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Schaeferites are inspired by all kinds of things. One look at our desks will tell you that: toys, baseballs, elephant figurines, mugs from places we’ve been, etc. The nature of explorers is that we go out into the world, gather inspiration and bring it back. However, sometimes that inspiration comes to us. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Moondream, the paper that turns translucent when you emboss it.

“Oh. Hey. Christmas card.”

But what should we emboss? How about our building? Yeah, our building. From our home to yours? Yes. Christmas or holidays? Christmas. Candle to put inside? DO IT. Wait, too expensive. It’s okay, people have candles. What if they burn their houses down? Include instructions. Who’s going to fold and stuff and stamp them? We are.

And that’s the brief but accurate history of this year’s Christmas card. Hope it finds you well.

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For the third year in a row, we partnered with the Fort Worth Opera to develop the  invitation design for their largest and most impactful fundraising event of the year – the Opera Ball. Proceeds from this event go toward programming, community outreach and the annual FW Opera Festival. The Opera Ball committee had chosen a sci-fi theme for this year’s ball. Not saying we’re nerds or anything, but our minds quickly went into hyperdrive upon hearing this. Get it? Of course you do. The Fort Worth Opera Ball competes with several high-end donor events within the city, and it was imperative that our materials grab people’s attention and get them excited to attend.

We ultimately named this year’s ball the Galactic Gala and included references to Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and other stellar movies. See? We can’t help ourselves. With a minimal print budget, we were still able to create a printed invitation that people could interact with. When you pulled the invitation from the sleeve it looked as if the light saber was turning on. Many people felt compelled to make their own sound effects. Some were better than others, and we may or may not have looked it up on Youtube to see who was closest.

November 19, 2014

Adventures of the Specialist

The Story

TTI, Inc. is a $2B Berkshire-Hathaway company that supplies electronic components to practically every major electronics company in the world. A few years ago, Schaefer created TTI’s spokesman, the Specialist, whose ongoing adventures have been a successful video series for the company. Three seasons in, they asked us if there was a way to expand the Specialist into other media and broaden his reach.

The Work

Comic book movies are coming out left and right, but our idea was to do the reverse. The Specialist had always been a live action video character. Why not got 2-D with it? We proposed comic book-style direct mail series that would take the Specialist and his adventure directly to the desks of our target audience. We sourced an illustrator who could do the old-school comic book style, and wrote a series of adventures involving everything from jetpacks to spaceships – two things we (so far, at least) haven’t been able to pull of in video.

The Results

In just a few months, TTI was able to grow their direct marketing database by 500 leads, and they have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both clients and partners. To date, we’ve produced seven issues of The Adventures of The Specialist and have more issues in the works. What crazy jam will the Specialist find himself in next time? Schaefer only knows.

 

November 8, 2014

Malware Apocalypse!

At this year’s Spice World expo in Austin, Texas, Schaefer client McAfee Security was there in force to help all those IT professionals keep both their I and their T safe. The concept, Malware Apocalypse, likened all the computer-eating monsters roaming the internet to our favorite brain-eating monsters roaming various movies and TV shows.
We helped deck out the booth (and the humans) in all sorts of zombie hunting gear. We had zombie themed props and giveaways – we even had makeup artists at the booth to give people the undead makeunders they always wanted. No surprise, it was a hit. The client agreed it was one of the most successful Spiceworld showings yet, and there’s no doubt that our concept left a lasting impression on attendees.
 

If you think a corporate planning session sounds kind of boring, you clearly haven’t been to one that was hosted by Schaefer and TTI. This long-standing client tasked us with inviting their company brain trust together to discuss the coming year’s business and marketing strategies over fine wines and delicious food at Del Frisco’s Grille in Fort Worth. Designer Blair Babineaux came up with this cheeky little custom wine label that paired perfectly with the evening (which was a big success, by the way).

The Scan—a web video series on technology security—came about just like any other project. A former Schaefer employee who now works for McAfee Security saw some silly videos we made and posted on our Facebook page. She thought, “Hey, that might work for us, too!” Happens all the time, right? She called, we said sure, then we had to figure out how to make it happen.
All we lacked were studio lights, a teleprompter, microphone, sound recorder, editing software and the know-how to use it all. Other than that, we were set. So in true Schaefer form, we got the things we needed, figured out how to use them and created a well-received web series that’s been going strong for a year. Take a look at the episode below, then go watch all the rest on YouTube.
 

