Al Kratzer's VisualCV

View My VisualCV Online: http://www.visualcv.com/alkratzer

Al Kratzer

Online Sales Director
Penn Jersey Advance

Easton, PA 18040
United States

Al Kratzer is best described as a "Creative Generalist" who has worked as a creative director, publisher, web designer, teacher/trainer, graphic artist, cartoonist and musician. He was an early online devotee and began designing Web sites in 1995. Since 1998 he has worked in the newspaper industry developing online products and niche publications focusing on design, content, marketing and sales. He is currently absorbed with the challenges associated with the transition of the newspaper from print to digital. He lives in Easton, PA with his wife and son.

Creative thinker. Continuously seeking out emerging trends, design ideas, and technologies to cultivate new marketing strategies and projects.

Experienced in publication development, including budgeting, editorial vision, sales, marketing, promotion, layout and production.

Ability to thrive in project-oriented, multi-tasking and consultant-like environments with little direct supervision.

Publisher experience. Strong knowledge of online, print and niche publishing.

Exceptional communication, organizational and presentation skills.

Solid design and layout skills, including conceptualizing art ideas, graphics creation, image manipulation, typography, scanning and color correction. Traditional art & illustration skills. PDF, HTML, FTP, blog tools, data mining, digital video, digital audio, CD & DVD burning,and Web Browsers.Hardware/software troubleshooting.

New media experience, including strategic planning, online publication design, online sales, editorial & content creation, interface & web page development, video and audio editing & integration, HTML and web graphics skills.

Penn Jersey Advance

Easton, PA, United States

Jan 2009 - Present

Online Sales Director

Develop online sales strategies, develop/deliver sales training, assist online sales managers in reaching monthly sales goals and develop new accounts.

Work with clients and sales managers to create advertising solutions
Coordinate the development of sales collateral with Marketing Department
Participate in new product development and launches
Product analysis, pricing analysis, competitive intelligence, market segmentation

Easton Publishing

Easton, PA, United States

Sep 2007 - Jan 2009

VP of Audience Acquisition and Development

Lead initiatives to integrate Internet capabilities into the sales, production and editorial departments. Responsible for four newspaper groups in NJ and PA.

Development and presentation of company-wide internet training
Coordinate new product launches
Develop corporate online sales infrastructure

Easton, PA, United States

Jan 2007 - Sep 2007

VP Online

Direct online sales and editorial development. A lead architect of a company-wide reorganization to integrate online and new product development.

Instrumental in creating a company reorganization plan designed to transform the newspaper to for the digital future
Researched and deployed online project management solutions
Researched and deployed corporate intranet

NJN Publishing

Flemington, NJ, United States

Jan 2005 - Dec 2006

Online Director

Lead the execution of internet sales and editorial initiatives between newspapers and Advance Internet, the online arm of Advance Publications.

Coordinated the launch of new online products and achieved online budget goal
Created www.njnpublishing.info (corporate Web site)

Flemington, NJ, United States

Jan 2003 - Jan 2005

Creative Director

All aspects of new product development including strategic, P&L, design, editorial, sales and marketing. Focus on magazine and direct mail products.

Developed Award-winning magazines and marketing products realizing over $500,000 in revenue in the first year
Managed product redesigns and integrated publication size changes
Worked with multiple newspaper groups to enforce quality and design standards
Production and graphics department training

Flemington, NJ, United States

Sep 2001 - Dec 2002

Niche Publisher

Oversee staff and direct niche publishing products for a chain of weekly newspapers. Publications included an internet portal, corporate Web sites, a regional equestrian newspaper, and all special sections.

Newspaper and special section redesigns
Publisher Horse News

Hunterdon County Democrat

Flemington, NJ, United States

Jan 1998 - Aug 2001

Online Manager

Manage Internet Department for New Jersey's leading weekly newspaper. Developed local Web portal and Web design services for area businesses.

Developed newspaper Web portals
Led the creation of Phase2 Studios, the newspaper's interactive agency
Online advertising and Web development sales

Interactive Ink

Seargeantsville, NJ, United States

May 1994 - Present

Artist/Owner

Freelance multimedia artist - Cartoons, Graphics, Web Design, & Video/Audio Editing.

Designing Web sites since 1994
Editorial cartoons have appeared in numerous NJ Daily & Weekly newspapers
Sports cartoons appeared on Sports Illustrated's SIonline.com, Reuter's SportsWeb, and in The Ring magazine

Creative Thinking
Product Development
Sales & Marketing
Management
Presentation Skills
Training/Teaching
MindManager/Mindmapping
Microsoft Office
PhotoShop
Page Layout
Web Design/HTML
Audio/Video Editing
Speed Learning
Traditional Art skills/Cartooning/Illustration

Goodbye Porkpie Hat

Click on the images to visit my paintings site.

Blue in Green

Anthropology

West Coast Blues

Lush Life

Blues Piano

Violin

When Sonny Gets Blue

Represented by:

Just Around the Corner Gallery

5A N. Bank St
Easton, PA 18042
610.258.9850

Music Teacher

From 1982 to 1987 I taught electric bass at a music center. Click on the image to visit my Bass Lessons lens on Squidoo

Autism Inspiration

If you are the parent of a child in the Autism spectrum, I urge you to thoroughly educate yourself and take your child's treatment into your own hands.

