Why You Should Keep It Simple “Simple is harder than complex.” –Steve Jobs Browsing through a catalog of one of my favorite brands, I found myself completely frustrated, to the point that I eventually threw the catalog aside. Why? Because they made it hard for me to shop. We are in an era […]
What’s the secret to a successful marriage? OK, confession. I’m not married, so really how the hell would I know? Just bear with me here. This is going somewhere. Thanks to copious amounts of TV and movie viewing, along with observing my married friends, I’ve come to see what contributes to a good marriage. Like […]
What does it take to make a great catalog cover? Do you have the backbone to put some big ideas into practice?
The research stopped me cold. And I seriously thought our team had it right … we didn’t. Let me back up to the beginning. At J.Schmid one of our mantras is that catalogs should DISRUPT, DELIGHT and DRIVE. I’d like to focus on the latter. Catalogs should DRIVE customers or prospects to DO something. In […]
ARE YOU DENSE? Well, are you? Pick up your catalog. Flip through the pages. (Go ahead, I’ll just wait here.) What do you see? Do you see a beautifully spaced and paced experience that takes readers on the scenic route through your brand, a leisurely drive through your assortment? Or, do you see dense congestion, […]
Case Study: Seventh Generation When it comes to household goods, specifically those in the cleaning, paper, and personal care product lines, I’m not sure if there is a better example of sustainability in practice than Seventh Generation. From the company name to their product ingredients, down to the containers their soaps and cleaners arrive in, […]
Case Study: Patagonia While some companies incorporate sustainability practically into sourcing and shipping and others focus on the empirical side of things through product ingredients and consumer honesty, there is a third segment whose very brand essence relies on their inherent relationship to ethical consumerism and their perceived identity in the marketplace. Standing atop the […]
Working with catalogers and marketers of all kinds in all categories all across the country, it’s amazing how much a recurring theme manifests. No matter what they sell or who they sell it to, at some point in our creative collaboration, some version of the following questions arise: “How can we be more like the […]
Case Study: Crowd Cow Somewhere in no man’s land, between the entrenched forces of cooking meals at home on one side and ordering food in a restaurant on the other, lives a purchase variable that has been rediscovered in a big way: convenience. Walk into any apartment building, drive down any street, and you’re likely […]
