When you look back on a busy year, it can feel a little blurry.
We entered 2021 with high expectations and lofty goals. We tried new things, partnered with new clients and did some great work along the way. Here’s a recap of some of what we did to amplify our brands and make life better this past year.
To all our friends in the Fort Worth creative community, thank you for always inspiring us.
Zoo Ball in Paradise Invitation
Gold ADDY Award and Best of Print | Client: Fort Worth Zoo
The 2021 ADDYs are in the books! It may have looked a bit different this year, but the entire Schaefer team was so grateful to get together outside and celebrate a year of hard work under unique circumstances.
When the final votes were tallied, Schaefer walked away with 19 awards out of our 22 entries, and we earned two Special Judges Awards! We’re proud to say that we won more awards than any other agency in Fort Worth and that each our of verticals brought home the hardware. Our team earned recognition in multiple mediums, including video, branding, illustration, print, social media, website, out of home and integrated campaigns. Of the awards, three of our wins were for Covid-related campaigns.
It’s been an interesting year, to say the least. Celebrating a year of hard work with our team was a breath of fresh air and a reminder of how fortunate we are to work together every single day and compete against such fantastic and talented friends and neighbors in the Fort Worth advertising community.
Congratulations to everyone that competed this year. We can’t wait to see you next year – hopefully in person – for the 2022 ADDYs.
2020 Zoo Membership Campaign
Gold ADDY Award and Special Judges’ Award: Most Popular | Client: Fort Worth Zoo
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fort Worth Zoo needed a way to sell holiday adoptions and memberships. More than that, they needed a campaign that cut through the clutter of holiday advertisements to connect with consumers.
Telling the story of an elite collegiate baseball program is a large task – and it’s one 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.
When COVID-19 first struck the United States, people weren’t sure what to think or how to appropriately respond. This left a void of reliable information, and The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth – a medical research center and university – saw an opportunity to step forward as a reliable source of scientific information that people could trust.
When OMNI® launched their new 2.0 device, which has functional advantages over other similar products on the market, we had to communicate the benefits this new device had over its competition.
Places are defined by people, and the Near Southside is among the most vibrant and diverse communities in Fort Worth. So, when they approached Schaefer to help them rebrand their identity, we drew inspiration from the neighborhood they create and the people and ideas the Near Southside attracts.
River & Blues Fest is a new kind of music festival, featuring a uniquely American lineup of longtime favorites and soulful up-and-comers in country and blues. Launching its inaugural year right here in the heart of Fort Worth, the River & Blues Festival needed a dynamic identity system to engage and attract music lovers and artists alike across a primarily digital landscape.
Last weekend was the 15th anniversary of Arts Goggle, our Southside arts festival, and with 800+ local and regional artists, 50 bands and a footprint spreading across 18 blocks of the Near Southside it was the largest one yet! When our neighborhood gathers to celebrate creativity and craft, we can’t help but join in on the fun and take a few schots, Schaefer Shots.
This year we activated a storefront-turned-photo booth and offered free polaroid portraits to the patrons of Arts Goggle. We also captured a digital version and have collected a series of Southside portraits on a site for them to download a copy of the images.
We love being a part of the Near Southside in Fort Worth and this was a chance to engage with the community and give out a few smiles.
The Fourth of July is all about tradition. Fireworks, hotdogs, cold beer, and in Texas, live country music and square-dancing. Beyond baseball and apple pie, there’s nothing more traditionally American than a good old fashioned picnic on Independence Day.
For Billy Bob’s annual 4th of July Picnic, we wanted to celebrate America’s birthday by creating a concert poster steeped in Americana convention. So, with an eye on tradition, and an ear on red-dirt country music, we began exploring the aesthetics of classic rock n’ roll posters for inspiration.
When rock n’ roll hit the scene, musicians needed a way to churn up local attendance to their shows without the help of the Internet, social media, or even a mature broadcast medium. Most musicians relied upon an artist to create concert posters that they could then pin up all over town to get eyes on their showtime. Early concert posters were illustrated by hand in two colors or less, and that’s the well from which we drew a lot of our inspiration. A lot of our influence came from the old Hatch Show Print style, which has been around since the late 19th century.
We chose to screen print the poster to honor the tradition of concert posters from the early 20th century, when screen printing was the most efficient and popular way of creating awareness for a touring rock n’ roll band. The poster was printed by Texas Graphic Resources, and done in two simple colors: red and blue. We printed a half-tone photo in blue on top of the solid red, which gives the poster more depth and dimension. Before photoshop, old-school screen printers used to practice this method to combine existing ideas without having to create completely new pieces of art.
We printed the poster on Neenah Environment Desert Storm 80# C – created by Neenah Paper. The heavier paper gives the poster a more substantial feeling, and the desert-craft color makes it look as if it could’ve been pulled from a collector’s library of classic concert posters, sandwiched somewhere between Buddy Holly and Bob Dylan.
