Spooky Business has a flare for Halloween.
by Kelly Franklin
With only 3 days left till Halloween I was scrambling to get a few Holiday related stories together. One of them was a business card given to me by my editor. "This guy does Haunted House websites." he said. "Why don't you check it out?" With nothing but a business card in hand I was off in search of Rogues Hollow, a local web and graphic design firm.
Appropriately enough it was raining when I pulled up in front of a large house on a hill, definitely the creepiest house on the block. By the time I rang the doorbell I was half expecting Lurch from the Addams Family to answer. Instead I was greeted by a seemingly normal and un-scary, at least at first, Christopher Brielmaier. We exchanged greetings and he walked me to his office. The walls were adorned with many Haunted House posters which Christopher designed himself from all over the country. With Halloween only days away he was having a busy day he explained, and he was trying to get everything wrapped up so he could actually get away for the weekend. With that we sat down and I started in with the questions.
So how does someone from a little town in Ohio get started creating spooky artwork for haunted houses? Surprisingly it was all quite by coincidence.
"During my time at Ohio State University , I started dabbling with digital art and fell in love with it pretty quickly. A personal website I had at the time soon developed into a business." Christopher continues, "I have always loved Halloween and horror and as a child I would often recreate my favorite horror movie posters or design new ones. Of course it was pretty low tech in those days."
It was during his time at OSU that Christopher started taking many art classes but his major was actually Psychology. After being asked by professors and students to design websites, Christopher decided to start a web design business to make some extra money while attending school.
"Really it started as just that, a hobby with some potential, but my desire was to go to grad school, get my PhD and be a organizational Psychologist." He explains.
Now there was the task of the name for his new business. So just where did the name Rogues Hollow come from?
"Ah the name." Christopher chuckles. "The name was settled on after about a month of agonizing over what to call it. I had lists and lists of names that all had that 'tech' sound but none of them were memorable."
However, very late one night Christopher came across a website called Forgotten Ohio, there he found a piece of history that would shape the company's future. Rogues' Hollow, Ohio was a small little ghost town near present day Doylestown in the northern part of Ohio. This ghost town actually has a book devoted to its legend that was published in the 1960's. The book, made up of mostly folklore, detailed stories of ghostly miners, branch perching devils, and bloody streets.
"It just seemed to fit." Says Christopher. "I'm not sure even when I decided to do it but around the time that I found the name I also decided to devote much of myself as an artist and designer to horror and haunted houses. Rogues Hollow was a name that was unique; it allowed me to work in the horror industry but also gave me the freedom to do business sites and branding for a variety of industries as well." |
That year Christopher would see his business get some high profile businesses right from the start. Haunt industry e-ticketing pioneer Screampass.com would become Rogues Hollow's second official client. They were soon followed by the original 70's "shock rocker" Alice Cooper's Nightmare.
"Looking back at that first year it was a little overwhelming to get clients that big so quickly." Christopher says smiling. "I'll always remember how my jaw dropped when ScreamPass called and said 'we're starting an e-ticketing company and need a website'."
After graduating from Ohio State University , Christopher couldn't resist putting off continuing his education to give his full attention to Rogues Hollow. "I decided to try and make a real go of it and see what I could do", he says. "However my education has never gone to waste. In fact I feel that it has given me a unique perspective in my marketing for myself and my clients."
The gamble paid off and in the years since Rogues Hollow has branched out to make itself more versatile and has started, with screampass.com, a powerful vendor network designed to make the lives of Haunt operators much easier. Though still very much in its infancy, Christopher hopes that Scream Team Marketing will become the team of choice for the major haunted attractions all over the world.
"It basically means you have a network of companies providing printing, graphic design, web design, and e-ticketing to make the hand off to the next in the chain seamless and exceed the needs of the client in time and quality."
It turns out his business has brought more to him then just a career; In 2003 Christopher met his future wife through a family friend who he'd gotten back in touch with through Rogues Hollow.
"I met my wife actually at my office. She was from Japan and really didn't have a concept of haunted houses and my connection to them. However, now she helps out quite a bit as my partner, friend, book keeper, and even model. I guess I have my work to thank for that." Christopher says.
Rogues Hollow shows no signs of stopping and with many new divisions of the company in development; it looks as though Christopher and his network won't get left behind anytime soon.
"I'm always looking for ways to improve what Rogues Hollow is and does. I'm wrapping up my second degree in Web development from ITT Technical in Dayton Ohio to improve my own abilities. I'm always looking for creative people to fill in the holes and make the company as strong and rich as it can be."
The staff and collaborators at Rogues Hollow are looking at endless possibilities for the future and Christopher reflects on it all by saying: "I've been very fortunate to have clients that are amazing people who come back to me year after year and trust me to give them a quality product to build their business on. For many of them, I am their marketing department. I also owe a lot to my family who saw something in what I was doing and believed in me, and most importantly my very patient and understanding wife, without whom I wouldn't be as organized and focused as a businessman today." |
