Rising to the Challenge: Exceeding Ambitious Goals for TBT’s The Nutcracker
Texas Ballet Theater set higher-than-ever ticket goals for their 2024 performance of The Nutcracker, creating an exciting challenge for us at Schaefer. With increased expectations compared to the prior year, our task was clear: exceed these ambitious targets. Adding to the complexity, fewer pre-Christmas performances were scheduled, making it more difficult to hit our goals during the critical early sales period. Despite these challenges, we knew that The Nutcracker ticket sales are vital for funding TBT’s year-round productions, and rose to the occasion.
Optimizing Strategy for Maximum Impact
We crafted a strategic plan that balanced tried-and-true tactics with new optimizations to drive results. By targeting the right audience through paid search, social media, display, TV, and email, we ensured that every marketing dollar worked harder. Our focus was on refining audience segmentation and utilizing retargeting strategies, especially with urgency-driven messaging designed to boost conversions. We also placed a strong emphasis on media optimization, ensuring that our tactics captured valuable prospects. With creative content across social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, we aimed to maximize engagement and reach the right people at the right time.
Transforming Media Strategy into Unmatched Results
Our media strategy paid off in a big way. Paid search, the star of our campaign, generated an impressive $730K in revenue with a stellar return on ad spend (ROAS) of 13:1. Social media efforts made a significant impact as well, driving over 7.3 million impressions and 77,000 clicks with a 1.86% click-through rate. On TikTok and Facebook, ads resonated with the audience, while display and streaming video ads kept engagement high. Email and text campaigns also played a crucial role in pushing conversions, achieving a remarkable 18.28% CTR for text messages and a solid 13.94% for emails. Through strategic optimization and a combination of media channels, we created a seamless experience that kept sales momentum strong, even in the face of the slower start.
Delivering Historic Success: The Nutcracker Exceeds all Expectations
The results were nothing short of remarkable. We exceeded our revenue goals by 19%, with total tickets purchased near 52,000 (120% to goal). Not only did we surpass our original ticket sales targets for both Fort Worth and Dallas, but we also delivered the highest sales for The Nutcracker in TBT’s history. This campaign not only demonstrated our ability to rise to the challenge but also set a new benchmark for success. With our creative strategy, smart targeting, and optimized media plan, we helped TBT achieve its most successful Nutcracker season ever.
For the first time in Zoo Run history, the event sold out before the early bird deadline—an unprecedented achievement that highlighted the power of creative storytelling and strategic media execution. Zoo Run is a beloved annual event that brings families and the community together for a fun and unique experience, and this year, Schaefer was tasked with generating results that were bigger and better than ever. The challenge was to not only maintain strong engagement but to expand the event’s reach beyond typical Zoo attendees of families and children, drawing in audiences like millennials and Gen Z.
Blending Nostalgia with Modern Appeal
Schaefer developed creative that embraced a nostalgic, vintage-inspired look—featuring hand-drawn illustrations of iconic Zoo animals seen along the race path. The campaign’s warm color palette of cream, forest green, and pops of orange created a visually striking identity that stood out across all platforms. The tagline and pun, “At Run With Nature,” tied everything together, reinforcing the event’s unique charm and appeal.
Executing a Full-Funnel Media Approach
To ensure the message resonated with the right audiences, we executed a full-funnel media approach, leveraging out-of-home placements, paid search, paid social, email, text, streaming video, and local publication advertising. By starting the campaign earlier than in previous years, we maximized visibility and engagement right from the start.
Capturing Attention and Driving Engagement
The campaign struck a chord with families, fitness enthusiasts, and younger audiences alike. The nostalgic yet fresh creative direction resonated with attendees, while our precisely targeted media strategy guided users seamlessly from awareness to registration. The results? A historic sellout and an overwhelming response from the community. Even more, over 2,000 people indicated via a form on the website that they would have signed up if spots had still been available.
Unprecedented Demand and Community Excitement
Sold out before the early bird deadline—a first in Zoo Run history!