The final result is a vibrant poster that features a blue soldier juxtaposed against a red guitar right in the center. The solider holding the guitar acts as the intersection between two American icons: celebrating Independence Day with music and joyous tradition, while also honoring the soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice for our American freedoms.
As explorers, we often look forward to find the newest tools to help us accomplish a creative task. But, sometimes the nature of a project urges us to look back in time to find the right solution. For Billy Bob’s 4th of July Picnic, we journeyed back in time to create a memorable poster that celebrates the occasion with a rockin’ salute to the soldiers, music, and American traditions.
Ghouls, Goblins… Gorillas? For many Halloween events, the goal is to frighten the audience enough to draw them to see the main course. But the Fort Worth Zoo has a 20-year tradition of tickling the terror out of Halloween, with Boo at the Zoo.
Boo at the Zoo is a kid-centric Halloween event where you can trick-or-treat for candy among animal friends. This year’s event had: carnival games, treat stations, stage shows, Wild Encounters (the zoo’s ongoing animal handlers with friendly critters) and a pumpkin patch .
The campaign features a fun play on the classic Halloween candy. Its unique visual solution highlights the Zoo event that entertains sugar-crazed kids every year. We created a direct mail, outdoor billboard, bus bench, email, print and radio ads, and display campaign.
Our Boo at the Zoo efforts led to an:
If you live in DFW, you’re most likely familiar with the Fort Worth Zoo and may be familiar with their largest annual fundraiser, Zoo Ball. Every year Zoo Ball attracts some of the biggest names in the area to support the Zoo’s local and international wildlife conservation and education efforts. The invitation for the event has always been closely tied to the theme; i.e. last year’s Zoo Ball at the Flamingo or the previous year’s Festival of the Elephants. The theme and focus of this year’s event was to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Texas Wild!, a portion of the Zoo that exhibits our great state’s different regional landscapes and wildlife.
Instead of the black tie formal-wear of years past—in the words of Alan Jackson–“We’re goin’ country!” And with a performance from Clint Black, Zoo Ball was set to be a cowboy cocktail-themed success. Our minds immediately went to the honky-tonk wood floors of Gruene Hall and Nashville-inspired Hatch Show Prints. So with the direction of “Big Hair, Boots, and Beers,” our team went on its westward way.
Process
Our hearts were set on creating a distinctly Zoo deliverable with the romance and heritage of wood block letterpress. Letterpress, simply explained, is pressing ink onto paper via wood, metal or hand carved letters and images. This process dominated commercial printing from the 1400’s to the mid-twentieth century. In today’s digital era, this process is celebrated for it’s unmatched nuance of color and texture.
To produce our limited edition set of prints, we sought out Minnesota-based premium letterpress studio, Studio On Fire. After following (and admiring) their work from afar, we were excited to partner with them for the project. With their help, our vision for the western-inspired prints came to life, complete with a blind emboss of the Fort Worth Zoo logo and hand-numbering of each print.
We created three custom illustrations that combined cowboy regalia with exotic wildlife found in the Fort Worth Zoo, bringing together the key elements of the event. These illustrations were paired with wood block-styled type, set to mimic posters of old. We created three “sayings” for the print set:
Deep in the Heart of Texas Wild! Long Necks Ain’t Nothin’
Without Rednecks Big Hair, Boots & Beer
Results
The final invitation is truly a complete package. An oversized envelope features a rustic Texas flag and warns ‘Don’t Bend or Fold or Mess with Texas’. Custom postage features animal illustrations and the Zoo logo. A hand-crafted pattern featuring Texas sayings, Clint Black lyrics, Fort Worth nods and custom animal illustrations floods the insert upon opening. And finally the prints are secured by a custom bellyband with event details and slip-sheeted for safety.
The event sold out of tickets and was both appropriately rowdy and respected. Even with fears of rain, the Zoo reassured its patrons: a little weather can’t stop our boot-scootin’ and tequila-shootin’.
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.
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.
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
Teaser eblast
2873 recipients
46% open
55% CTR
Pre-event eblast
2636 recipients
12% open
88% CTR
At Event eblast
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
Engagement
520 engagements
96 Retweets
14 Replies
86 Favorites
52 User Clicks
122 URL clicks
11 Hashtag Clicks
103 Detail Expands
32 Embedded Media Views
Overall impressions
81,447 Impressions
19,024 promoted
62,453 organic.
LinkedIn
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.
If you’ve ever planned a big party – you know what a pain it can be. Countless meetings with your committee to pick a theme, arguments over tablecloth colors and whether to serve the mango glazed salmon or the free range chicken stuffed with cranberries and walnuts. Every detail fretted over. And then you send out a 5 x 7 postcard invitation in an effort to attract people to your $15,000 per table event. Doesn’t make much sense does it?
The invitation is the calling card that can have a material impact on whether your event is a not only a financial success, but just as important, deemed a success by your guests.
No matter the budget, you can create an invitation with mailbox impact that leaves a lasting first impression. Download our free guidebook, The Art of an Invitation, and follow our top five ways to create a successful invitation that breaks tradition and becomes something memorable.
