strategies

Earning highly qualified leads is critical to the success of a conversion-based digital campaign, and Schaefer Advertising employs a blend of intelligent thinking and data tools to develop strategic campaigns that yield highly qualified leads that meet our client’s business objectives.

The Approach

Pomona – by Hillwood Communities – is a master-planned community in Manvel, TX, located just south of Houston. To meet their sales goals, Pomona depends on driving awareness and conversion in order to build foot traffic to their community, and ultimately close home sales. In 2019, Schaefer Advertising leveraged very specific and unique tactics to create a full-funnel digital marketing strategy for the community.

To begin the marketing planning process, the Schaefer team carefully scrutinized data related to Pomona’s key target audiences by evaluating the current homebuyer segment against prospective homebuyers. This information provided us “look-a-like” profiles that we applied to our targeting criteria, enabling us to get very specific demographics, psychographics and geographical insights. As a result of this granular audience definition, we were able to identify that many of Pomona’s homebuyers were employed at the Texas Medical Center, located just 15 miles from the community.

With this knowledge, the Schaefer team developed a very targeted GeoFencing campaign as a tactic within the integrated digital strategy.

The Goals

Move high-value prospects through the lead funnel by:
- Building brand awareness for Pomona among a very specific subset of the medical community within the Texas Medical Center
- Capturing a strategic audience group to retarget with outbound marketing efforts
- Driving qualified leads from the medical community to model homes within Pomona
- Closing home sales in Pomona

The Strategy – Hyper-Targeted Geofencing

GeoFencing is a targeted digital strategy that specifically serves display ad units to users who have entered a digitally fenced area. In order to structure a GeoFencing campaign, a virtual fence is mobilized around the targeted area to capture prospects and then deploy ads. A corresponding conversion zone is also established, allowing advertisers to track prospects from the GeoFence to the conversion zone. At Schaefer, we utilize variations of GeoFencing strategies across verticals to satisfy numerous goals such as driving event ticket sales or, in this case, selling homes.

For Pomona, our team devised a GeoFencing strategy focused on capturing highly qualified prospects at the Texas Medical Center. We identified five key parking garages used by medical professionals that mirrored a large portion of the current residents of Pomona. Additionally, we eliminated patient traffic in order to maximize the media spend on the most qualified prospects. After outlining our geographic target area, we developed specific ad creative to target those audiences, with messaging focused on proximity between home and work – “Pomona, just minutes from the Texas Medical Center.”

The Ads

The Results

First GeoFencing campaign delivered 245,000 impressions and 18 conversions of highly qualified leads.
Second GeoFencing campaign delivered 335,000 impressions and 40 conversions of highly qualified leads.
The entire campaign delivered 580,000 impressions and a total of 58 conversions.

Making Life Better

A community is made up of far more than just buildings and geography. It’s about the people that say hello to each other every day, the experiences they share and the memories they make as neighbors. All of this turns a collection of buildings into a living, breathing community. We are proud to partner with Hillwood Communities, and help shape the fabric of their neighborhoods by delivering their message to the right audiences, and filling their communities with vibrant people.

February 14, 2020

Day in. Day out.

Telling the story of an elite collegiate baseball program is a large task – and it’s one that we help TCU Baseball accomplish every year. But, like every task that our team tackles, it’s best to take it one small step at a time, day in, and day out.

Since 2014, we’ve worked with the TCU baseball team and Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle to create a video that helps attract the best baseball players from across the nation and shares the team values. We work closely with Coach Schlossnagle to talk about team dynamics and the themes that the team will source for inspiration that year.

This year’s theme was “consistency of purpose” applied throughout all walks of life. Beyond being baseball players, each athlete is also a student, a child, a friend, an ambassador, a budding young professional – the list goes on. For Coach Schlossnagle, if all that the TCU baseball program focuses on is getting better on the field, then they’ve failed these young players as mentors. The video serves as a reminder that the team believes in producing well-rounded young men that are capable of accomplishing goals on the field, in the classroom, and in their personal and professional lives.

The video starts small, focused on feet on the floor – the first step anyone needs to take to accomplish their goals is getting out of bed and setting upon their course. The video gets wider and walks the central characters through multiple scenes of their everyday life – from bedroom, to the gym, walking around campus, getting food at the cafeteria, through practice on the field, and back into bed – a day in the life. The process repeats as the camera expands its view of the subjects, and then focuses on all of the little aspects the characters practice on the field as they build toward the big game, while intercutting more of their personal lives as students and young men.
The narrator speaks to the value of consistency, and honestly depicts that it’s an inglorious, repetitive process that gradually builds a person up to be better than they were yesterday, brick-by-brick.

“The goal isn’t to better than the other guy. The goal is to be better than myself. At least 1% better than I was yesterday. Day, after day, after day. Consistency isn’t exciting – it’s necessary.”

