Forget Bold. Be Relevant.

This might sound strange coming from a guy who has been preaching the importance of being BOLD and taking risks to creative teams, clients and brands for three decades. It’s always been important for brands to grab people’s attention—to stand out—by doing unorthodox things. Sometimes, the crazier the better. But today, we need a new […]

Product Is Still King

There’s a lot of talk these days about creating a great customer experience, standing out in a crowded market, telling your brand story in a compelling way, and a mobile-first strategy. Let me be clear—ALL of these things are important. Vital, in fact, if you want to be successful. However, I’d argue NONE of them […]

In Defense of Millennials

I think Millennials get a bad rap. Apparently, they’re to blame for everything. They’re lazy and privileged and don’t want to work hard. I’ve heard a number of people complain that they just don’t get this generation. I have to disagree. Are Millennials perfect? Nope. But neither were the generations that preceded them. I’m basing […]

J.Schmid Introduces Bonfire5: A New Branding Agency

We’re excited to announce the creation of a sister agency that will focus exclusively on branding. We’re calling this new group Bonfire5. Essentially, we’re taking everything that clients loved about our proprietary BrandQuest process and serving it up to companies outside of our usual direct marketing and catalog sandbox. This specialty branding group will be […]