3 Pandemic Lessons and the Streaming Connection

Streaming platforms saw huge success in the past year. It’s unfortunate that the global COVID-19 pandemic was the cause. It has been a challenging time for many marketers, particularly retail. But as we think back on the difficulties of the past year, we can see successes, and learn from them. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, […]

BREAKTHROUGH CREATIVE

Part 5: The Art of the CTA Ah, the ubiquitous—and critical—Call to Action. Great branding, sumptuous, emotional or humorous creative, a strong voice: they are the vessels that hold the CTA. The ask: to buy now; sign-up; get more information; go online; hurry, don’t miss this sale. For every response-driven tactic we create—from catalogs to […]

Marketing and COVID-19

As marketers we’ve been here before. We’ve had to grapple with keeping our business moving during times of crisis. Most recently the recession in 2008 and before that in 2001, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The challenge is speaking to your customers in a way that recognizes the gravity of the situation while at the same […]

A Few Words About Millennials…

Chris Hayes EVP, Brand Strategy Google the word “Millennial” and you’ll likely see a collection of contradictory articles. For instance in the same month late last year CNBC wrote “Millennials to Blame for a Sluggish Economy” while MarketWatch wrote “We Need to Thank Millennials for a Booming Economy.” OK… we get it. Millennials, the folks […]

Reaching the Seemingly Unreachable

This week at J.Schmid, we’re working on an important fax blast for one of our clients. You read that right. A fax blast. Single page. 8.5 x 11. All black type to avoid pricey color printouts on the customers’ end. Promoting a big discount on one of their best-selling items to a group of non-responders. […]

PLEASE BRANDS, CAN I HAVE SOME MORE?

We’ve all seen the sign on the marquee of some local watering hold. “Coldest beer in town,” it proclaims. Marketing at its most basic. But how do we know it’s really the coldest? There are other bars in town. Surely they have cold beer as well. Maybe even colder. NO! The sign says otherwise. For […]

Digital brand alert!

Oh no, not ANOTHER piece about print marketing! But wait, this one’s not sponsored by a printer or a paper company, it’s a DBSA, (digital brand service announcement!) We keep hearing about the resurgence of print because it has become an important tool, aiding in the growth of digital brands. Oxymoron? Not quite. You have […]

WINTER IS COMING … TO A STORE NEAR YOU

What do Oreos, Mountain Dew, Shake Shack and Mack Weldon have in common? No, they’re not items from my Amazon wish list. Not all of them anyway. These are five brands that have tapped into the zeitgeist and attached themselves to the pop culture phenomenon that is the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. […]

In Strategy

Businesses Are People, Too.

As 2018 came to a close and I archived my work for the year, it quickly registered that more B2B catalog pages moved across my desk last year than B2C catalog pages. A lot more. Catalogs play a critical role in B2B marketing in all the same ways they work in any consumer marketing mix. […]