Schaefer Advertising Co.

Creative

December 4, 2023

In pursuit of excellence

Nestled in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas, Colonial Country Club stands as an iconic institution with an unwavering commitment to excellence and timeless traditions. Founded in 1936 by Marvin Leonard, the club offers a distinctive private club experience that fosters a strong sense of community. With a rich history in championship golf and a dedication to creating unforgettable moments, Colonial embodies unparalleled luxury and camaraderie.

Revitalizing tradition for Colonial Country Club

In 2023, the club found itself at a pivotal moment, embracing the desire to redefine excellence and embody a new era without forgetting their historic past. This ambitious journey began with an extraordinary renovation project, breathing new life into the esteemed championship course.

The transformation extended beyond the greens as Colonial invested in an array of exciting amenities, embarking on a revitalization journey to align their brand with the club’s updates. Recognizing this opportunity, Schaefer Advertising partnered with Colonial to refine and update their marketing and messaging, ensuring effective communication with a shared commitment to tradition and innovation.

Colonial Brand Imagery

The path to success is empowerment

Working closely with the internal staff at Colonial, we understood the significance of helping the team to define the authentic voice of the brand and building the necessary tools to support business objectives. Colonial’s strategic marketing initiatives focus on three primary goals:

  1. Increasing awareness and perception among targeted prospective members to generate a consistent waitlist of high-quality prospects,
  2. Enhancing member engagement to foster loyalty and advocacy, and
  3. Boosting club revenue through increased event sales. 

To achieve these objectives, Schaefer developed a comprehensive marketing strategy that presented findings from a digital platform audit and brand messaging exercise, as well as provided platform-specific optimizations, culminating in a holistic digital ecosystem approach for the internal team to utilize as a road map to support and elevate Colonial’s marketing endeavors. 

Uniting past, present, and future

To elevate the essence of Colonial’s brand, we embarked on an extensive brand refresh that began with a meticulous exploration of the club’s unique attributes and a thorough brand landscape assessment. This approach identified key differentiators and core values that set Colonial apart. Establishing the brand archetype and positioning recommendations, Schaefer recognized that Colonial’s messaging should center around the unwavering pursuit of greatness, beautifully capturing the club’s rich history and unyielding commitment to excellence. This masterful process of brand archetyping and positioning culminated in the development of the club’s brand story, a compelling narrative that artfully united the past, present, and future.

Colonial Country Club Messaging

Building upon this solid foundation, we crafted a cohesive visual system that seamlessly unified the brand while accommodating flexibility for its evolving identity. A comprehensive brand style guide was introduced, offering clear guidelines to the team and serving as a valuable tool for external communications, ensuring consistent brand alignment across all touchpoints. To capture the true essence of Colonial, Schaefer directed and produced photography and video shoots featuring real club members, thus curating an authentic content library that would enrich the future website and all brand materials, beautifully reflecting the genuine spirit of the club and its cherished traditions.

Elevating Colonial’s digital presence

Alongside the visual transformation, Schaefer undertook the crucial task of redesigning Colonial’s website to realign with the club’s prestigious history and standing. Our expertise came to the forefront as we crafted a visually stunning and user-friendly design that successfully communicated vital information while elevating the overall user experience. Through a development partnership with MembersFirst, the website became a powerful tool in supporting awareness, engagement, and lead-generation objectives, providing an app and private portal for members. Schaefer’s thoughtful approach, in tandem with Colonial’s rich heritage, gave rise to a website that now stands as a befitting window into the club.

Colonial Website Examples

Outcome

The collaboration between Schaefer and Colonial resulted in a stronger brand presence that honored the club’s legacy as well as their future. The consolidated brand provides a consistent experience for current and potential members, reinforcing Colonial’s position as a pillar in the community. The revitalized brand strategy and web presence articulate the Club’s forward-thinking nature, appealing to both a global audience in search of elite golf experiences and creating a home away from home for local members. By providing the internal team at Colonial with the necessary tools and support, Schaefer empowered them to effectively communicate the brand’s voice and usher in a new era of success.

Developing sales support materials that are on time, on budget — and on the mark.

