Schaefer Advertising Co.

Attractions, Tourism & The Arts

May 24, 2016

Feast with the beasts

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Beastro, the Fort Worth Zoo’s annual music and tasting event that supports local and international wildlife conservation and education efforts. Within a few weeks of this year’s campaign going live, Fort Worth’s wild side responded with record breaking ticket sales and a fastest ever, sold out VIP offering.
The event features the finest area restaurants stationed throughout the Zoo, serving sample appetizers, entrees and desserts. In addition to the delectable cuisine, the event features open bars throughout the park and live music entertainment. Several animal exhibits remain open until sunset. This year’s entertainment features the local talents of: Emerald City, The Project and Live 80.

The event sold out, for the first time ever, and we had to stop the ad campaign early. The night was a success from ticket sales, but our team also successfully enjoyed the feast with the beasts.

May 3, 2016

Meet baby gus

Everyone loves babies. I mean, everyone with a soul loves babies. And that’s why when there is a new baby at the Fort Worth Zoo, we all get a little excited. So when the Fort Worth Zoo told us, months in advance, that they were expecting the birth of a western lowland gorilla, we began developing a launch plan to make the announcement. In our initial phases of planning, we identified key challenges that the campaign would need to overcome in order to be effective. The first was that baby gorillas basically mirror a human child in terms of growth and development. This means that for the first few months, the zoo’s newest star, Gus, was going to spend most of his time sleeping and never be more than a few inches from the arms of his mother, Gracie. And, like most moms, Gracie is a wee bit protective. In spite of the infant gorilla not being mobile or very active at all for that matter, we had to find a way to get people excited about coming to see Gus.
Which leads to the second challenge – how do you photograph a tiny black fur ball held closely in the clutches of his mom? Add in the fact that parents, Gracie and Elmo and new baby Gus, live in a secure designed area, plus wanting to minimize any disruptions to their normal activities, you don’t exactly have an Olan Mills photo studio in which to capture that “perfect” baby picture.
But usually, it’s the challenges that lead you to your solution. And this was no different. Think about it, what does every new parent do? Your Facebook feed is proof, that every new parent posts every single progress update. “Here’s junior sleeping in is blue onesie. Now, here’s junior sleeping in his yellow one that Aunt Marge from Des Moines bought him. Oh, wait, now his eyes are open, oh wait, never mind.” You get the idea. So we decided to build the campaign around the experiences that every parent wants to show their child doing. Eating. Playing. Sleeping. Riding.
Using the zoo’s photography documenting Gus and Gracie’s relationship, we created an “interactive” campaign that gives Zoo goers a reason to come back frequently over the coming months. Visit The Fort Worth Zoo today because as we all know, they only stay babies for just a little while.

April 26, 2016

Battle of the B®ands

Last year, we changed the Addys with a new venue and format. How’d we top that this year? Rock & Roll.
We launched our “Battle of the B®ands” concept and invited agencies to submit their work to compete on the big stage where the winners advance and the losers stay home.
Gig posters announced this year’s competition, submissions were collected, the historic Ridglea Theater was booked and the rest was advertising rock & roll history. Fans received pre-show invites packed with tickets & stickers and event lanyards were given at the door. Trust Printshop printed merch on-site and The Swags played us through the night, backed by technicolor elephants and eyeballs.

The brands battled, awards were given and everyone left with a CD-sized reminder of what actually happened. For those who couldn’t make it or for those who want to re-live it, here’s the night’s house playlist. Until next year, keep on rockin’ in the free world.

February 18, 2016

Uncommon

Sometimes you get to work with clients that have a little extra special meaning. And for Charlie Howlett, TCU Baseball is one of those. Back in 2003, he was a fresh-faced frosh on the Horned Frog baseball team under Coach Lance Brown. Don’t be mistaken; Charlie is way tougher than he looks. As a catcher, he spent plenty of time sweltering behind the plate. Given his love of baseball and his passion for the Horned Frog baseball program the chance to work on the team video was a perfect fit.

