Building and evolving brands

Hi, I'm John, Chief Creative Officer at Herman-Scheer, a strategic and creative brand consultancy. We believe the businesses that prioritize connection over transaction are the ones that succeed. 

Since 2010, Herman-Scheer has helped change the way businesses make people feel. We have big heart and daring instincts. A sunny disposition and assertive gait. 

I consider myself a people-people kind of person, enamored by how brands connect to people and how people connect to brands. I love working with businesses that—put simply—keep people healthy and happy.

My career journey has been about embracing the idea that friction makes fire. 

I believe in mixing the intuitive and familiar with the audacious and novel, creating a healthy tension to captivate and engage. This friction, this interplay of ideas, is where I believe brands find their true voice and distinctive edge.

Alongside Chapin, (The Herman to my Scheer), we’ve built an agency with a strong POV: great health and self-care brands create narratives and identities aimed at changing behaviors—experiences so compelling that customers stick with a product or service even before they see the tangible benefits.

If you're in the wellness industry looking to evolve your brand toward lasting impact, let’s talk shop.

Feel free to reach out here or email me at john@herman-scheer.com.

John Scheer

Roughly 3 years ago, Chapin Herman and I were on a road trip -- he turned down whatever podcast we were listening to and said something along the lines of...

"John, I think we should go all in on this health & wellness space. It aligns with our own values, the work we've been doing already, and I am really bullish on where the industry is headed..."

The potential of closing off the door to the amazing variety of work I assumed we would miss out on kinda bummed me out at first...

After a wee bit of rumination, I realized this was the opportunity to help build and transform the brands that keep people healthy and happy.

Purpose!

And personally, I had just had my kids, my folks were getting older and battling disease, middle age breathing down my wife and I's neck...

I was in.

Fast forward to today. 

Our business has never been healthier, nor have I! 

The companies that work with us are no longer comparing and contrasting us to a bunch of other great agencies with amazing-looking portfolios. 

Instead, they're making a decision to start on third base. 

A choice to work with people who have completely immersed themselves in the world of healthcare, self-care, and well-being.

Who deeply understand the psychographic profiles of early adopters of preventative health modalities, to the mother of 3, juggling life through the aisles of mass market retail.

We’ve now helped dozens of businesses at all different inflection points navigate and grow within this growingly competitve and complex space.

And dare I say we’ve had some fun doing it...

If you’re ready to pull the future of health care, self-care and wellbeing forward…give us a shout and stay tuned with my posts :)

Building and transforming the brands that make generations healthier.

If you've had your finger on the pulse of D2C marketing at all in the last ten years or so, you've no doubt heard of my friend, Nik Sharma...

After years of reading his trusted weekly newsletter, shared clients and fun event run-ins -- I finally got the chance to chop it up with him and talk shop on his podcast Limited Supply. 

Nik asked me about my POV on branding, what it really means - specifically at Herman-Scheer.

If you don't have the time to listen, I've asked Chat to TLDR(L) our convo; 

📌Branding isn’t your logo. It’s your clarity.

In the latest Limited Supply episode, Nik Sharma and John Scheer break down what branding actually means — and it’s not just colors and fonts.

✅ Branding is strategic, not cosmetic
✅ It’s about clarity: who you are, who you serve, and why you matter
✅ Great branding starts before design or marketing
✅ Your brand strategy should align with your business goals
✅ Skip this, and you’ll pay for it later in confusion, wasted spend, and weak positioning

Your brand is the foundation, not the finishing touch. Build it with intention...

Open article: S15 E3: How to Actually Think about Branding by open.spotify.com

S15 E3: How to Actually Think about Branding

Georgie Carter

Founder of Pepped - lifecycle marketing for DTC health & wellness businesses | The Telegraph Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch

👋 Hi, I’m Georgie — Founder of Pepped, a lifecycle marketing agency that helps DTC lifestyle, health, and wellness brands scale sustainably by turning one-time buyers into loyal, repeat customers.

With over a decade of experience in email, SMS, and WhatsApp marketing, I’ve helped dozens of brands boost customer retention, increase LTV, and grow revenue — all without relying on endless paid acquisition.

