Schaefer Advertising Co.

Archives

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

The Situation

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

Goals

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

Strategy

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

Solution

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

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

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

Results

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

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

Summary

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

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.

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

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

“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

Most prescription savings cards cover a narrow scope of treatments, which overcomplicates the savings process. As a result, patients are often left confused about how to redeem savings and may end up actually paying more for their prescriptions. Discounts change frequently and branded products are not always covered, leading to patients and providers losing confidence in the cards and programs themselves.

Galderma CareConnect is a patient savings program that consolidates Galderma’s prescriptions into one savings portal that’s accessible for patients and “Remarkably Simple” to use.

Goals:

  • Build awareness of the savings program among qualified patients.
  • Make the program easier to access for patients.
  • Inform more potential patients about their eligibility for the program.

Strategy & Execution

Schaefer led the Galderma CareConnect launch with a few key strategic imperatives: communicate the scope of Galderma prescriptions covered under the program and quickly build awareness of the program among patients, healthcare providers, and pharmacists. We developed a comprehensive, multi-channel campaign around the tagline “Remarkably Simple.” This included traditional advertising, digital ads, video, paid digital media, display targeting, customized email marketing as well as personal and non-personal sales support.

Connecting Patients with Care

At the core of this comprehensive campaign was GaldermaCC.com, a centralized location for information about the savings program. The site was strategically developed to communicate key information to each of our core audiences:

  • Patients – Information about savings, ease of use and a great opportunity to quickly download a GCC card.
  • Healthcare Professionals – Key points to share with their patients when prescribing Galderma products, information about pharmacy access and a portfolio of products on the card.
  • Pharmacists – Information about patient eligibility.

The website follows a clean design and user-friendly navigation to make the user experience just as “Remarkably Simple” as the Galderma CareConnect program itself. In addition, the website utilizes a seamless API to connect directly with the card provider, so that a unique card can be generated in just seconds when the user chooses to download.

By making this direct connection, we are able to utilize technology and data to measure card redemption rates at pharmacies across the country and measure the success of marketing campaigns in market.

Results

  • In less than two years, Galderma Care Connect site metrics have steadily climbed month after month.
  • To date, Galderma Care Connect has reached more than one million unique patients.
  • As of June 2019, more than 3 million prescriptions have been processed through the Galderma Care Connect portal, saving patients, healthcare providers, and pharmacists valuable time and money.
  • MM&M Gold Award for Best Payer Marketing.

Make Life Better

Navigating healthcare can be a confusing process for patients and even some healthcare providers. By creating the Galderma CareConnect website, we were able to help more people download a patients’ savings card and connect them with more affordable care.

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.

April 7, 2017

A lasting impression

The Hurst Conference Center website redesign brings an air of elegance to the venue. Currently catering to corporate meeting planners, social event coordinators and brides-to-be, the website needed to provide specific information that was relevant to each target audience. This was achieved through intuitive navigation and individualized content.

The website leads with beautiful photography of the venue and, most notably, their fiber-optic chandelier. The refreshed design reflects high-end clientele and more aptly represents the quality of service the Hurst Conference Center offers.

Utilizing grid structures for organizational clarity, every aspect of the redesign provides a hassle-free planning process for potential clients. Each interior page has responsive menus that display room capacities, technical offerings and floor plans. With all the details carefully thought out, the quality of online service now mirrors the level of customer service the Hurst Conference Center provides.

September 26, 2016

Cheers to you!

hccflute_digitalcampaign
hccflute_testpackaging

Remember when we developed a unique brand and identity for the Hurst Conference Center’s bridal market, Lumiere Ballroom? We’ve continued to promote this unique positioning to the local bridal market through both traditional and non-traditional means. The goal of our most recent campaign was simple: book more tours. We knew that by viewing the venue, with it’s simple elegance and central location, wedding and reception bookings would increase.
Through a digital campaign, we geo-targeted brides with the message ‘Cheers to You!’ in celebration of their engagement and the excitement to come on the big day. By booking a tour with the Hurst Conference Center, couples would receive a complimentary champagne flute set.

Developing the custom packaging came with it’s own set of challenges. Functionally, it needed to be collapsible, easy to assemble and structurally sound. There may (or may not) have been a few flute casualties in the development phase, but through trial, error and a little paper engineering, we created a carrier that met all requirements.

The flute packaging was constructed with Neenah folding board and stamped with holographic foil. The silver-based, rainbow hue mimics the iconic fiber optic star-field chandelier, making it a perfect solution to bring the abstracted Lumiere Ballroom logo to life. Since holographic foil happened to be on our design bucket list, we killed two birds with one, err, rainbow. Upon receiving the first press sheets, giddy excitement and dancing in the sunlight ensued.

Since you may not be able to see it in person, check out the foil in action above.

Chippewa Boots is an American legacy that dates back to 1901 and has been worn for generations by hardworking, passionate men and women who helped build and shape this country. Today, Chippewa Loyalists remain steadfast ambassadors for the brand, but a new breed of Chippewa customer – the young urban – is emerging and embracing the lifestyle that Chippewa represents. In 2016 Chippewa, a division of Justin Boots, a Berkshire Hathaway Co., sought Schaefer Advertising to create an elevated brand platform that would continue to reflect the legacy, quality and craftsmanship of their boots, but also bridge the brand’s appeal to this new target audience.

