Chris Stecher Portfolio 1990-2003

PORTFOLIO CHRIS T O P H E R S T E CH E R po box 1011 Waitsf ield, Ver mont 05 67 3 (802) 310-7002 cs t echer@gmail.com

sports marketing BURTON SNOWBOARDS 1997-2000 Final Snowboard Graphic Production

SPORTS MARKETING In 1999, The U.S. spent 22.5 billion on sports entertainment marketing (1).

That, ladies and gentlemen, was just on tickets to sporting events and retail sales of casual clothing alone. This figure doesn’t include active sports wear, (such as football gear, or snowboards), or seasonal expenditures, (such as season passes or individual lift tickets).

Bottom line? Its 2005, and the overall consumer spending for sporting goods, active and passive surpass 100 billion (that’s billion with a B) dollars.

The trick though, isn’t discussing the trends after the fact, its recognizing them in the infancy. Look at Burton, or Line skiboards, or street luge for that matter. They were mocked at the outset. Look at them now.... “he who laughs

• Produced digital press ready files from sketched artwork.

• Responsible for taking completed full size art files to web.

• Board file prep for Burton Dealer and Consumer Catalog.

ROSSIGNOL SPORTS 1997-2002 Lead Production, Dealer Catalogs • O rganized file transfer from french home offices.

•R esponsible for page layout and design of Catalog Sections.

•P hotograph selection and in-house color correction.

•C oordination and camera for in house product photography.

• Final pre-flight file prep for printers.

• Organizational lead for archival files.

SKI AREA COLLATERAL 1997-1999 Design team and lead production for: OKEMO, LOON MOUNTAIN, BRIAN HEAD, THE NEW MOUNTAIN HIGH & BIG BEAR • Direct liaison with resort marketing reps, and local photographers.

• Coordination with local advertisers for print ad insertions.

• Design team & production print manager.

• Responsible for all press checks.

• Planning and coordination with resort event management, including ski and boarder media events

CANNONDALE BICYCLE CORP. 1995 Freelance Ad Comps

•C onvinced Cannodale’s ad agency to produce a series of five, full page advertising comps for insertion consideration in trade magazines.

O.C.P.R. 1993-1985

Identity for team T-shirts and collateral • Produced ID for a group of extreme downhill mountain bike defence lawyers for semi-pro competition against DA’s and sheriffs.

DANGERBOY SPORTS CLOTHING 1995-1996 Print advertising design

•D esigned ads and coordinated media buys for Burlington based summer/winter sports clothing company.

sports marketing

eminent design WOMENS RAPE CRISIS CENTER 1999 Poster design for annual fund-raising

EMINENT DESIGN

• design and print production for posters and direct mail postcards.

“I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience.

Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.” ~ David Ogilvy I have learned more about the art of advertising and design by listening to the client’s needs and pairing them with my own experiences, then implementing my designs to jibe with both.

WOLFSBURG WEST 1996-1998 Corporate ID and branding

Art school, no matter how expensive, should, but normally does not, teach the most important object lesson: Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the intricate symbol which is the brand image.

Too often today we are over saturated with throw-away, image oriented, advertisements that hold little or no intrinsic value to the brand as a whole. I strive to help change this.

•D eveloped ID and branding materials for line of VW service centers.

•D eveloped branding for off road rally race team.

VERMONT PURE SPRINGS 1998

Design and production for collateral • Designed and produced water bottle labels and packaging in use today.

• Organized focus groups for launch of new products.

• Coordinated cross promotions with sporting events.

PHISH 1995-1997

Design and production of collateral • Design and production of T-shirt designs (Dionysian Productions) for sale at concerts.

• Produced back stage security passes for MSG new years eve shows.

FENDER GUITARS 1994

Solicited design composites.

•D esigned full page advertisements for Guitar Player magazine on comp basis, utilizing personal proprietary Jimi Hendrix photography.

HIGHER GROUND 1998

Luna show poster design • Designed 13” x 19” production poster for the rock band LUNA during a local artists poster series.

eminent design

photography

PHOTOGRAPHY (pt. 1) I was ten years old when I was struck by Frank Capra’s shots of both horror and beauty in life.

I was shooting with a Kodak Insta-matic 110 at the time.

A picture only captures a thousand words when it captures the viewers imagination. People creating advertisements should keep this in mind.

Indeed, it should be the first thing on their minds.

Any shmuck can choose a photo.

The person creating the ad, should be very aware of the photography, as if they were shooting the image themselves. Why? Because if you don’t believe in the imagery involved in what you are selling, you are the hack the consumers buying the product believe you to be.

I could give you clients for the very few images I have provided on these pages, but where would be the fun in that?. Imagine.

Tell me what you think they were from.

The best advertisements have had strong imagery

PHISH FINAL SHOW, COVENTRY VT 05

Freelance coverage for the Vermont Guardian A 3 day show that turned into a 7 day adventure in sometimes knee-deep farmland mud.

C O V E N T R Y

1 dead, 5.6 miles of stranded cars, vendors trucked out with jungle rot, and a promotions company ill equipped to deal with what was to be a 3 day love-in.

I decided to take the photography not of the band, but in the small triumphs and sorrows of the average person involved behind the scenes.

Fan, vendor, security, and landowners.

The saving grace was that everyone was equal during the whole experience.... even the band.

photography

photography

PHOTOGRAPHY (pt. 2) The best part of photograghy is the shot you never thought you would be in the right place to take.

You don’t have to have the high-end Nikons or take an hour to set up the right shot for photography used in an effective print campaign. Sometimes , all it takes is a moment to realize that one moment in time, properly captured, can drive an advertisement or a newspaper story.

Rock and Roll journalism is a weird business.

It offers the soft underbelly of society with the pseudo respectability of the media.

Short take?

You get access to a lot of very wild moments, during very many a late night. It also gives you a very strange perspective on life.

On the flip side, the photography and storytelling that comes from extended sabbaticals to remote regions of the country, bring poignant shots that can evoke a range of emotions from just one shot.

its only rock and roll.....

p o r t r a i t s

america

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

27 years of travel. 10000 pictures.

32 years of pictures. 21 years of analyzing advertising, designing and market trends.

What it all comes down to is the consumer. What they want, and what they need. But if you don’t consider where they come from, then you should have never have gotten into advertising in the first place. Period.

photography

CHRISTOPHER STECHER • (802) 310-7002 cstecher@gmail.com