At Pepped, we build data-driven lifecycle marketing strategies that:
💌 Convert browsers into buyers through high-performing welcome and post-purchase flows
🔁 Turn customers into repeat purchasers with personalised retention journeys
📊 Drive consistent, measurable growth through testing, optimisation, and performance insights

Our clients see meaningful lifts in repeat purchase rates, customer loyalty, and retention-driven revenue — because we focus on what really matters: keeping your customers coming back.

Recognised by The Telegraph as one of the Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch, I’m passionate about helping DTC brands achieve sustainable, profitable growth through smarter lifecycle marketing.

👉 Download The DTC Customer Retention Playbook (https://growth.peppedup.co.uk/retention-guide-2024-2977) or subscribe to The Pepped Periodical for practical tips, frameworks, and data-backed insights on boosting customer retention.

CEO & Founder

Pepped is a boutique lifecycle marketing agency that helps growing health and wellness businesses attract, convert and retain more customers.

We work with businesses in the UK and US who are disrupting the fitness, health and wellness industry, from Unicorn status global brands such as Houzz and Hims to scale-ups such as Alexia Clark LLC and Jennis (Dame Jessica Ennis-Hills's fitness app)

Pepped is a collective of experienced marketing specialists who put health and wellness at the very heart of what they do.

► We specialise in the following areas; lifecycle marketing, CRM, email marketing, customer journey mapping, lead acquisition, content creation, content strategy, sales funnel optimisation, copywriting, website design, customer retention, customer engagement, customer loyalty and referral strategy.

Email rarely fails because of bad tools.
 
It fails because no one really owns it.

In a lot of growing DTC teams, email sits in an awkward middle ground:
 ✨ Not quite brand
 ✨ Not quite performance
 ✨ Not quite retention

So it becomes:
 • “Good enough”
 • Lightly maintained
 • Slightly neglected

Flows exist. Campaigns go out. Results are… fine-ish.

But no one is accountable for asking:

 💌 Is this actually doing what we need it to do now?

When email has clear ownership, everything changes:
 – Priorities sharpen
 – Decisions get easier
 – Optimisation becomes intentional, not reactive

Email doesn’t need more volume.

It needs clearer leadership.

 #DTCMarketing #LifecycleMarketing #Retention #EmailMarketing #FounderLessons

Helping DTC lifestyle brands retain customers with data-driven email & SMS marketing | Founder @ Pepped | Top 100 Female Entrepreneur

Real-life email moment I keep seeing 👇

A beautifully designed campaign…

...that goes to everyone.

Same message.
Same timing.
Same CTA.

Missed opportunity.

Even light segmentation (engaged vs lapsed, first-time vs repeat) can:
 – sharpen relevance
 – improve confidence in the channel
 – make results easier to explain internally

You don’t need complex logic.

You need thoughtful intent.

 #EmailExamples #LifecycleMarketing #DTCEmail #CRMStrategy #Retention

Good retention strategy doesn’t feel frantic.

It feels:
 • Calm
 • Intentional
 • Boring (in the best way)

🍒 You know what you’re optimising.
 🍒 You know why a campaign exists.
 🍒 You know which levers matter this quarter.

When retention is working, it doesn’t demand constant attention.

It quietly compounds in the background.

That’s the goal.

Not more activity — more confidence.

 #RetentionMarketing #LifecycleStrategy #DTCBrands #CRMLeadership #SustainableGrowth

Most of the brands we work with don’t come to us because email is new.

They come because:

 – it’s grown messy
 – no one fully owns it
 – confidence in performance has dipped

Our job isn’t to shout louder.

It’s to bring clarity:

What’s working, what’s not, and what’s worth fixing first.

#EmailMarketingAgency #DTCGrowth #RetentionStrategy #EcommerceFounders #Pepped

Running an agency while raising two tiny humans has taught me this:

Progress doesn’t always look loud.

Some weeks it’s:
 – one good client conversation
 – one clearer proposal
 – one less thing over-engineered

And that’s still momentum.

✨ Sustainable growth > dramatic growth
 🍒 In business and in life.

 #FounderLife #AgencyOwner #WorkingParents #WomenInBusiness

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The Battle

John Scheer

Georgie Carter

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}John Scheer's LinkedIn Performance

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