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The secret to success? For Joan Schneider hard work and creativity
“I come from a long line of entrepreneurs: my father was an entrepreneur, my mother was an
entrepreneur, my grandmother, who came from Russia, was an entrepreneur…there was no hope for
me. I had to be an entrepreneur.” Even though Joan Schneider seemed to be destined to follow in her
parents’ steps, it was not an easy route, one which would lead to the successful career she enjoys today.
A strong personality, a creative mindset and a willingness to take risks and
confront hardships were the secret to her success and what continue to
distinguish her in the business world.
While at first glance Schneider would come across as a simple,
“Plain Jane” type, this 5’2”, middle-aged blond is definitely one-of-a-kind: behind her friendly and witty
smile lies an unparalleled passion and devotion to her business. For four years after opening her
company, Schneider never took a vacation and still today she often works seven days a week.
“I am a really tough boss,” said Schneider. “I demand a lot from my colleagues, but I would like
to think that I am fair and treat them fairly as well. But ultimately, the person I am the hardest on is
myself.”
Since her teenage years, Schneider’s hard work has paid significant dividends in establishing
herself as a leader and innovator in each of her many undertakings. During her senior year at a small,

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Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania high school, Schneider wrote a column for The Scranton Times and
won a scholarship to study journalism at the prestigious Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey.
During the summer program, Schneider started to learn for the first time what it really meant to work
under pressure because of the rigorous deadlines imposed on participants, while simultaneously
perfecting her writing skills. The experience reinvigorated her commitment to her future and it was
with that same passion and commitment that, four years later, she would earn a Bachelors of Science in
Communications from Boston University.
While eight years of working in various public relations positions for outfits such as Harvard
Trust and WBZ-TV would provide new, rewarding learning experiences, Schneider realized that she
was still unsatisfied with her achievements. As she happily recalls, the turning point would come during
Thanksgiving weekend 1979. At the dinner table, in between bites of turkey and stuffing, Schneider
conveyed to her parents her dissatisfaction at her current job and desire to seek something more
challenging. She needed a change and that change needed to come soon.
A $5000 check from her father—given to her with the promise of quitting her position at
Newsome & Company (which later became Hill & Knowlton)—was all the motivation she needed, and
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on January 3 , 1980 she founded Schneider Associates and took the first step to fulfilling one of her

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lifetime goals: becoming her own boss. While her first office, located in the sunroom of her Newton,
Massachusetts home, leaved a little to be desired, it more than served its purpose.
“It was about 100-square feet,” said Schneider. “Big enough for me and my typewriter.” Little
did she know that Schneider Associates was on track to becoming one of the most successful public
relations and marketing communications firms in the Boston area. Today, Schneider Associates office,
located in the heart of the Financial District, reflects in every aspect Schneider’s personality: creative,
witty and dedicated. Upon entering the office, the bright and flashy different colors of the walls hint
that this is not one’s typical public relations firm, but much more.
“When I was planning the layout of the office, I wanted it to be able to inspire and stimulate the
people that work here,” said Schneider. “How can people be creative and accomplish day-to-day tasks
in a boring environment?”
The polychromatic walls of the office show how she wanted people to be exposed to a myriad of
different perspectives and stimuli and be able to adapt to them interchangeably. This would be one of
the focal points of her work philosophy: to look at things from different perspectives and satisfy every
“color.” The unusually colorful environment is further evidence of the link between her goal of
connecting her creative personality with those of others around her. However, as Schneider points out,

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“Failure is not an option,” and she actively seeks not to be strict and to remain flexible with her team
best respond to the new and ever-changing needs of the clients and the business world.
“From the very first day I met Joan, it was evident that her approach to work was highly
energetic, passionate and focused,” said Chief Operating Officer Phil Pennellatore. “Now twelve years
later, after working on hundreds of client campaigns together, she still approaches each assignment with
the same kind of energy, curiosity and compassion that I initially observed during my early days at
Schneider Associates.”
The ability to adapt and modify her firm to the market and to her clients’ requests is what sets
Schneider apart from all the other business owners and has been a key driver in her thirty-plus years of
success in industry. When a determined category of clients would fade off the market from recessionary
environments, economic crises or other reasons, she was always able to modify her business, attract
other clients from different sectors and respond to their needs.
At the start of her career, Schneider focused heavily on public relations for residential and
commercial real estate, which was the then hot sector. For a while, this strategy worked, bringing
Schneider the initial confidence to keep going strong. She built her business to $3 million in annual
revenues by 1989. When the real estate market crashed in the late 1980s, Schneider Associates lost 80

