National Geographic Partners Extends Relationship with Quad/Graphics

Joel Quadracci

SUSSEX, Wis. — July 28, 2017 — Under a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract with National Geographic Partners, Quad/Graphics Inc. will manage comprehensive production services, including paper procurement and management, prepress and printing management. The agreement also expands and extends the print volume Quad/Graphics supplies under contract for the publisher and its titles National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic History, National Geographic Kids, National Geographic Little Kids, National Geographic Adventures and National Geographic Expeditions.

The newly extended and expanded contract fortifies Quad/Graphics’ long-standing relationship with National Geographic Partners, which also includes books, and demonstrates the iconic brand’s confidence in Quad/Graphics as a strategic business partner.

“Quad/Graphics is proud to build on our relationship with National Geographic Partners by providing time- and cost-saving production services that, ultimately, will allow it to focus on what it does best: connecting with brand enthusiasts,” says Joel Quadracci, chairman, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics. “Using our best-in-class workflow solutions, we will enhance National Geographic Partners’ existing processes, building on the strong foundation already in place.”

Declan Moore, CEO of National Geographic Partners, also notes, "National Geographic has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Quad/Graphics. They have provided best-in-class service to showcase our valued content, allowing us to focus on our core business of premium storytelling through the work of our incredibly talented photographers.”

National Geographic Partners joins a growing list of publishers that have engaged Quad/Graphics for production services. Other publishers include Cengage, Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications, Forbes, Outside Magazine, Rodale, The Week and Wenner Media, among others.

In addition, Quad/Graphics provides production services — as well as other content creation and content management services — for approximately 30 marketers and retailers including Bluestem Brands, Cabela’s, L.L.Bean, Staples and Tractor Supply.

“Quad/Graphics continues its transformation to create significant value for its clients by addressing their urgent business needs to improve process efficiencies and marketing spend effectiveness,” Quadracci says. “We refer to our transformation as Quad 3.0, which reflects our evolution from a startup printer that grew rapidly through greenfield growth in 1.0, to a disciplined industry consolidator in 2.0 and now, in Quad 3.0, to a global marketing services provider leveraging a strong print foundation in combination with its deep expertise in workflow re-engineering and optimization, content management and personalized, cross-channel marketing.”

Expanding on the operational and business process expertise that has made it an industry leader, Quad 3.0’s workflow re-engineering services and dedicated client deployment teams provide scalable content solutions that allow clients to create more content for more channels faster, with fewer resources, and iteratively revise that content quickly based on consumer behavior. When deployed, Quad 3.0 solutions allow clients to compete more aggressively today while addressing tomorrow’s changing market demands.

“We are experts at content production and distribution for digital and print output, and can process content quickly to the highest quality standards at a low cost, thereby allowing brand owners to respond faster,” relays Quadracci. “Clients can reinvest the savings from eliminating redundancies and increasing efficiencies to create even more effective marketing campaigns.”

Quad/Graphics’ upstream services fortify its downstream revenue across all existing product lines and solutions. “We are confident in our strategy, which is driving substantial downstream revenue for us from our upstream efficiency-focused services,” Quadracci adds. This revenue is generated from production-related services and creative operations such as studio and location photography, videography and graphic design, as well as additional print volume.

Quadracci concludes, "As we continue to enhance the value of Quad/Graphics as a marketing partner in Quad 3.0, we will build on our strong foundation to help improve the execution and effectiveness of clients’ marketing campaigns across print, digital and other channels. To accelerate this vision, we have added client-side talent to our team — individuals who understand the challenges facing retailers, marketers and publishers.

He continues, "We also have continued to build our strategic partnership with Rise Interactive, a digital marketing agency that specializes in media, analytics and customer experience. This partnership combines Quad’s expertise in optimizing a client’s marketing spend in offline channels with Rise’s expertise in online channels to create more powerfully integrated online and offline campaigns in addition to all the other services we already provide. When combined with the expertise of our BlueSoHo multichannel agency, marketers have a robust and comprehensive partner in Quad to help them improve their marketing and sales results.”

Source: Quad/Graphics.

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.