118% to goal for revenue
48% increase YOY in landing page visits
+13% increase YOY in Paid Search clicks, with a 43% CTR
3.24M impressions on Paid Social, with a +63% YoY increase in clicks
Pushing Boundaries Year After Year
Zoo Run 2025 wasn’t just another successful event—it was a record-breaking one. Year after year, Schaefer finds new ways to elevate the campaign, keeping it fresh, engaging, and more effective than ever. After selling out for the first time in 2024, we took it even further in 2025—proving that a bold creative vision and a smart, strategic media plan can drive unparalleled results.
Creative That Captivates, Strategy That Delivers
By blending a standout, retro-inspired creative approach with a meticulously executed media strategy, Schaefer helped Zoo Run achieve its most successful year in 26 years. The combination of visually compelling design and precision targeting didn’t just fill the race—it created excitement, expanded the audience, and set a new benchmark for future events.
Featured Case Study
Racing to New Heights: Historic First Time Sell-Out for Zoo Run 2024
Zoo Run 2024 marked the event’s 25th anniversary, and it was the perfect moment for a creative campaign to bring the excitement of this beloved event to life. The main goals included driving awareness and filling registration spots, with an…
Bringing a Historic Fort Worth Attraction into the Future
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History unveiled its newly transformed Jane & John Justin Foundation Omni Theater in December 2024, featuring the world’s largest LED dome ever installed in a museum. This state-of-the-art theater boasts an 8K LED display, offering unparalleled visual clarity and a truly immersive experience. The challenge? Generating excitement and ticket sales for a venue that was still under construction, making it difficult to showcase its groundbreaking features to potential visitors. The Museum enlisted Schaefer’s expertise to craft a compelling campaign that would not only captivate audiences, but drive ticket sales ahead of the grand opening.
A Full-Service Approach to a Flawless Launch
From strategic vision to effective execution, Schaefer provided:
Strategy: Developing a go-to-market plan that ensured maximum awareness, engagement, and conversions.
Creative: Concept development, art direction, copywriting, and design to capture the Omni’s brand new, immersive experience.
Media: Media planning, buying, execution, and real-time analytics to optimize performance throughout the campaign.
Creating a Vision for an Unseen Experience
We were challenged with making viewers feel the thrill of the Omni Theater before they could experience it in person. Using AI-generated imagery, we crafted visuals that transported audiences into the other worlds. Paired with compelling headlines like “Don’t Just Watch. Discover.,” we built anticipation and excitement in the market.
Blending Digital Precision with Emotional Storytelling
Through a carefully orchestrated media mix, targeting DFW and outer drive-markets in Texas, we generated strong awareness before ticket sales launched in November. Our full funnel approach combined paid search, social, and targeted publication partnerships in the arts, culture, and family entertainment space to create excitement and drive ticket sales prior to the opening.
Big Impact, Bigger Results
In just over a month, we drove $168,249 in online ticket sales.
Of the total revenue, 39% was driven directly from paid media.
We surpassed Paid Search benchmarks, with 24% higher CTR and a $1.25 lower CPC than the industry standard.
Paid Social generated 4 million impressions, driving massive awareness for the duration of the 4-month campaign.
Publication e-blasts drove open rates as high as 62%, click-through rates up to 20%, and 26K+ clicks across media placements.
More Than Marketing—Creating a Movement
At Schaefer, we don’t just market attractions—we create anticipation, showcase experiences, and drive results. The success of the Jane & John Justin Omni Theater launch proves that a strong blend of storytelling, media strategy, and bold creative can turn any challenge into a success.
Famous for its trailblazing history, Fort Worth still embraces its reputation as a “City of Opportunity.” Quickly becoming an epicenter of growth and innovation, Fort Worth offers an inviting community, talented workforce, and incredibly low cost of living, attracting people and corporations from all over the world looking to move or expand into one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities.
The goal of every city on the rise is to attract new business and talent while strengthening the industries already established. To accomplish that, the City of Fort Worth Economic Development team selected Schaefer as the agency of record for a three-year partnership to create the city’s first-ever economic development and business attraction initiative. The partnership is part of the city’s five-year strategic plan and plays a key role in positioning Fort Worth as a place of purpose where businesses and people can leverage the city’s incredible potential to create the future they want to see.