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percent of its clients, went from twenty-five employees to six, and saw revenue drop to $400,000 by
1990.
Still, Schneider was determined to move ahead. In 1989, she enrolled in the Owner President
Management Program at Harvard Business School, a program to which she attributes the positive shift
in how she viewed herself and her business. Among the many takeaways from the program, she learned
that the key to success was differentiating and innovating. A new strategy for Schneider Associates
needed to be found if it was going to make it through the next decade.
She shifted her focus from real estate clients to what is now her expertise: Launch Public
Relations®, a proprietary, multi-disciplinary process that successfully propels new products and services
into the market place and sustains them beyond their introductory period. Launch PR would become for
Schneider her key to several decades of unbridled success.
“You would be hard pressed to find a more driven, dedicated, astute and passionate business
leader than Joan Schneider,” said Tom Ryan, Marketing Manager at Schneider Associate. “Not only
has she built the brand of her firm, Schneider Associates, with a focus on the understudied area of
Launch Public Relations®, but she has instilled a commitment to learning and growth that has helped
her guide the firm through several recessions.”

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For Schneider to turn around her business and become the nationally recognized expert on
product launches that she is today was not an easy undertaking and required a dramatic shift in
thinking and a plunge into the unknown.
“Since 2001 we have been doing proprietary and primary research about launch,” said Schneider.
“Because Product Launches was such an unexplored area, we had to do all the work. So we started
collecting data, writing about it, and blogging about it.” Finally, in 2004, with several years of study,
analysis, and trial-and-error at her back, Schneider published her first major book, “New Product
Launch: 10 Proven Strategies”.
“This is the first book that really looked at our research with hundreds brand managers,” said
Schneider. “We asked them about the best practices in launch and the feedback was invaluable.” After
many more years of research and focus on product launches, in 2010, Schneider, together with
Executive Vice President Julie Hall, published a new book, “The NEW Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics
and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products.” “The new book is a compilation of what we
believe are the most memorable and successful product launches from the best companies in the United
States,” said Schneider.
Even though, over the past ten years, Schneider has been busy with her continuously evolving

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and new business endeavors, her personality and demeanor have a contagious influence on the people
around her and that work for her.
“Joan’s energy and entrepreneurial spirit guides me every day,” said Julie Hall, EVP/Partner.
“Her creative approach to every single thing she does is inspiring and has been a huge influence on my
career and has made me not just a better practitioner but a better person as well.”
Despite many years of overcoming hardship, being at the cutting edge of innovation in the PR
industry, and achieving commercial success, this is just the beginning for Schneider. Looking into 2011,
things on the horizon appear highly promising. “In April, I will finally realize one of my other dreams of
seeing my name in the Harvard Business Review,” said Schneider, talking about the upcoming printing
of a feature article in the world-renowned publication.
“After all these years specializing in successful product launches, I was asked to write an article
about product launch failures but I made it work,” said Schneider. “Being published in the Harvard
Business Review is a lifelong career goal of mine. They wanted me to write about product launch
failures? I gave them some of the most interesting product launch failures from recent times.”
Despite her constant, keen focus on successful business outcomes and tactics, Schneider has
garnered the respect and appreciation of both her peers and her employees, particularly in light of her

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genuine sense of concern for the growth and well-being of others that she shows on a daily basis.
“Through her thirty-one years as President and Creative Director, Joan’s clients, colleagues,
friends, family and even the agency’s competitors always know when she’s committed to something, she
goes all out, will not take no for an answer and never settles for less than the best,” said
Pennellatore. “Over many years, I have heard others who know Joan well describe her in the same way:
a relentlessly generous, loyal and caring friend and mentor – that description could not fit any other
person more perfectly than Joan Schneider.”