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Amplifying Perot Jain’s impact with the perfect balance of strategy, design, and technology

Perot Jain, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage capital funding, is intentional about investing in innovative companies that are developing disruptive, best-in-class solutions. Founded by the collaboration of Ross Perot, Jr. and Anurag Jain, Perot Jain focuses on funding leading-edge companies in the mobility innovation, healthcare, and real estate sectors. With a long history of entrepreneurial success and a strong infrastructure in place, Perot Jain sought to convey their unique approach to venture capital. Unlike other firms, their investment support goes beyond capital and extends to mentorship, access, and alliances within the Perot and Jain family of companies, including Access Healthcare, Hillwood, and the Mobility Innovation Zone. It became evident they needed to enhance their brand identity, create a distinct positioning, and develop a new website that would effectively communicate their unique value proposition.

Through their relationship with Hillwood and the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone, Perot Jain had already established a rapport with Schaefer, leading them to choose the agency for this significant brand transformation initiative. With a shared vision, Perot Jain and Schaefer embarked on a journey to redefine the venture capital firm’s brand strategy, positioning, and visual identity, ultimately showcasing their commitment to investing in and mentoring disruptive companies that have the potential to shape the future.

Featured Case Study

Innovation from the ground up

Mobility and innovation districts are places where pioneers make critical advancements in logistics and supply chain modernization. It’s also a place where technology breakthroughs are developed that can affect billions of people. They are critical to advancing how consumer and…
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From mission to position: uncovering Perot Jain’s unique differentiators

Schaefer initiated a full brand strategy initiative, delving into Perot Jain’s organizational mission and identifying their unique positioning compared to other VC firms. Collaboratively, the team identified the key values and advantages that set Perot Jain apart: collaboration, authenticity, a straightforward approach, leadership, entrepreneurial success, strong infrastructure, and partnerships/alliances. This thorough understanding formed the basis for a strategy that would effectively communicate Perot Jain’s strengths and resonate with their target audience. The strategy aimed to convey success stories and the current portfolio, positioning Perot Jain as an organization focused on investing in innovative companies aligned with their parent organizations’ business goals.

Building on the strategic foundation, Schaefer developed a brand archetype recommendation, selecting the Hero archetype. This choice aligned with Perot Jain’s commitment to investing in and mentoring innovative companies that aim to improve their industries and the world. This archetype dovetailed seamlessly into the positioning recommendation, Transformational, and a powerful positioning statement that highlighted the art and science of experienced entrepreneurialism, emphasizing Perot Jain’s role in driving transformative change.

Uniting Perot Jain’s positioning with a captivating brand identity and website

To visually represent the brand, Schaefer designed a logo and brand identity that perfectly balanced the Perot and Jain family names. The logo mark, a harmonious integration of ‘P’ and ‘J,’ symbolized the partnership between Perot Jain and the companies they support. The customized letterforms, with their subtly rounded edges, reinforced the logo mark and evoked a sense of balance and synergy. The animated version of the logo added dynamism and represented movement within the brand. 

Perot Jain logos

With the positioning and brand identity as a solid foundation, the website was crafted to build the brand’s presence online. The website’s information architecture (IA) was thoughtfully developed to feature Perot Jain’s portfolio of companies, leveraging the legacy of Perot and Jain ventures and driving a holistic conversation. The modular page structure empowered Perot Jain to easily expand and update content, ensuring long-term scalability and independence. The comprehensive portfolio system showcased Perot Jain’s wide-ranging investments, offering a clear demonstration of their expertise. The visually captivating website, with its compelling imagery, videos, and clean typography, wowed potential clients and instilled trust and credibility. The website’s design, catering to both desktop and mobile experiences seamlessly, ultimately provided a modern and future-ready platform.