The new brand creative features sweeping imagery that captures the Chippewa lifestyle in its Americana roots. The platform features a custom trade show exhibit that launched at America’s largest outdoor trade show, Outdoor Retailer, along with new catalogs, look books, advertising, web and social elements. Outdoor Retailer was so impressed with the new platform, Chippewa was upgraded to a premier location within the “America” section of the show. Sit back and relax while you take in the new Chippewa.

Chippewa Boots is an American legacy that dates back to 1901 and has been worn for generations by hardworking, passionate men and women who helped build and shape this country. Today, Chippewa Loyalists remain steadfast ambassadors for the brand, but a new breed of Chippewa customer – the young urban – is emerging and embracing the lifestyle that Chippewa represents. In 2016 Chippewa, a division of Justin Boots, a Berkshire Hathaway Co., sought Schaefer Advertising to create an elevated brand platform that would continue to reflect the legacy, quality and craftsmanship of their boots, but also bridge the brand’s appeal to this new target audience.

The new brand creative features sweeping imagery that captures the Chippewa lifestyle in its Americana roots. The platform features a custom trade show exhibit that launched at America’s largest outdoor trade show, Outdoor Retailer, along with new catalogs, look books, advertising, web and social elements. Outdoor Retailer was so impressed with the new platform, Chippewa was upgraded to a premier location within the “America” section of the show. Sit back and relax while you take in the new Chippewa.

February 29, 2016

ADDYs Rock!

On the heels of back-to-back Best of Show Awards, the Schaefer Team was honored with 29 awards, including 11 Golds and two Special Judges Awards at the local 2016 American Advertising Awards – proving that great creative and great results for clients is not mutually exclusive. The winning work demonstrates a broad range of creative depth across a wide range of clients including: Fort Worth Zoo, Mouser Electronics, City of Hurst, TTI Electronics, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth Creative Cooperative, TCU Athletics, Cassco Development Company. Additionally, Schaefer was recognized for several self-promotion pieces as well as work done for the 2015 American Advertising Awards.
UPDATE: Regional results are in! Schaefer won big taking home 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze. Now on to Nationals, our fingers are crossed for another win. (Remember our National win for Zoo Ball last year?)



Gold ADDY Award &
Regional Gold ADDY Award

Project: Zoo Ball
Client: Fort Worth Zoo
A pop-up invitation for the Fort Worth Zoo’s annual gala event, Zoo Ball, to raise money in support of the zoo’s ongoing mission of conservation.
View Work









Gold ADDY Award &
Regional Silver ADDY Award

Project: Zoo Preschool
Client: Fort Worth Zoo
An illustrated campaign and series of animal flash cards for the preschool program at the Fort Worth Zoo.
View Work





Gold ADDY Award &
Regional Bronze ADDY Award

Project: The Good Stuff
Client: Hurst Conference Center
A direct mail campaign and invitation to the Hurst Conference Center’s tasting event for local planners.
View Work









Gold ADDY Award

Project: Empowering Innovation Campaign
Client: Mouser Electronics
A campaign for Mouser Electronics centered around engineering and ingenuity through a partnership with spokesman Grant Imahara.
View Work





Gold ADDY Award

Project: Arts Goggle 2015
Client: Schaefer Advertising Co.
Created a 10ft x 40ft chalkboard and encouraged community participation for the annual Arts Goggle event on Magnolia.
View Work




Special Judges’ Award: Design

Zoo Preschool






Gold ADDY Award

Project: Amendment 28 Campaign
Client: AAF Fort Worth
A campaign centered around the passage of Amendment 28, which outlawed advertising and promote entries to the local ADDY Awards.
View Work




Gold ADDY Award

Project: Submission Protocol Video Campaign
Client: AAF Fort Worth
Video campaign showing proper protocol for the disposal of advertising and entry into the local ADDY Awards.
View Work


 







Gold ADDY Award

Project: Amendment 28 Logo
Client: AAF Fort Worth
Logo for the Department of Justice Anti Persuasion Division, the agency responsible for the enforcement of Amendment 28.
View Work 





Gold ADDY Award &
Regional Bronze ADDY Award

Project: Winners Book
Client: AAF Fort Worth
Newspaper style book announcing the repeal of Amendment 28 and showcasing the 2015 Fort Worth ADDY winners.
View Work


 







Gold ADDY Award

Project: Official Advertising Collection Receptacle
Client: AAF Fort Worth
Government packaging for the collection of illegal advertising and ADDY entries.
View Work 





Gold ADDY Award

Project: Amendment 28 Poster
Client: AAF Fort Worth
Large format poster to announce the outlawing of advertising with the passage of Amendment 28.
View Work


 


Special Judges’ Award: Concept

Amendment 28 Campaign




Silver

2014 BRIT Annual Report
Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Beastro Poster Campaign
Fort Worth Zoo
Spring Outdoor Campaign
Fort Worth Zoo
Preschool Campaign
Fort Worth Zoo
Empowering Innovation: Robotics Spotlight
Mouser Electronics
Empowering Innovation: Driverless Cars Spotlight
Mouser Electronics
Schaefer Business Cards
Schaefer Advertising Co.
Schaefer Website
Schaefer Advertising Co.
Creative Gauntlet No. 4 Poster
Fort Worth Creative Cooperative
Amendment 28 Website
AAF Fort Worth


Bronze

The Kelton Logo
Clearfork
Safari Splash Logo
Fort Worth Zoo
The Specialist Comic Book Series
TTI, Inc.
Southside T-Shirt
Schaefer Advertising Co.
Schaefer 2015 Christmas Card
Schaefer Advertising Co.