John Shoemaker

Imagine yourself in your pre-teen years. You’ve been dragged along to the grocery store with your Mom as she shops for the school’s Halloween social. You watch in horror as she picks an off-store brand of sugar free, low carb, quarter-sized oatmeal raisin cookies, under 50 calories each. You know it won’t go over well. […]

  What’s that? You hear that, too? The empty void in your comment section. The mockingly limited retweets on your Twitter feed. The deafening silence of engagement on your blog post. You’re not alone. Though we have an established blog, twitter account and other forms of social media, there are times I find myself hearing….nothing. […]

The goal of content marketing is to produce valuable, relevant, and consistent content for your audience. For many marketers, this means a shift in thinking about “what type of media to create” to “what type of media fits the content we’ve created”. Let me explain what I mean. I’ve never heard a screenwriter say, “I […]

Imagine a relationship with someone that only gives you attention when they want something from you. Doesn’t sound very enjoyable does it? Sounds a bit one sided? Sounds a bit like that one girl in school that seemed like maybe she was actually interested in your jokes that one time but then really it turned out […]

Check out the video below! Each year, there is waiting anticipation as to what the Starbucks holiday cup design will be.  Throughout the years, Starbucks has masterfully created a successful “Christmas brand” around the holiday seasons, but like any brand, they have had their share of success and failure.  And though, they have faced failure, […]

At 6 years old, I was taken to the hospital with an illness that kept me there for two weeks … I’ll tell you more about my diagnosis in a minute. First, what emotions do you feel after reading the opening sentence? You probably started to wonder where this story is going. Maybe you imagined a little kid who […]

You need an amazing launch video for your product. You need something that will be eye-catching and shareable. Here’s how you get started.

In May, we had a Madison based client approach us about creating a fun video for a product being launched in June. The question: “Can you guys pull this off in 6 weeks?” Our answer “OF COURSE!” Oh. Crap. What’s the idea: just an easy Kung Fury style video that includes ninjas, fighting, stunts, and […]

One of the things we all want in business is to be loved. Perhaps that desire stems from another source like… I don’t know… the entire rest of our existence. Wherever it comes from, I think we could agree that being loved is great for any business. So how does one go about “being loved?” A […]

Over the weekend, I was able to watch Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” (2011).  The movie is guaranteed to stir any viewer’s emotions.  IMDB explains the plot best:Young Albert enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse [Joey] is sold to the cavalry. Albert’s hopeful journey takes him out of England and to […]