Investing that Transforms - Perot Jain

Results: driving success and solidifying market presence

The results of this brand transformation were significant. Perot Jain’s new brand identity positioned them as a global competitor, attracting potential customers and garnering increased visibility among relevant venture capital partners. Perot Jain now has a solid foundation for all future communications, driving continued success in attracting high-quality deals and fostering partnerships that align with their growth goals. In essence, Schaefer’s partnership with Perot Jain exemplifies the transformative power of strategic brand positioning and creative excellence. By combining insights, innovative design, and a client-centric approach, Schaefer has enabled Perot Jain to elevate their brand to new heights, solidifying their position as a trailblazing force within the venture capital landscape.

Perot Jain on cell phone

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.

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

Podimetrics had a strong story to tell
— and a new brand to build

Podimetrics Brand Logos

Situation

Diabetes is one of the top health issues in the United States. In fact, costs for diabetes care are more than 400% higher than cancer. One of the leading drivers of that cost is amputation resulting from Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs), which results in a limb being amputated every four minutes due to diabetes.

To combat this, Podimetrics developed a web-enabled, remote temperature monitoring system designed to identify the risk of DFUs before symptoms are visibly present — and drive significant cost savings by avoiding costly amputations.

Schaefer took the reins on translating this innovative system into a compelling narrative that would reach key audiences and encourage payor adoption.

Goals: 

  • Support the market launch of a new, breakthrough product
  • Differentiate Podimetrics from competing solutions
  • Explain the system and its benefits to payors and HCPs
  • Support rollout to a low-tech patient base with clear, user-friendly materials
Podimetrics Materials

Strategy

Our team was tasked with creating a new brand and executing multi-channel communications to differentiate Podimetrics and drive sales conversations.

To reach the various audiences, we decided that two specific objectives must be achieved: First, the brand story must be humanized and brought to life in a manner that would resonate with payors, physicians and patients. Second, communications and user pathways should be simplified, to ensure that the relevant messages were reaching each audience and business objectives were being reached.

Podimetrics Website Mockup

Solution

Viewing Podimetrics’ system as something akin to a “canary in the coalmine,” Schaefer used this metaphor to create a consistent brand story that clearly conveyed the benefits of early detection — including the estimate that more than 70% of diabetic foot amputations could be prevented through early detection.

From there, Schaefer conducted a User Experience audit to find opportunities to improve communication throughout the customer journey. We then launched a full suite of materials to support the sales team, including an updated website, product videos, stationary package, and other sales support materials.

For end users, Schaefer also created product packaging that was as user-friendly as the device itself. Knowing the patient profile was less tech-savvy, we scrutinized every aspect of packaging and product setup to ensure everything remained simple, intuitive and frictionless.

Podimetrics Device

Results

Schaefer effectively positioned Podimetrics as a new, holistic system that uncovers and prevents extremity complications from diabetes. This differentiation is allowing Podimetrics to compete for significant national payor contracts, as well as establish notable partnerships with strategic allies such as the American Diabetes Association.

Summary

For diabetic foot wounds, early detection is essential for avoiding amputation and reducing costs. The “canary in a coalmine” solution helped humanize and simplify a complex technology and gave both internal and external audiences a better understanding of its purpose and its benefit. Today, a growing number of payors, physicians and patients are becoming aware of the potential benefit of the Podimetrics system.

Situation: City branding is important

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.  

Fort Worth Economic Development Campaign Branding

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. 

Where Innovation Begins

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.

City of Fort Worth Inner/Outer Market

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. 

City of Fort Worth Digital Banners
City of Fort Worth Interactive and Print

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:

FW Economic Development Heat Map

During the first 8 months of the campaign, we created an anchor site that served multiple economic development organizations with one source. 

  • 88% of total site traffic driven by paid media
    • 44% derived from prospecting emails delivered to corporate decision-makers, site selection consultants and other key decision makers in select target outer markets
  • 98% increase in new site traffic from key markets and industries
    • 55K new visitors 
    • Significant engagement achieved in Los Angeles, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham markets, which were key target markets within the initiative
  • As a result of this increase in traffic to our website, Fort Worth continues to receive organic recognition as a top place in the U.S. to start a business. This is a direct result of the growth in widespread awareness for Fort Worth as a great place to live, work and do business. 
  • According to Bisnow, Fort Worth has more than $2 billion in projects under development marking a huge milestone in the economic development of the city.