Goals:
Establish a story that connects Fort Worth’s heritage with its future
Develop a multi-phase, multi-year campaign to drive awareness and attract new business
Highlight Fort Worth’s economic incentives and competitive edge in business, culture and community
Reach key business decision-makers to advance economic development
Elevate Fort Worth on a national and international stage
Foster collaborative conversations between key stakeholders in the public and private sector
We started with a question: what makes Fort Worth and its people so unique? The answer was simple. A pioneering spirit that dated back to the 1800s and still stood strong today. As the first-ever economic development campaign for the city, Schaefer was in a unique position to lead strategy from inception.
We recognized the importance of storytelling in establishing the city’s position in the eyes of our target audiences. A good story would amplify the message, build credibility, create a strong sense of community and offer nuggets of authenticity and purpose that truly make Fort Worth stand out.
Known as the point where the west begins, Fort Worth has always promised possibility, innovation and prosperity. Unlike some of the larger, competitive cities, opportunity isn’t a new promise, it’s woven into the very fabric of Fort Worth. To communicate that, we built messaging around the idea that no matter what you’re looking for — relocation, expansion, opportunity – it can successfully begin in Fort Worth.
Building equity through identity
In order to build equity, Fort Worth Economic Development first needed an identity. We leveraged their voice, tone and values to create an independent identity that was flexible enough to work alongside the city’s existing branding, and strong enough to communicate the impact of their initiatives.
Schaefer then crafted a multi-faceted campaign that unified strategy, creative and media to promote Fort Worth’s business advantages among corporate decision-makers, site selection consultants and local business owners. The campaign further cemented Fort Worth as a city of growth and opportunity, while highlighting its competitive edge as a leader in innovation who works hard to meet the needs of the businesses who chose Fort Worth.
Solution: Fueling growth and connections online
Revamping the website to reflect the new brand campaign was vital to communicate key messaging. As the central platform that business leaders, stakeholders and prospective residents visit to find relevant information about the city, the website confirmed Fort Worth’s proven economic landscape with tangible proof points our audience would find attractive.
With this in mind, we included demographics, workforce statistics and other data points that leverage Fort Worth’s resources against competitor cities. A strategic mix of traditional and digital media, including paid search targeted prospects helped drive traffic back to the website. Knowing our target audience sets and strategically placing ads in places they frequented (in person and online) expanded Fort Worth’s presence on the list of key business destinations in the US.
After 8 months in market, our team identified a list of top engaged companies. The insights we gathered included a list of prospects from target industry sectors with the potential to increase the size of the labor force and generate millions in economic output for the city of Fort Worth. These key insights have helped us to strengthen our marketing approach in more specifically targeting like prospects.
Results
Overall Impact:
31.5+ million impressions delivered, driving substantial visibility across key target markets, including Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and New Jersey, yielding a very strong engagement rate of 38%.
Email Marketing Success:
1.25+ million emails were sent, contributing nearly 40% of total traffic during the campaign’s lifetime.
56% average engagement rate across email campaigns.
31,000 unique clicks generated.
14% Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR), far exceeding the industry average of 2.5%.
Digital Advertising Results:
Paid Search:
Delivered a 7.5% CTR, surpassing industry benchmarks.
Programmatic Display:
Achieved a 0.4% CTR, well above the industry average of 0.05%.
Business Outcome:
Based on these exceptional results, City Leadership approved a 50% year-over-year budget increase for a three-year campaign extension.
Fort Worth continues to receive organic recognition as a top place in the U.S. for starting a business. This is a direct result of the growing widespread awareness of Fort Worth as a great place to live, work, and do business.
Texas ranks as the best workforce in the United States for its highly educated population, high concentration of STEM workers, and robust career education pipeline. – CNBC
DFW ranks as a top U.S. market for new and expanding facilities. – Site Selection
Fort Worth ranks as the #1 Large City in Texas to start a business. It’s also the #7 Best Large City in the United States to start a business based on office-space affordability, labor costs, and five-year business survival rates. – WalletHub
According to Bisnow, Fort Worth has more than $2 billion in projects under development, marking a major milestone in the city’s economic development.
Icon Golf is a premier luxury golf and travel club that offers its members exclusive access to some of the world’s most prestigious courses and destinations. With a focus on camaraderie and unparalleled experiences, Icon Golf provides a white-glove touch that transcends traditional golf memberships. The organization prides itself on creating a community where members can enjoy the finest in golf, travel, and connect with like-minded individuals.