Last year, Schaefer got to be in on the surprise as the Fort Worth Zoo prepared for the births of not one but two baby Asian elephants. It was a lot of fun to get to announce these oversized bundles of joy to all of Fort Worth (and beyond) using a variety of media.
And while we knew about the second baby before you did, it was still quite the surprise! After all, media for the first baby had only been up for a few weeks at that point.
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With the baby healthy and ready to meet his new fans, we had a quick-turn situation to revise the still-fresh creative. Our solution conveyed our surprise:
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Recently, this campaign earned a Marketing Excellence Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which put us in the company of agencies like M&C Saatchi, whose work for the San Diego Zoo is routinely recognized as some of the best in the business.
Big things come to those who wait.

September 19, 2014

Zoo Ball

The Story

The annual Fort Worth Zoo Ball is their largest fundraising event of the year in support of the nonprofit, privately owned zoo. This is an elite affair put on by a committee of top Zoo donors who rely on Schaefer to help execute the annual theme. For 2014, the theme was inspired by the annual Festival of the Elephants in Jaipur, India. The central piece was to be a high-end invitation that would make Fort Worth’s elite excited about coming to the ball.

The Work

Our first step was immerse ourselves in Indian culture (via Google and World Market rather than the subcontinent itself, sadly). Through colors, textiles, patterns we began to get a good sense of direction for the piece. If only we had a designer who was really into elephants. Maybe one who has an elephant pen and mug and figurines all over her desk. Oh, right. Blair.

This theme was tailor-made for designer Blair Babineaux, whose love of elephants (and good design) made her the obvious one to take the lead. Both of these loves were apparent in the final result.

Describing the details of this piece would take approximately forever, but here are some highlights (or you could just look at the picture, right?). The six-panel invitation is printed on a thick pearlescent paper that was flooded with red on one side. Each unique panel was intricately laser cut by the folks at Artifacture in Dallas. Once folded, the invitation was secured with a die-cut bellyband featuring even more laser-cut elephants. The metallic gold envelopes were beautifully hand addressed by Lauren of Blue Eye Brown Eye calligraphy using a custom-mixed ink.

All told, we partnered with six different vendors to make our vision come to life (each of whom might lock the door when they see us coming next time).

The Results

The event was a big success, and the invitation was unanimously well received. Eight-foot replicas of the invitation panels were used as decorations at the Ball, and the chairwoman of the planning committee said, “This is my favorite invitation yet. I’m not sure how we’ll top it next year.”

We don’t know either, but, as always, we’ll seek what’s possible. Even if it does give us all gray hair.

UPDATE:

Schaefer was awarded a gold national Addy for the 2014 Zoo Ball invitation. This is our first national Addy award, and to give it some context, we were one of only 77 gold winners out of 40,000 entries. Needless to say, we’re proud and excited to represent Fort Worth among some of the top agencies in the country.

Check out the complete List of 2015 National Addy Winners

 

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September 12, 2014

Riff. Ram. Bah. Zoo.

The video was part of a broader initiative to get fans more engaged in the game atmosphere, giving the TCU football team more of a home field advantage. Our approach was to have the TCU faithful renew their pride in the school by drawing on the proud history of the program. We wanted the fans to feel like they were a part of the team.
 

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After developing several concepts, we worked with TCU Athletics to produce a 90-second video that featured TCU’s Riff Ram chant. This chant has been around since the 1920s, and our video builds on that history as well as its universality amongst Horned Frogs of all ages. We’re asking the TCU Horned Frog Faithful to AMP IT UP (TCU Football’s campaign this year) and help make Riff Ram a tradition at home games again. Go Frogs!
 

Here is a collection of shots from behind the scenes.
Produced in partnership with Nutter Productions.

Charlie Howlett – Senior Designer/Art Director

I recently found some hand-painted signs that Jeff Canham did for Mollusk Surf Shop. Looking through his work on his site really makes me want to start painting again, whether it’s type or just fun designs. I haven’t yet because I want to do it perfectly on the first try, but I know I won’t because I never practice. It’s much easier to stick to computer design because I do it every day, and it’s easier to execute what’s in my head.

Sometimes, I’ll make little doodles for my four-year-old son. It’s fun to make him smile, but I think I should also spend time doing work that makes me smile. It’s so easy for a designer to look at their portfolio and say, “This is me.” But it isn’t. It’s work that I’ve done, but it’s not me. Jeff’s work is making me want to do more personal projects just for my own enjoyment. Like this “H” I made just because.