KATIE SCHMITZ
Global Strategist & Brand Manager
STRATEGY
Lack of data isn't the problem- it's finding someone who can sift through the numbers to uncover the human element, and map the narrative to a solution.
EXPERIENCE
ABOUT ME
I am a strategically-minded digital thinker with a passion for innovative branding, customer centricity, and data-informed, connected experiences. I am an avid traveler with severe wanderlust and a desire to experience and understand other cultures. I am fascinated by consumer behavior, and discovering how creative content can affect change through focused marketing strategy.
In an ever-changing digital landscape, strategy in communications is no longer a "nice-to-have," but a "must-have." I have experience in both brand and agency settings, working on everything from market research, to medical devices, to automotive, to CPG, with a knack for digital marketing, integrated strategy, consumer insight, and global understanding.
WHAT I DO
I am a globally-oriented content strategist focused on consumer-driven experiences that yield real business results. I use the data to find the sweet spot between what your brand stands for and what your consumers care about. That's the goal--- a mutually beneficial relationship achieved through meaningful intereactions.
COMPONENTS
The Secret Sauce
CAPABILITIES
Research
The legwork to understand current brand positioning, competition, and everything about who you're trying to reach
Consumer Insight
The intersection between consumer behaviors and what your brand stands for that compels people to act
Strategic Planning
The art of taking your message and bringing it to life in the places and ways that are relevant to your audience
Branding
What people say about your brand when you're not in the room. How you communicate your essence and identity
Storytelling
The right message said the right way- a way that's relevant, authentic, and meaningful to the people who matter
BRANDS I'VE WORKED WITH
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Katie is an extremely bright strategist. While launching her career, she dispels the millennial myths of entitled or lazy. Katie counters this with her ambition, hard work, and eagerness to learn from those around her. She is proactive and is responsive to feedback that helps develop her work. Katie also has an eye for integration, ensuring her strategic positioning is integrated with the big picture. I really enjoyed working with Katie and would enjoy doing so again in the future.
— Shauna Burbary, SVP Strategy Director at Carat USA
WORK
"If you're the smartest person in the room,
you're in the wrong room."
CASE STUDIES
Dentsu Aegis Network- Global Content Compass
If I could give a prize to the most-used word of 2016, it would be CONTENT. Everyone knows it's important, but few seem to really know what it is, where it should live, and how to leverage it to get to the mutually beneficial middle ground between what you need to say and what your consumers care about.
The Global Content Compass was a comprehensive research project and Content Strategy that looked at current brand position, consumer sentiment and gap analysis in each strategy market, and developed a set of tools to help define the brand persona, determine content territories for the brand to play in, and standardize and optimize content development globally.
As a crucial member of the Storylab Content Compass team, I was responsible for holding stakeholder interviews, conducting and synthesizing research, crafting each component, stress-testing with senior leadership, and presenting to the global client team for use in all key strategy markets.
Omnicom's Emerging Stars Program
Emerging Stars brings together top talent, from across the Omnicom network, exposes them to the range of disciplines within the network, and gives them the experience of working on a cross-functional team. Each team is given a “live” integrated marketing brief from one of Omnicom’s largest clients. It culminates in a competitive pitch in front of selected Omnicom Agency CEOs and senior representatives from the Client involved in the brief.
In October of 2014, I was selected to represent Organic at this conference and was able to participate in a pitch for Olay Daily Facials. This involved extensive research, journey mapping, consumer persona development, creative ideation, and storytelling on a very aggressive timeline.
The result? First place. And some invaluable new business experience.
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Medtronic Diabetes Lead Nurture Campaign
Medtronic is the largest Medical Device manufacturer in the world, and Diabetes is their most profitable (and only consumer-facing) business unit. Their product was insulin pumps--- mostly for type 1 Diabetics. But as you may have guessed, this product changes lives. Making the decision to purchase is not an easy one, and Medtronic needed a way to communicate with their potential consumers in a direct, personalized, and meaningful way. Enter the concept of lead nurturing-- an email-based CRM program designed to deliver helpful and personalized messaging to the most qualified consumers. The right content, in the right way, at the right point in their journey.
As it was Medtronic's first-ever Lead Nurture Program, it involved extensive research on consumer needs, relationship development, and how lead nurturing could affect and enhance the consumer journey.
I worked to create program objectives and strategy for content and messaging, and then worked directly with creative agencies to develop content and execute. The result was an enormous lift in conversion rate and the program is still being executed to this day.
FEEDS
See what I'm up to on the Socials
“Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.”
Michael Porter
GET TO KNOW ME
View from the top of the Milan Duomo Taken by: Katie Schmitz
Uber driver in Bangkok, Thailand Taken by: Katie Schmitz
Beautiful dinner view of the LA ocean
Soprano Concerto at the Opera House in Milan Taken by: Katie Schmitz
Water Tower Place Chicago
Beautiful Mountains visible on #roadtrop
Sunset on the streets of Seoul Taken by: Katie Schmitz
Custom-made Thai formal wear in Bangkok Taken by: Katie Schmitz
Chicago Brown line stop Taken by: Katie Schmitz
Last night in Singapore with colleagues
The Temple of Dawn in Bangkok, Thailand Taken by: Katie Schmitz