Despite its exceptional offerings, Icon Golf faced challenges in effectively communicating its unique value to potential members. The existing website needed an update that improved UX and better aligned with the luxury aesthetic the brand embodies. Additionally, the absence of a member portal created a segmented experience for both prospective and existing members. Icon Golf partnered with Schaefer to develop a comprehensive digital solution that would enhance membership sales and streamline internal operations.
Goals
Develop a clear positioning strategy
Improve web navigation, responsiveness, and intuitiveness
Update the design to align with the luxury and sophistication of the brand
Unify the member experience through a member portal
Streamline the conversion funnel by integrating CRM platforms and Hubspot
Approach
Schaefer designed a visually stunning website that instantly connects visitors with the brand’s lifestyle and identity. We began by formulating a clear positioning statement that emphasized Icon Golf’s unique selling proposition, highlighting the camaraderie and exclusive experiences offered. This foundational messaging was crafted to resonate with the target audience and integrated across all communications for a synergistic effect.
As the primary gateway for potential members, the site was developed with intuitive navigation and responsiveness across all devices, ensuring shorter paths to essential information and a better user experience. The dark color palette and sleek typography elevate the brand’s luxe feel, while high-quality imagery showcases the more intangible benefits of membership, like adventure and connection. Engaging visuals further focus on Icon Golf’s four key offerings, piquing curiosity and encouraging deeper exploration.
To unify the user experience, we equipped the website with a robust member portal platform. This enhancement allows for seamless interaction, improved communication, and personalized content for members.
On the backend, we improved internal operations by integrating the website with Icon Golf’s CRM system, HubSpot. This update streamlined the sales funnel, automated prospecting efforts, and improved internal efficiencies.
Results
The new website’s intuitive design and navigation led to longer visit durations and higher engagement rates, effectively communicating the brand’s value proposition to potential and current members.
66.9% increase in sessions
68.3% increase in engaged sessions
62.8% increase in new users
By integrating the website with HubSpot and the new member portal, we were able to streamline internal processes and reduce the time and cost spent on manual updates, allowing the Icon Golf team to focus on enhancing member experiences.
Christ Chapel Bible Church (CCBC) is one of Fort Worth’s largest communities, connecting members across four campuses, more than ten ministries, and an extensive list of programming and events throughout the week. Looking to strengthen its relationship with members and new visitors, CCBC wanted to update its website to manage its diverse set of offerings, improve usability and make it easier for everyone to find what they’re looking for and get involved.
Goals
Improve UX to ensure a clear and seamless browsing experience
Organize website architecture to be inviting and informative
Cultivate a sense of community among visitors and across campuses
Simplify content to keep visitors engaged and exploring
Streamline backend usability to empower staff to easily add and edit content that updates dynamically throughout the site
Planned Site Architecture
Approach
Schaefer architected a robust website with a strong emphasis on user experience that reflected the CCBC community and served as an open invitation to prospective members across DFW.
Recognizing that community-driven content is at the center of their ministry, we elevated important information like service times, events and popular weekly content. By simplifying the structure of the site, visitors can more easily navigate to the information they’re seeking in fewer clicks. We also integrated Rock RMS, a CMS system that allows for real-time updates to weekly events that populate in multiple places across the site, which was crucial for keeping the community informed with accurate and reliable information.
Content Wireframes
Beyond Sunday service, CCBC produces and publishes a library of content that speaks to members in every phase of life. From podcasts and videos to long-form articles, CCBC needed a way to simplify and streamline that process on the backend of the site. For existing content, we built a custom API to transfer approximately 550 videos from the legacy website to the church’s new content library. Equipped with an advanced filtering system, the API was able to organize content by subject during migration and allow visitors to find relevant content more quickly.
A smarter system was developed to auto-update content in multiple areas simultaneously, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all platforms. We also created standardized templates that improved team alignment between content contributors and backend developers to maintain clarity and uniformity across different types of content.
Results
Through strategic improvements to the digital experience, CCBC has enhanced its ability to serve its congregation, ensuring every visitor—whether online or in-person—receives a warm welcome and easy access to the resources and information they’re seeking.
The new website led to significant improvements in both traffic and user experience, indicating higher community engagement and reach.