The entire video communicates the small steps that we each take toward bettering ourselves. The editing and musical elements speak to that consistent repetition as the scenes cut in and out and the beat builds – small, consistent stylistic elements that communicate the overall message of the video.

Making Life Better

Motivation isn’t a concept specifically reserved for baseball players and athletes – it’s a fleeting feeling that every single one of us has to find, harness and control to meet our own goals. With this video, we hoped to create a message that extends beyond baseball and motivates each of us to use consistency to accomplish their goals every single day – day in, and day out.

Credits:
Concept by: Schaefer Advertising Co. and Scott Porter
Produced by: Schaefer Advertising Co. and N8 Visuals Inc.
Music: The Seige by Run For Your Life – Licensed through Musicbed
Voice Talent: Zach Mayo

January 21, 2020

Unlocking limitless potential

There is no limit, no maximum and no end to what can be achieved by simply opening the door to potential. This type of potential—the kind that’s filled with possibility—runs abundantly inside the halls of the Key School. It pours itself into its surroundings to empower teachers, parents, students and even the very ground on which they stand.

The Situation:

The educational environment of the Key Center for Learning Differences caters to the unique identity of each student and focuses on them as an individual, rather than their learning difference. They are building a new central campus on a 14-acre property in Fort Worth. It will provide easy access to all of Tarrant County with room to grow their program for generations.

Since 1966 the Key School has served students of Tarrant County with learning differences like Dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and ADHD. In 2018 they expanded their services to include specific training for educators and support for families with struggling students. All three programs are now housed within the Key Center for Learning Differences. As a brand, they needed tell their story more effectively and highlight the monumental impact they have in the lives of the children they serve, their families and our community as they bring their vision for their organization to life.

Our goal:

The Schaefer team set out to create an emotive video that brings to life the impact that the Key Center for Learning Differences has on students, parents, and our community. We wanted a broad audience of community members to understand what they do and why we so desperately need organizations like this for the future of Fort Worth. They debuted the video at a luncheon announcing their new campus and honoring the late Dr. John Richardson – a legendary doctor and Fort Worth icon that helped shape the medical landscape of Fort Worth for more than 40 years.

Make Life Better

1 in 5 children are living with dyslexia, and only 1 in 3 children living in Tarrant county are reading at their grade level. The Key Center for Learning Differences is doing work that unlocks children from the burden of their learning difficulties and helps them to see that their future is limitless. The children that pass through the halls of the Key Center have the potential to shape the world, and the educators at the Key Center help their students realize that their futures are full of endless possibilities. It was an incredible honor to work with the Key Center team to create this video, and help spread awareness about the crucial work they do to positively impact children across North Texas.

December 20, 2019

The gift of presence

Meaningful moments happen face-to-face, not when scrolling through your Instagram feed, or diving into the latest trending topic on Twitter. Unfortunately, facilitating those moments can be incredibly difficult – for everybody. Luckily, the holiday season gives us a chance to take a break from our regular routines to reset with the people that we love most and enjoy priceless time together. This year, as you’re making your way to your parent’s place, or visiting family in far-off places, we want to encourage you to bring something to the table beyond just your phone and create meaningful memories with your loved ones.

“Be Present” Schaefer Playing Cards

Every year, the Schaefer team creates a Christmas card to help celebrate the season and share some holiday cheer. But, the thing about cheer is that it’s an infectious feeling that can’t be contained into one card. In the spirit of spreading cheer, we approached the 2019 Christmas card asking ourselves “how can we make a card shareable?” So, we created a deck of playing cards that encourage people to gather their family and friends and play some card games together.

Inside The Package

Each box of cards comes in a small package that is marked with a Schaefer acorn sticker. Inside the package is an insert that explains the intent of our playing cards: to be fully present in the moments you share with your loved ones. The reverse side of the insert contains the rules and instructions on how to play four classic card games: Crazy Eights, Slap Jack, Squirrel, and Rolling Stone.
The box of cards is adorned with the classic Schaefer squirrel, which is also shaped into the letter “S.” The back of the deck instructs people to “Be Present,” and encourages them to take the cards wherever they travel this holiday season.

The cards themselves have been designed to represent different personalities found inside the halls if Schaefer Advertising. You’ll find the detailed designer checking her fountain pen for ink; the meticulous production manager measuring projects with his many rulers; the Jack of accounts, staying in constant contact with the client; the developer magically riding his unicycle and balancing his laptop upon his knees amidst a flurry of flying papers; and you’ll also spot the art director conceptualizing the next great idea, creating light and energy with his fingertips.

Each of these archetypes are loose interpretations of some of the very real people that make Schaefer the magical place that it is today.

