Quad/Graphics

Dollars & Sense: Catalog Co-mailings For catalogers, the past decade has been explosive with innovation. For example, desktop publishing led to computer-to-plate manufacturing and digital prepress. Files replaced film, and the process of print production became more streamlined and efficient. So much so, in fact, that catalogers now must look to operations outside the prepress and pressroom realms for cost savings, to what some consider a hard-numbers-based necessary evil: postage. “As postal costs continue to be an ever-increasing part of a cataloger’s total budget — and in order to stay competitive — they have to seek out new efficiencies in the process,”

By Donna Loyle How the cataloger uses creative print and production strategies to stay connected to customers. Mention the name Hello Direct, and undoubtedly almost everyone will say the same thing: "Oh yes, the headset company." Like Harley-Davidson and motorcycles, Hello Direct usually is top of mind when it comes to telephone headsets. How the company nurtures and maintains "ownership" of that product is instructive for other catalogers looking to dominate their own categories. Hello Direct executives use a combination of strategies, not the least of which are exceptional creative and print production capabilities that help the company

Choosing a print location for your international catalog requires more than throwing a dart at a world map while blindfolded. When marketing overseas, should you print and mail your catalog in the United States or in your target country? An economical solution is based on production, distribution and your marketing strategy, according to Tim Ohnmacht, manager of international business development for printing company Quad/Graphics. Your marketing strategy and mail volume largely dictate your printing and mailing location. For example, if you’re banking on the cache of being an American company, consider printing your catalog in the States and mailing your piece using the

In the quaint Hudson River Valley town of Saratoga Springs, NY, most everyone greets passersby with a hearty “How are you today?” When catalogers make an on-press visit to the Quad/Graphics printing plant here, their experience fits with the bonhomie of the town. After passing by the waving flags bearing the logos of the magazines and catalogs currently on press, the first person a visitor might see is plant manager Dick Marsel. A veteran of the printing industry, Marsel has been in charge of the Saratoga facility since 1985. “I was one of the first plant managers at Quad/Graphics, so it was

When Peter and Peggy Rice founded the Plow & Hearth catalog in an outbuilding on their Virginia farm in 1981, their inspiration was the back-to-basics movement. Nearly 20 years later, the country philosophy remains, but the back-roads mail order business is anything but backwards. Its adoption of a high-tech database in the mid '90s has led to quick, efficient growth through sophisticated modeling, which in turn engendered a home-furnishings catalog spin-off and a highly successful upselling program. Now Plow & Hearth's dual commitment to direct marketing basics and use of cutting-edge technology is allowing the founders to reap what they've sown. In April