23% increase in traffic
95% increase in engagement
The improved backend significantly reduced the time and effort required by CCBC staff to update content, giving staff more time to focus on ministry and less on administrative tasks. The website has also become a definitive ‘source of truth’ for all church-related information, benefiting all campuses and ministries by providing a single, reliable point of reference.
Zoo Run 2024 marked the event’s 25th anniversary, and it was the perfect moment for a creative campaign to bring the excitement of this beloved event to life. The main goals included driving awareness and filling registration spots, with an underlying objective of surpassing the prior year’s results.
Engaging Audiences with Vibrant Creative and Strategic Media
Schaefer crafted an upbeat and eye-catching campaign with the headline “Zig-Zag Through the Zoo.” The creative design used playful, illustrated animals and neon yellow lines to add a sense of movement and energy. Even more, the creative highlighted the Zoo’s newly returned lions, which were a key feature of the race route. Our media strategy included a full-funnel approach to guide users from learning about the event to signing up. We engaged audiences through a mix of paid search, paid social, email, text messages, streaming video, OOH, and display ads—ensuring we reached them at every stage of their journey.
Record-Breaking Success: A Sell-Out Event and Impressive Growth
Zoo Run SOLD OUT for the first time in its 25-year history!
Registration quantity was 152% to goal, and revenue reached 141% of the goal.
Paid search traffic skyrocketed, driving 5x more clicks than the prior year, with an impressive 44% CTR—a 41% increase.
Social media engagement soared with 3.8 million impressions and more than 142K total post engagements.
Email strategy helped boost engagement with the highest click-through rates seen in years.
Turning a Tradition into a Historic Achievement
Schaefer’s creative vision and strategic approach helped make Zoo Run 2024 a resounding success, not only meeting but exceeding all expectations. By blending bold, fun visuals with highly targeted media, we helped make the 25th anniversary a celebration to remember—turning this beloved event into a sell-out success and solidifying it as one of Fort Worth’s favorite family traditions.
Giving Kyzatrex® renewed energy and vibrance with a new brand campaign.
Situation
More than 20 million men deal with problems related to hypogonadism, or low testosterone. Many patients and HCPs have preconceived notions about diagnosis and treatment, and tend to focus solely on sexual health benefits. But low testosterone can also contribute to health problems ranging from mild issues such as fatigue, to severe problems including obesity, type 2 diabetes, CVD and mental illness.
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is an emerging market that still falls to the bottom of the priority list for many HCPs. Despite its prevalence and chronicity, the diagnosis, administration and management of TRT remains a complex journey that, until Kyzatrex®, only came in painful, inconvenient or messy treatment options. Kyzatrex, however, brought an innovative new approach to the market by providing the option of helping patients address this important metabolic issue with a convenient daily oral dose — a difference that HCPs needed to be aware of.
Goals
Create a campaign that “cuts through the clutter” of prescriptive testosterone patches, gels, pills and injections
Develop brand messaging that resonates with both consumers and healthcare providers
Boost brand awareness rapidly
Establish metrics for gauging the success of the campaign
Strategy
Because HCPs and patients alike primarily equate testosterone primarily with sexual health, Kyzatrex needed to change the conversation. Research provided insights and understanding of the target’s mindset that led to a revelation: Kyzatrex delivers the total package — convenience and a therapeutic option for a critical metabolic health issue. More importantly, Kyzatrex helps HCPs and patients make more of their everyday lives and activities.
We tapped into the truth around this once mysterious condition and chose a path that took the emphasis off of sexual health. Instead, we turned the spotlight on how TRT impacts a patient’s everyday tasks. Through our creative approach, we made men heroes of their lives again, elevating the mundane into heroic feats. We engaged HCPs with images as dynamic as movie posters, glorifying the way the daily grind can actually be heroic when their patients feel like themselves again. And, with meaningful clinical data to back it up, we ensured the HCPs would be heroes, too.
Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Making mundane moments memorable. Framing the everyday as heroic. In short: Changing the conversation.