Making Life Better

At Schaefer, we come to work every day and use fun as a tool to explore new creative ideas and create compelling strategies; as a way to connect with our co-workers, break down barriers and discover the best ideas together. We aim to make life better every single day, and we hope that we can use our work to bring joy to others and facilitate more meaningful moments between people. This holiday season, we’re using our Christmas cards to encourage you to put away your phone, gather your loved ones around a table and give them the gift of your presence.

Happy Holidays,
– The Schaefer Team

October 30, 2019

Routine matters. myForte can help.

The Situation

Apps are everywhere and ever-reaching into the little nooks of our lives to improve some aspect of our experience. Want to plan your meals by the cycles of the moon? There’s an app for that. Want to order delivery Thai food without having to speak with someone or exchange cold hard cash? There’s an app for that. Want to have a group light-saber battle with your friends and family and divide the group among Jedi and Sith? You get the idea: from fun to food delivery, apps are diverse and serve a variety of functions. But, there’s a decided lack of apps on the market that support someone in their struggle against acne – until now.

Epiduo^® Forte Gel Helps Teens and Their Dermatologists Manage Acne Treatment

Epiduo® Forte Gel (adapalene and benzoyl peroxide), 0.3%/2.5% is a once-a-day prescription topical acne medication with two active ingredients—adapalene and benzoyl peroxide. The powerful combination works together to treat tough acne and help prevent recurring acne from forming by unclogging pores and killing bacteria. Epiduo® Forte Gel had an existing app on the market called “epi-tracker,” but they were in need of a new set of eyes and a complete application refresh that really engaged users and retained their attention to the app. They wanted something that was user-friendly, and an app that partnered with healthcare providers to bring about better products and services.

When acne patients visit their healthcare providers, there is rarely enough time for the patients to become educated on their acne, or how best to treat it. In addition, it is crucial for acne patients to use products as directed to see a change in their condition. So, our app needed to continue to educate patients about their acne and encourage them to maintain their Epiduo Forte treatment plan to best manage their skincare.

Goals

Drive new myForte app downloads.
Drive consistent user engagement.
Educate acne patients about best practices for their skin care.
Encourage people to use the app daily to achieve desired results.
Make myForte a valuable, reliable resource for acne patients that use Epiduo® Forte Gel.

Approach

Going into the project, we knew that the patients using the myForte app were in a vulnerable state. Living with acne is a very personal battle that can have a powerful, negative impact on those suffering from it. So, we wanted to build an app that supported patients in their pursuit to treat their acne and gave them confidence to take control of their acne.

The Creative

Before kicking off the app, we needed a name. To quote Shakespeare (sorry), “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” While we agree with big Bill, naming a healthcare app can be tricky, mostly because healthcare nomenclature can sometimes be incredibly sterilized and devoid of emotion, but treating acne is not an emotionless battle. We wanted a name that reflected the user’s personal stake in their health and one that empowered them to treat their acne. We ultimately chose “myForte,” which gives the user ownership of their acne and its treatment. It also plays on the word “forte,” which denotes a person’s strength or positive abilities. When added together, “myForte” gives the user confidence that they can treat their acne, and that they’re going to do a great job in the process.

One of the biggest hurdles for those battling acne is staying consistent in their treatment, and regularly applying their medication. So, we built an app that gave patients the resources and reminders they need to stay on track to achieve the best results. We developed daily motivational messages that send users motivational messages to keep them engaged with their acne treatment.

All of the positive reminders and tips are paired with illustrations that take place in natural settings for the teen or young adult patient. The illustrations are inclusive of everyone facing acne. It was important to us that we didn’t bombard users with real acne imagery, which can be discouraging to see all the time.

Additionally, we felt that it was important to give users the ability to track their progress, which helps them see their improvement and gives their dermatologist the ability to observe their journey during follow up visits. We built in a calendar function that helps users track when they applied Epiduo® Forte Gel, but also asks them to record how they feel about their skin each time they interact with app. This way, we’re encouraging users to stay engaged with the app and to take time to reflect on their progress.

The split view function of myForte allows users – and their healthcare providers – the ability to measure the patient’s progress against any picture they’ve taken in the app. This small function is incredibly powerful for helping people track their progress and gives their dermatologist a larger view of their total improvement.

The Results

Over 87,000 downloads
Over 250% increase in app downloads each month
40% User return rate
Over 15,000 progress photos captured
Over 16,000 feelings recorded
Over 100,000 profile attributes collected

Making Life Better

It’s easy for patients dealing with acne to feel downtrodden and made helpless by their skin condition. Often, these people have struggled with acne for years and feel like they’re out of options. When we created this app, we wanted to help patients suffering from acne take ownership and control of their acne treatment. With the myForte app, patients have the education and encouragement they need to confidently tackle their acne with a smile.