Most brands publish content. Few build a reason to come back.
The Schaefer Journal was built to be the latter. An editorial platform rooted in the stories of real people living the Western life the brand was built around. I concepted it, launched it, and led the creative direction across every story we published.

Paula Cooper was one of those stories. Three national ski championships. A silver medal at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Norway. And then she walked away from all of it to devote her life to horses.

The fit wasn't accidental. Schaefer started in Jackson Hole, Wyoming — originally outfitting people on the mountain. The brand's archive holds 35mm negatives and slides of skiers in dusters and puffy jackets, long before Western lifestyle was the whole identity. Paula's story echoed that history. A life that began on snow and found its purpose in the West.

We followed her to Cal Poly, where she was coaching the university's rodeo team while pursuing a graduate degree in agriculture education. The film centered on her relationship with Hedgehog. A horse so difficult everyone told her to sell him, and so worth keeping that laying him down became one of the defining moments of her life.

I pitched the story, oversaw production alongside our director of photography, and worked with Paula directly on the written piece. Her words, shaped for the brand, until we both felt right about it.

The result ran across the Schaefer Journal, paid media, organic social, and the website. Built for Paula's audience and for a brand that was finally telling its own story honestly.

This is what the Journal was for.