By the end of Year 1, we developed strategic partnerships with key economic development influencers in the region and positively impacted corporate relocation and expansion for the city of Fort Worth, drawing business from two key industries — Aerospace and Defense, and Mobility Innovation.

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
  • Fort Worth Zoo Membership Billboard
  • Direct Mail for Fort Worth Zoo Membership

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.

TCU Baseball Video – Day in. Day out.

Gold ADDY Award | Client: TCU Baseball
TCU Baseball Video

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.

Behind the Scenes Filming the TCU Gold Addy Award Video
VIEW WORK

UNTHSC – Day x Day Campaign

Gold ADDY Award | Client: UNTHSC
  • Covid DayxDay Billboard
  • UNTHSC Website for Covid DayxDay

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.

UNTHSC Covid DayxDay Social Posts
VIEW WORK

OMNI Go For Three Campaign Illustrations

Gold ADDY Award | Client: OMNI

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.

Omni Icongraphy

Near Southside Rebrand

Gold ADDY Award | Client: Near Southside
Near Southside Branding

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.

Before and After Near Southside Logo
VIEW WORK

River & Blues Brand Campaign

Gold ADDY Award | Client: River & Blues Festival
River and Blues Campaign Branding

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.

Posters for River and Blues Festival
VIEW WORK

Special Judges’ Award: Best of Print

Schaefer Christmas Card

In real estate, a “sea of sameness” exists that engulfs the majority of brands. From real estate companies to master-planned communities to apartment complexes, there is a lot of branding overlap that makes it difficult for consumers to differentiate one brand from another. But, this industry-wide ubiquitous branding opens the opportunity for other brands to rise above the noise and connect with more consumers on a deeper level. For Hillwood Communities, that meant telling unique brand stories for multiple communities beneath one parent company.

Goals:

  • Analyze each community individually, and define their brand’s differentiators
  • Perform detailed market research to discover how each brand stands apart from the real estate market as a whole
  • Develop branded material for each of Hillwood’s communities that can be used across mediums for various marketing goals
  • Tell distinct stories for each development that will better resonate with target consumers

Navigating The Sea of Sameness

There’s a widespread marketing problem – the sea of sameness – that affects a variety of industries, but it is particularly prevalent in real estate. The sea of sameness occurs when marketers and brands capitalize on similar strategies and KPIs, resulting in identical tones, marketing approaches, and even branding aesthetics. This ultimately dilutes a brand’s market impact, and waters-down the effectiveness of marketing strategy. This market saturation makes it incredibly hard for brands to create real connections with the consumers they serve and hurts their ability to build long-term relationships with consumers.

Strategizing Brand Differentiators

The sea of sameness isn’t all bad, though, and gives willing brands a clear opportunity to use distinctive branding and different marketing tactics to overcome the ubiquity afflicting their competition. For Hillwood, we treated each individual community as its own entity and branded around what makes each community a unique and identifiable neighborhood.

Union Park is an active community that features an onsite elementary school and expansive green spaces. We wanted the community’s energy to shine through, so we used bright, vibrant colors, and highlighted some of the young residents having fun at the park, which better connects to the young family demographics at Union Park. The energy pops off the page, and the brand lives up to the tagline “live a vibrant life.”

Wolf Ranch is situated in the Texas Hill Country and offers a scenic, relaxing way of life hidden along Georgetown’s San Gabriel River. The residents of Wolf Ranch seek escape and adventure, so the brand had the opportunity to really lean into that with messaging and creative. We chose “the hill country is calling” as a tagline, warm, natural colors, and stunning photography of the community and the surrounding Hill Country in the brochure to mimic the nature surrounding Wolf Ranch.

