Do Consumers Want Fewer, Better Things? Or More Options? In this edition of Burning Questions, we asked 250 consumers a deceptively simple question: Which feels more true for you most of the time:“I’d rather have fewer, higher‑quality pieces,” or“I’d rather have more options, even if quality is just okay”? Why? The answer was clear: 74% […]
Why Empathy is Your Brand’s Secret Weapon What if the most powerful marketing tool you have isn’t your budget, your media mix, or even your data — but your ability to be human? In a world where brands are louder, faster, and more automated than ever, the ones that actually connect are the ones that […]
Dilly dilly. I’m lovin’ it. Get a Mac. Why is it so easy to rattle off the brands that introduced us to these catchphrases? Because Bud Light, McDonald’s and Apple are among the best at telling stories, catching us off guard and even making us laugh. They understand the power of an ad campaign and […]
Omnichannel Marketing Part 2: Why You Should Do It Chances are, you’re currently trying to reach your audience in a variety of ways. Maybe digital ads, search, social media, catalog, direct mail and your retail environment. What if you could tie all those efforts together with a single creative concept—a “Big Idea” that unifies all of […]
Customer Loyalty Part 10: A Customer Reactivation Story About 10 years ago, REI made me so stinking mad that I swore I’d never grace their check-out again. A brand-advocate no more, I huffed my outraged “customer-no-service” story to everyone that cared to listen. Their offense? They made me pay for return shipping on a few […]
Customer Loyalty Part 7: Post Purchase “Consumers state that the post-purchase journey is the most emotional part of their customer experience, with 63% invested in the shipping, delivery and fulfillment process.” YouGov customer survey Get it Right, Drive the Next Order So many businesses don’t do nearly enough to greet a customer warmly, and give […]
Customer Loyalty Series: Part 1 It’s no secret that customer loyalty is a huge driver of business health, but what separates brands we admire but don’t shop at, from those we love and return to over and over? From President, CEO, to marketing creatives of all stripes, at J.Schmid we spend a lot of time […]
“The question is not do you want to buy Wheat Thins. The question is now, will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease.” —Bo Burnham Over the last few years, the concept of ‘brand voice’ has been construed to mean how your favorite potato chip company feels about the latest socio-political development. […]
Disruptive Catalogs: Part 5 Invite Interaction While there’s no denying that print is on the rise, many still think of printed collateral as a static medium. Although there may be some truth to this sentiment when looking at a wide swath of catalogs, it’s by no means an unbreakable rule. Whether to pinpoint a certain […]