Mind Maps

Mind Maps are my favorite way to examine a subject. Click on the image to see an example

Jim Rohn Rules!

In this day and age when it seems everyone believes that simply existing entitles them to anything they want, Rohn is a welcome dose of reality. Click the image to see a video clip

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM, United States

BAS - 1987, American Studies

American Studies degree with an emphasis on politics and media. Minor in Southwest Studies

1997 History Channel - History Web Site Award (www.lindberghtrial.com)

1998 American Horse Publications - 2nd Place for Horse News Web Site (www.horse-news.com)

2000 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/New Product Development (Hunterdon Online Directory)

2003 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/New Product Development (Celebrating in Style)

2003 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/Special Section (Hunterdon Life)

2004 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/New Product Development (Memorable Celebrations)

2004 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/Special Section (Home Design Trends)

2004 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/External Mailing Promotion (Celebrations)

2005 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/Special Section (Home Design Trends)

2005 New Jersey Press Association - 1st Place/External Mailing Promotion (Hunterdon Life)

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted they'd have said faster horses." - Henry Ford

“Music is the only thing that spans across all ethnic groups and all languages. Music is the only thing that awakens the dead man and charms the savage beast.”
- Lee Morgan

Seth Godin

Seth's Blog is one of the best on the web.

TED - Ideas worth spreading

Not every session presented on TED is a pearl, but the site features a LOT of amazing ideas and innovations.

Stephen Wiltshire draws Tokyo from memory

Makes you wonder just how much more the human brain is capable of that we don't tap into...

John Nieto

An American Master

What Would Google Do?

Jeff Jarvis stitches together a patchwork of blogposts and throws them against the wall to see if any stick. Google would have served up the best of these ideas on the first page of results and saved me a lot of time.

Bad Money

Read it and weep. Kevin Phillips paints a disturbing picture of the mess we're in and uncovers the rotten root causes from over the last decade.

The Truth About Thriving In Change

About a thousand new business books on change management are released each year. This 2008 release contains a collection of timeless corporate coping strategies, presented in a concise manner. Not particularly groundbreaking, but a good presentation of the current state of the art.

The Jazz Theory Book

Intermediate to advanced students will find a lot of great information here. The sections on reharmonization and Trane changes are particularly helpful.

Intellectual Type: Visionary Philosopher

Based on an I.Q. test, my type is Visionary Philosopher.

"Your mind's strengths allow you to think ahead of the game — to imagine or anticipate what should come next in just about any situation. Because you're equally skilled in the numerical and verbal universes of the brain, you can draw from multiple sources of information to come up with great ideas."

(Wow! And all this time I thought I was just mildly A.D.D.!)

Stengths Finder

According to StrengthsFinder.com, my top 5 strengths are:

Ideation - making connections

Strategic - predicting patterns

Input - constant inquisitiveness

Learner - seeking improvement

Intellection - deep reflection

Personal DNA

My true self as revealed by my PersonalDNA score:

"You trust others, care about them, and are slow to judge them, making you CONSIDERATE.

Your imagination, confidence, willingness to explore, and appreciation of beauty make you a CREATOR."

PeopleMaps

My PeopleMaps keywords:

*Exact

*Confident

*Sociable

*Stimulating

*Competent

*Risk-taker

*Improvising

*Inspirational

Flip Video Camera

Throw away last years digital video camera and get a Flip. Small, simple and with astonishingly good low light capabilities. An outstanding example of perfecting a product, rather than just cramming on new features.

Ciao Bella Mango Sorbet

Premium Sorbet with a snooty pedigree ("Alphonso Mangoes from India - known as the King of Mangoes"), ZERO fat, and and a silky smoothness that rivals ice cream. Sure, it cost more and I'm delighted whenever I can find this rare treat.

Liquitex Acylic Paint

Every so often I'm seduced by some bargain brand and I'm consistently disappointed. Liquitex Acrylics have no rivals for intensity of their pigments and overall handling qualities. If only my favorite colors didn't cost $14 bucks a tube...

Wacom Bamboo Tablet

Wacom has been the long-time leader for digitizing tablets. The Bamboo is cheap, sensitive and elegant. No setup issues -- it just works. Don't even think about using Corel Painter or Adobe Photoshop without a tablet.

MindJet's Mindmanager

Mindmapping software has come a long way and Mindjet is still the category leader. I'm not sure if the "collaborating in the cloud" direction Mindjet is on will pan out -- it is impossible to get an average company to communicate using mindmaps.

Microsoft OneNote

Capture all of those ideas, blog pages and even video and audio using OneNote. Microsoft's only GREAT software offering.

D'Addario Chromes Flatwound Bass Strings

Nothing complements my vintage Fender Jazz Bass quite like the warm tone and smooth touch of these amazing strings. Just enough brightness to add definition without an annoying metallic growl.

GE Reveal® Bulbs

I know, I know, I should be switching to incandescent fluorescent bulbs to save energy -- but before you wag your green finger at me, I just found out that they have a LOT of mercury in them. Setting aside the eco-angst, GE Reveal bulbs have the cleanest full spectrum light around. As a painter it makes a HUGE difference in my studio.