Bluewood is a community in every sense of the word, where residents come together to form real connections and friendships. The community offers an abundance of features such as a community pool, trails, and an on-site elementary, all within a very attainable price point that appeals to Millennial and first-time homebuyers. To brand Bluewood, we chose bright, bold colors that help communicate the community’s exuberant energy. We brought through some of the blue colors used throughout the development and chose the tagline, “a community without compromise” to better highlight all the offerings at an affordable price.

Each specific brand identity is built with identifiable marks that express the community’s individuality. That same individuality allows the brand marks to be fluid and flexible, and useful on a variety of mediums. From brochures to websites and outdoor signage, the brand is clearly communicated and identifiable. By making that connection, we’re able to help spread broader awareness of Hillwood Communities’ developments, and more meaningfully connect with a larger audience of potential home buyers.

Results:

  • Created a full brand platform and messaging pillars for each community
  • Full asset creation and ability to utilize assets across platforms
  • Created a unified brand message, look and feel for each brand

“Is it legible? Is it readable?” These are questions creatives deal with every single day, and they often communicate the same query: “Is this message understandable by our audience?” Although legibility and readability are closely related, there are subtle differences between the two that help us better navigate the creative needs of our clients to deliver the more effective messaging that our audience will understand and remember.
To get to the bottom of legibility vs. readability, we caught up with one of our graphic designers – Jessie – to discuss the nuanced differences between the words that help her communicate more effectively.

The Problem:

Working in the healthcare vertical, it can be difficult to clearly communicate a message to older audiences who have imperfect eyesight. As a designer, it’s important to understand that certain typefaces are more legible or readable than others. When selecting a typeface, you have to choose one that the audience can easily read so that they understand the message. Otherwise, you risk losing the comprehension of the communication all together – and that’s a waste of time and resources.

Readability

Readability in Branding

Moncrief Cancer Institute Report the Community

Readability is the rate and ease at which a person can get through a line of text. Readability most often applies to full lines of text and paragraphs. When we consider readability, we’re mostly thinking about the contrast between thick and thin strokes, and the amount of disparity between stroke weight. This can affect how quickly someone reads through a message, and how deeply they comprehend the message.

The typeface used in the headlines of the Moncrief Cancer Institute Report to the Community is Chronicle, a serif-style typeface characterized by its letterforms’ noticeable variation in stroke width, which helps guide the eye smoothly from one letter to the next. The typeface paired with just a few words per line makes the headlines more manageable to read quickly. Having fewer words prevents overwhelming the eye, which can cause our eyes to leap from one end of the page to the other, which hurts the overall messaging. Both characteristics contribute to making the headlines in this brochure highly readable.

Legibility

Legibility in Branding

TearCare® Freedom campaign

Legibility is how easily a person can differentiate between individual letterforms. The concept of legibility is most important for early readers because they’re not reading through entire lines of text, but just beginning to comprehend the shapes and sounds of letters. Legibility effects overall readability – you can’t create a readable message with illegible letterforms – but readability has no effect on legibility.

The typeface used in our TearCare® Freedom campaign and product packaging is Gotham, which is characterized by its large x-height (measured by the distance between the baseline and the mean line of lower-case letters in a typeface) and large counters (open or closed inner spaces in letterforms). The open space makes this a highly legible typeface.

Understanding Our Audience

In advertising, it’s important to understand not only who our target audience is, but also how our message is reaching them. Are they viewing an advertisement from across a doctor’s office or at a glance as they’re driving by? Are they flipping through a magazine? If we can make our message more easily accessible by applying principles of readability and legibility, then we stand a better chance of connecting to the consumer and successfully delivering our message.
Learn More:
For more information about the topic of Readability Vs. Legibility, check out the book About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography by David Jury

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

The Problem

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

The Solution

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

The Approach

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

Goals

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

Results

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