Schmidt Custom Floors
50th Anniversary Event
Schmidt Custom Floors (SCF) is a family operated flooring business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With over 50 years in the industry, SCF has become a leader in the flooring industry serving thousands of clients and bringing in 16 million dollars in sales in 2019.
The goal of the project was to promote and run an event to celebrate SCF’s 50th anniversary. The challenge was to present the company’s history in an engaging manner and promote their newest endeavors to create loyal return customers.
I started the project with a great deal of research. I conducted interviews with the original owners and various family members, gathered photos and documents from the last 50 years and began laying out a timeline of significant events and milestones.
I chose to create a large scale wall graphic to display the timeline that would be easy for attendees to read and digest the information. I used the photos I had gathered along with captions and neutral and vintage colors in the design to stay in line with SCF's existing color scheme.
To promote the event, I created themed invitations, e-vites, and social media posts to provoke feelings of nostalgia and create a cohesive look for the event. I designed a brochure with a condensed version of the timeline and other current industry information that would be handed out to the 350 attendees along with branded merchandise.
Builder Video
Videography
The Builder Division of Schmidt Custom Floors is responsible for over $6 million of the company's annual sales. This division installs wood, carpet, tile, vinyl, and stone in new construction homes. The Builder division was looking for a way to showcase their process and commitment to excellence at an open house they would be hosting for loyal and potential new clients in the builder industry within a 3-week deadline.
Being a visual thinker myself, I felt the most engaging way to tell their story and relay all of this important information would be through a video.
I worked closely with the owner of the company and the head of the Builder division to create an outline for the video and a script. Once the script was done, I created an outline of shots needed and worked with employees to schedule filming days. I traveled to locations, shot the footage, recorded the voiceover, edited the video and added graphics and sound within the given deadline. After a short introduction, the video was played on a loop at the event and later added to the company's social media pages and YouTube channel.
Vehicle Vinyl
Photography, Design & Installation
Schmidt Custom Floors had purchased a new fleet of work vans and wanted to promote and personalize the craftsmen that are part of making the company so successful. The idea was to showcase each employee in their element, give them ownership of their work and vehicles, and most importantly catch the eye of potential customers in a unique way.
The process started with going to job sites to take photos of the employees working. Each field employee seemed to have a specialty they were most proud of and I wanted to capture that. Once the photos were taken, I edited them and placed them into a template I had made to ensure they would fit onto the back of the van and be legible. I printed the vinyl and installed it to the back of each vehicle myself.
The response from the employees was exactly as I had hoped! They took pride in having their face on a moving billboard. Personalized vans helped them to see how valuable they were to the company, gave them ownership over their craft and acted as an incentive for newer employees to work up to.
