Advertisers Saved $10.8B In 2023 Based On Industry-Wide Anti-Fraud Efforts (mediapost.com)

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 emails—we need to ask ourselves, “What do we want the customer to do?” Indeed, high-level, impactive brand campaigns can be relieved of the CTA burden when awareness itself is the end goal. But for most of our day-to-day work, the collective “we” need to consider what behavior we are trying to provoke. Once that preferred action is defined, the CTA has the football. So many right and wrong ways to create a strong Call to Action. And so many opportunities to be creative while still getting the job done! Here are just a few thoughts in case you’re in a rut. For more, go to: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/breakthrough-creative-art-of-the-cta/

You’ve probably seen Hydro Flask everywhere, on college campuses, hiking trails, and even around the campfire or climbing a mountain face. They’ve become a household name, which is impressive in a crowded competitive landscape with big-name brands and budget knock-offs. Hydro Flask, a digital-native brand, was ready to capitalize on its market position and expand into the catalog realm. They wanted to impact the holiday season and show people they’re more than just water bottles. They wanted something that could build on the success of their digital channels to reach their customers in a more powerful and tangible way. So they reached out to CohereOne and J.Schmid for help launching a catalog. Taking the leap to first-time cataloger is as dramatic as any adventure with a Hydro Flask bottle in your pack. It’s an exciting trek to build on their proven designs and draw in their customers in a new way. This catalog launch targeted holiday shoppers in Q4, allowing them to show off their full product line and connect with their loyal customers, showing them gifting opportunities and introducing them to new product lines. Read the Case study at: https://jschmid.com/portfolio/hydro-flask/

Simplicity in marketing isn’t easy to achieve but making engagement easy can be fairly simple. That sentence is a brain twister, right? Let me untangle the words. ‘Simple’ and ‘Easy’ are two different things, and both are critically important when it comes to effective marketing. Simple means making something uncomplicated, like expressing a brand proposition in just a few words. Easy means achieving something without effort, like creating an intuitive check-out funnel. The two concepts of simplicity and ease have been foundational in successful marketing for a long time. But if you consider that consumer attention span is only about 8 seconds, (down 30% from 2000), it makes focusing on simplicity and ease imperative. read more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/breakthrough-creative-art-of-simplicity/