For the past three years, Coach Schlossnagle has asked the Schaefer team to create a video that captures his coaching theme for that year. This year, the focus is on choices we make that separate people into two categories: Common and Uncommon. Based on the principles of Selfless – Energy – Excellence, it’s the small choices made every day that begin to turn common boys into uncommon men.
Every swing, every pitch, every catch – the TCU baseball program focuses on developing the complete student athlete – giving players every advantage possible to realize their full potential. In this year’s video, we step into the minds of the 2016 Horned Frogs at that moment right before game time. They are replaying the culmination of big and small choices, mixed with coaching and individual preparation that will ultimately lead this team into the new season.

See some behind the scenes photos on our Facebook page.

February 10, 2016

A summer oasis

It only seems natural that when tasked with solving the summer heat, the Fort Worth Zoo would look to their animal’s strategy: The watering hole.
One of the coolest mysteries of the year, was the 14,000-square-foot, zero-depth splash called Safari Splash. We created member invites, an email campaign and an identity system to introduce this all-new attraction. The new addition featured climbing structures, 3 slides, 26 water play features, a dump tower and water cannons to cool off at the Zoo no matter what the temperature.

While we waited on the site production to finish, one of our kids might have spilled the beans to their pre-K class that they were spending their summer at the Zoo’s water park. Don’t they say that’s the best form of advertising?

February 1, 2016

Love and Death In Fort Worth

On the heels of the Sundance Film Festival we thought we’d pay a little cinematic love to another festival we’ve had the chance to work with from our hometown of Fort Worth, The Lone Star Film Festival.
In 2011, we were asked by the board of the Lone Star Film Society to develop a new logo for both the organization and their festival. Their current logo screamed “cheesy western.” For some reason, people in Texas often make the mistake of throwing a pair of longhorns or a wagon wheel into a design to make it seem like it’s part of Texas’ heritage. We took the opportunity to create a new identity package that significantly upgraded the feel of the festival.
As with many festivals, marketing budgets are often tight, relying on barter agreements and creative developed by someone, that knows someone that has a nephew with a computer. Good creative is the best way to maximize limited marketing resources. So our agency went to work. We guided the organization through a process to position the festival in a way that made a lasting impact on the culture of Cowtown. Over the next three years, the Schaefer team created several award winning campaigns that not only dramatically elevated awareness of the festival but also drove attendance numbers to record levels.

January 13, 2016

You’ve Just Been Flashed

Flash Global is a leading provider of global service supply chain solutions that specializes in the high tech industry. Supply chain and logistics marketing can often times be dry and boring but Flash works hard to set the brand apart with non-traditional marketing.

Given that a plethora of Flash prospects and customers annually attend VM World, one of the largest global trade conferences for virtualization and cloud computing, the Flash team saw this event as an opportunity to engage with targets and customers “beyond the booth.”

Schaefer concepted an integrated social campaign and contest that would include pre, during, and post show marketing tactics. The overarching campaign concept was predicated on the theme of “Flash Flashers”, a branded street team that would surface at the VM World event.

Prior to the event, the Flash team teased the Flash Flashers campaign with a number of social posts, eblasts and sponsored Twitter ads that were directed toward a specific list of VM World guests. In addition, the team hosted a subject-specific Twitter Chat focused on timely supply chain topics particularly relevant to the high-tech audience at VM World.

Flash received very strong metrics from their eblast efforts.

Eblasts

2873 recipients
46% open
55% CTR

2636 recipients
12% open
88% CTR

2622 recipients
85% open
14% CTR

On opening day of the event the Flash Flashers, (purely fun, and rated “G”) were positioned outside of the Moscone Center where VM World was hosted. While canvassing the streets, The Flash Flashers were outfitted with bright orange trenches, showcasing the brand’s signature color. The high energy crew made the most of their tour by encouraging tweets for #VMWorldFlash, as well as handing out selfie sticks, flash collateral and fake apple watches that invited the recipient to enter to win real Apple and Android prizes.

Throughout the event the Flash team promoted socially on both LinkedIn and Twitter, using organic posts, blog posts, and twitter cards to further encourage engagement.