Situation

Galderma, a leading manufacturer of OTC and prescription skin care products, had developed a new formula aimed at helping teenagers fight acne. The new product’s launch faced two challenges: First, it had a new and unique Mechanism of Action (MOA) that needed to be communicated to dermatologists and other healthcare professionals (HCPs). Second, a limited budget restricted the options that their large global brand agency was able to provide.

Goals

  • Support the new brand launch of Twyneo
  • Distill key product information and prepare highly memorable assets
  • Expand the reach of launch budget by providing better value than larger global agencies
  • Encourage HCPs to write Twyneo for teen acne patients by clearly differentiating the product

Strategy

At the core of the product’s efficacy was a microencapsulation technology that combines tretinoin and benzoyl peroxide (BPO). Both molecules have proven efficacy for the treatment of acne but had never before been combined into one formulation. The goal of the initiative was to equip the sales reps with materials that could simply outline and educate how microencapsulation works on the skin, to an audience of HCPs.

Twyneo Sales Aid

Solution

Healthcare professionals tend to be busy people, and the solution needed to communicate quickly and effectively. Schaefer designed a compelling sales aid that used custom die-cut and pop-up images to clearly show how encapsulation worked, and how it set Twyneo apart from other products on the market.

A complementary animated video brought the MOA to life and used Key Opinion Leaders for narration. Schaefer created a visual tool that did the heavy lifting of differentiating the product, while working within the brand’s existing graphic standards.

These effective, engaging sales tools enabled the reps to make a visually compelling case for how this never-before-seen combination of molecules provided HCPs — and their teen patients — with a new solution for moderate to severe acne.

Twyneo Close Up Sales Aid

Results

Working on a tight timeline and narrow budget, Schaefer:

  • Developed a suite of sales resources (innovative sales aid and MOA video) that equipped the sales team for a successful product launch.
  • Highlighted the unique and innovative nature of the new product
  • Supported successful first-year adoption through in-person sales  

Summary

By working within the client’s budget and timeline, Schaefer provided a level of value and quality that extended the client’s budget far beyond the capabilities of a large, global agency. Our “right size” agility and flexibility enabled us to mobilize quickly, and develop distinctive, memorable launch assets that led to a successful adoption curve with HCPs.

For a leading third-party manufacturer, rising above the competition began with a new marketing campaign.

The Situation

Argon Medical Devices came to Schaefer with a need to create awareness for its brand and various product lines. Its key objectives included elevating awareness of Argon Custom Product Solutions (CPS), a division that offers private label and third-party manufacturing capabilities to clients.

Goals

  • Increase awareness of the Argon corporate brand and Argon CPS brand
  • Educate and engage a global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) audience
  • Generate qualified leads at the top of the funnel to handoff to the sales team
  • Build loyalty and differentiation with precise, customer-centric messaging

Strategy

Argon CPS faced two crucial challenges: First, its awareness in this crowded market was low. Second, in a sector that is heavily driven by price, Argon CPS needed to position itself as a premium brand that brought greater value to customers through an unmatched mix of expertise and capabilities.

Solution

Schaefer developed a strategic campaign that differentiated Argon CPS by promoting its superior level of service, quality, and customization. The new tagline “Build It Better” laddered up to and tied-into the existing Argon corporate brand messaging.

Core messages highlighted attributes such as design and testing capabilities, US-based manufacturing facilities, and Argon’s ability to collaborate with client product development teams. Campaign graphics used upscale visual patterns to underscore the client’s endless customization capabilities and showcase specific product categories.

We then deployed a media strategy for email, social media, digital and online industry publications that carefully homed-in on a global audience of manufacturers and decision makers. Careful audience targeting ensured minimal waste — and maximum results.

Results

Our digital and email tactics carefully targeted recipients by geography and title, allowing us to track campaign results with a high degree of accuracy that: 

  • Generated more than 36K website sessions from 31K+ new users
  • Achieved 3.3 million targeted impressions in less than one year
  • Achieved a 6% Paid Search click-through rate, 1.8x the industry benchmark
  • Launched 463K emails, opened by 20% of recipients
  • Tracked clicked-through rates of prime prospects, including Marketplace Optimization (MPO) click-through rates of .86% 
Argon CPS Email

Summary

Differentiation is always important – especially in categories driven by price or viewed as commodities. By elevating Argon CPS above the industry norm, we strengthened its appeal to higher-end device manufacturers who value quality, service and collaboration.