Results
Within a quarter of launching a bold, attention-grabbing campaign that used print, collateral, digital and social channels, the client was able to rapidly grab attention — and secure results. Among them included:
Generating a rapid spike in prescriptions
Inking a number of high-profile clinical agreements
Establishing an important co-marketing relationship with a leading telehealth company
Summary
The more competitive a market or communications space becomes, the more crucial it is to find ways to elevate a brand above the noise and clutter. In this case, a breakthrough shift to a differentiated brand personality embraced bigger, bolder graphics, allowing Kyzatrex to do exactly that. It also effectively engaged patients and HCPs in a highly human-centric way, positioning the client for greater success and to secure a larger share of this growing market.
Schaefer is a proud partner of the Kimbell Art Museum, having supported the museum in individual ticket sales and museum memberships for five years. Throughout our time together, we have led project-based initiatives like premiering the exhibitions to the community through unique, hands-on activations. We also support all digital media strategy and management throughout the year.
A benefit to a long-term partner includes the compounded learnings that come from each year and every test. As we all know, the digital landscape is ever-evolving, and it is crucial for your campaigns to grow alongside it.
Photo by Nic Lehoux
What’s Different?
As we closed out 2023, we reflected on what worked and what didn’t. The Kimbell offers museum-goers new exhibitions each year, and while each exhibition differs from one another, the timing stays somewhat regular. This allows us to test media strategies that overlap campaigns, such as brand or membership, with the peak season featuring new exhibitions. In 2023, we tested the use of higher awareness mediums combined with campaign overlap and tactic flighting to compare against 2022’s results.
We found that due to the name recognition of both the Kimbell and the renowned artists featured in the special exhibitions, awareness was less important in our target market. Therefore, we shifted our focus to conversion-based tactics for 2024. However, we also found that having our brand and membership campaigns ‘always on’ allowed for just the right amount of awareness to boost sales year over year. We applied these learnings to our 2024 plan and are eager to track performance as the year progresses.
Photo by Nic Lehoux
What Worked?
Another benefit of a partner like Schaefer is that we are always optimizing mid-campaign. We’re not waiting for end-of-year to review the campaigns, but constantly applying best practices and learnings to our live campaigns. Because of this, we saw significant growth and positive results in 2023:
180% website revenue growth YoY
247% increase in revenue directly attributed to paid media
Within the eyecare industry, the idea of interventional glaucoma treatment has been categorized as an elusive myth for years. ViaLase developed a game-changing system designed to leverage two proven technologies to create a new, non-invasive approach to glaucoma. When this new system is approved by regulatory agencies, the myth will finally become a reality. Therefore, our client needed a campaign that would create attention and support a successful launch of the new concept.
Goals
Develop materials needed for a successful brand launch
Develop a highly visible campaign that would cut through the clutter of a crowded market
Rapidly generate brand awareness
Explain the fundamental technology behind the device
Solicit interest and inquiries from qualified leads
Provide meaningful measurements of the campaign results
Strategy
Schaefer Advertising responded with a showstopping, attention-grabbing campaign that used teaser imagery of a Sasquatch, or “BigFoot”, creature to convey that the “mythical creature” was finally here – and real. The sheer uniqueness of the concept was a huge and dramatic departure from the cold, clinical ads embraced by other players in the industry.
Solution
An integrated campaign was launched that included paid search, organic social, email, and digital display on well-known industry publications and websites. Each medium enabled the client to tell its story and document the response rates as viewers clicked through for downloads, demos and landing-page visits.
Results
By leveraging paid search and strategically-chosen publication placements (such as newsletters, e-blasts, ROS banners, and sponsored social posts), the campaign achieved noteworthy results within the first three months of launch.
Website tracking identified 98% new site visits, with an impressive 53% engagement rate
High clickthrough rates
And, most importantly, awareness started with a bang, with healthy responses from an elite and highly-qualified audience of eyecare and glaucoma specialists
Sessions
15,864
New Users
13,771
Pageviews
17,130
Engagement Rate
53.42%
Summary
The launch campaign accomplished its primary goal of driving brand awareness among surgeons for ViaLase and its innovative design. And, in addition to gaining insights into paid search performance, the client began to forge strategic partnerships with leading industry publications. The geographic spread and engagement metrics highlight the campaign’s effectiveness in reaching a qualified audience, setting a strong foundation for future marketing efforts.
Overall, the campaign was another example of Schaefer’s ability to combine solid knowledge of healthcare markets and attention-grabbing creativity to tell a cohesive and relevant brand story.