Twitter 83 Entries

520 engagements
96 Retweets
14 Replies
86 Favorites
52 User Clicks
122 URL clicks
11 Hashtag Clicks
103 Detail Expands
32 Embedded Media Views

81,447 Impressions
19,024 promoted
62,453 organic.

915 Impressions
5 clicks
.55% engagement

To further promote the Flash Flashers, and the Apple and Android prizes, a campaign landing page was crafted. A key feature of the landing page was a Twitter social feed, in gallery format, allowing viewers to see all posts in real time. Additionally, participants who were not current Twitter users, could utilize this page as an alternative way to enter the contest by filling out the on-page form and subsequently were added to the Flash database.

Website

85 entries via the web form
Increased site visits attributable to the event
- 269 visits during that week from social media
  - 145 came from LinkedIn
  - 108 from Twitter
  - 11 from Facebook

As a result, Flash Global carved out a noteworthy presence outside the show, building an experiential relationship with prospects and setting a tone for a brand that is on the cusp of significant growth.

December 18, 2015

Lickety. Lickety. Zoo. Zoo.

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.

October 23, 2015

Facing the Beast

“You’ve gotta learn to drive with the fear. There ain’t nothin’ more frightenin’ than drivin’ with a live cougar in the car.”

Wise words from the character, Reese Bobby from the critically acclaimed movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
In our case, the cougar (or tiger) refers to: the beast that is professional networking. Whether you’re a professional concerned with finding new talent or a student worried about starting their career, the Fort Worth Creative Co-op’s Creative Gauntlet is the place you need to be. With 4 years under their belt, the FWCC has become familiar with creating environments for open dialogue and friendly advice. This year the event was held at 916 Bryan, a recently redeveloped 2-story warehouse building designed for creative office uses, housed in Fort Worth’s Near Southside. The free event brought students from TCU, UNT, UTA and The Art Institute of Fort Worth together to make connections with creative industry professionals and present their work in a “speed-dating” style conversation/portfolio review.
Jon Chapman created the look for Creative Gauntlet No. 4 and Trust Printshop screen printed the posters and gift bags.

October 14, 2015

Arts Goggle 2015

Now that the chalk dust has settled, who is ready to plan for Arts Goggle 2016? Ok, so maybe we aren’t there yet but if you were not able to make it out this year, you missed out. This year, Arts Goggle took over the streets of Magnolia and we took over the street between Henderson and S. Adams. Best Idea Ever!! Having the freedom to be as creative as we wanted, we decided to create a 10ft x 40ft chalkboard wall in the field next to our office. The wall was covered from top to bottom with frames that were all shapes and sizes and allowed for the community to be as creative as they wanted. Starting off, the team was vigilant at keeping the wall clean for more people to participate, but as the day went on and the crowds got bigger, they over took us. By the end of the night the chalk drawings, messages and shout outs had taken over the street.
We teamed up with Trust Printshop for the second year in a row and once again, they out did themselves. To keep with the chalk theme, Matt Lucas put on his mad scientist hat and created chalk–infused ink for the day and printed Southside shirts on site. All the proceeds from the shirts went to help Fort Worth South continue to promote public art in the Southside. “If you didn’t leave Arts Goggle covered in chalk dust you were probably doing it wrong. By the end of the night that giant wall and the shirts were the chalk of the town… See what I did there?

Thanks to everyone who tagged us in your posts! It was great to see your art and hear your thoughts. Here are some of our favorites:

“Having so much fun at Art Goggle in Fort Worth today! Made my day to meet and chat with Matt from @trustprintshop and Ken from @schaeferadco. You guys are awesome! #celebratealways #artsgoggle2015” — celebrate.always

“Super cool art wall set up by @schaeferadco at this years Arts Goggle. #artsgoggle2015 #iheartart #FortWorth #instafw #instagram” — brianhutsonphotography
“A little art culture for the soul. @schaeferadco #iheartart #art #streetart #fortworth #texas” — vangbee87
“My super talented wife having fun at Arts Goggle. #artsgoggle #artsgoggle2015 #nearsouthside @schaeferadco #iheartart — weaver.engineer