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.

trukera logos

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.

images of eyeballs

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.

trukera callout

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.

Light the Trail Biking

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. 

Couple of cyclists for light the trail
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.

Cycling Group light the trail

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. 

Cycling Group light the trail

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. 

Light the Trail Website mockup

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.

Light the trail mobile campaign

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.

Light the Trail map

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.

Reinventing VoidForm’s brand for the future

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.

VoidForm Logo

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.

VoidForm Design Assets

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.

VoidForm on Mobile

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.

VoidForm Expanded Logo

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.

VoidForm Website

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.

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.

Tearcare magazine ad and staff holding signs

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
Tearcare magazine ad and staff holding megaphones

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. 

Tearcare ads

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:

  • 31K new users to the mytearcare.com site
  • 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.

trade show

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.

doctors

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.

name tags

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.

doctors

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.

May 16, 2023

Texas’ best weekend

Texas' Best Experience Advertising

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.

cell phone with ad

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.

Charlees Schwab Challenge Pole Banner Ad

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.

Email marketing for charles schwab challenge

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. 

Collage of Charles Schwab Challenge Advertising

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. 

Charles Schwab Classic tickets banners

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

TCU approached Schaefer to develop branding for their Sesquicentennial, or as it is more commonly referred to, their 150th anniversary celebration. Though 2023 was the big year to promote this monumental achievement, we started this project in 2019. We were charged with creating a logo and graphic system that would celebrate one of the university’s most significant milestones in their history and promote their vision for the future.

Schaefer was specifically selected based on our creative capabilities, connection to the TCU and Fort Worth communities and our ability to deftly navigate a committee-led initiative that would have a high-profile position among many audiences.

TCU photos for 150th anniversary celebration

Approach

We dove into this challenge head first, conducting extensive research, including comparative landscape research, archival research, and interviews with key trustees, former Chancellor Bill Tucker, alumni, administration, students and committee members. Through this exploration, several key themes and values clearly stood out across generations of TCU students and alumni. A commitment to academic excellence, a strong sense of community, and a focus on service and leadership remained constant in spite of all the changes in the world over 15 decades. 

“Our history is incomplete. Our speaking and our learning are incomplete. We will not demand vows or enjoin commitment to truth that we are still discovering. We will fill the next century by seeking, by entering gladly its maze of marvels, whose patterns will emerge, surprising us with joy. We light this torch to mark our hopes and expectations; its warmth and light tell our best intention.”

1973’s Centennial presentation by former Chancellor J.M. Moudy 
TCU 150 Sketches

In the archives of the TCU Library, we reviewed yearbooks, invitations, speeches, photographs, posters and other relics from the past. It provided consistent and humbling reminders of the responsibility we held in our hands to carry on an amazing legacy of intention in the pursuit of our best.

Solution

At its core, this logo had to connect. It had to compliment the existing arched TCU mark. Though it could leverage the equity of TCU’s logo, it had to balance alongside it and add specific meaning to this special occasion. It had to be clearly recognizable to our alumni base and students in a way that evoked pride built on meaning. It had to bridge 150 years of history and lean into its bold vision for the future. It had to support a broader ad campaign with a wide range of uses from video to merchandise, signage, athletic uniforms and fields of play, graduation gowns, lapel pins and even a drone show.

The final mark leverages the iconic symbol of Frog Fountain. Located in the heart of the TCU campus, Frog Fountain has four stylized flutes representing each class of students, and the water flowing between them symbolizing the passing of knowledge from class to class. This was the visual icon we felt could link generations in meaning, memory and pride.

TCU 150th anniversary logos

Outcome

The branding campaign for TCU’s 150th anniversary launched in the fall of 2022 and has marked the celebration with great consistency and clarity. Our small but mighty mark has lit up the sky above campus, stood behind the bell on Wall Street, found its way to the National College Football Championship, been painted on murals across the US and used almost everywhere in between. “To say we are proud of this little mark is an understatement. Our team is honored to be a part of this monumental milestone for a university that is leading us all into the future,” Charlie Howlett, VP, Creative Director (TCU Class of 2006). 

Go Frogs!

photo of TCU 150th anniversary mural
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