Printers Join Forces to Launch National Magazine

GARDENA, CA—Southwest Offset Printing (SOP) has formed a strategic alliance with two regional print partners—Freeport Press of Freeport, OH, and Democrat Printing & Lithography of Little Rock, AR—to manufacture the inaugural issue of Help Me Rent Magazine (HMRM), which launches in 32 cities in July. The agreement also provides an enhanced platform for each company to build a national account presence.

With its first edition, HMRM introduces “the print button,” a technology that gives online content providers the ability to auto-upload content and select the appropriate regional print edition in which to display classified advertisements. HMRM believes its processes will "energize" publishing markets by "breathing new life into the print medium."

The printers point out that the deal allows them, as independent companies, the opportunity to service national accounts that ordinarily would have presented challenges due to freight and distribution issues. By offering clients a cooperative resource featuring similar print platforms, prepress protocols and binding capabilities, SOP and its partners aim to recapture business that is controlled primarily by national concerns with multiple locations.

“When Help Me Rent approached us with its aggressive launch plans, I reached out to potential partners, and found Freeport Press and Democrat Printing & Lithography to be ideal candidates for a cooperative effort," noted Jennifer McDonald, SOP executive vice president. "Together, we’ve created a comprehensive platform for a new national publisher by pooling the best of our common resources while embracing HMRM’s innovative front-end technologies.”