Visions, Inc. Acquires Printing Arts Inc. and Affinity Marketing

MINNEAPOLIS-ST.PAUL, MN—Visions, Inc. of Plymouth, Minn. has announced the acquisition of Printing Arts, Inc. of Brooklyn Park, MN, and Affinity Marketing of Edina, MN, making Visions, Inc. one of the largest Native American-owned marketing services companies in the United States. The new company will market itself as Visions.

Visions will offer a full range of offset, digital, and variable data printing, mailing and fulfillment services, along with full-service advertising and marketing capabilities – providing a single-source solution to clients. The new $20 million company will have 100 employees, who will work from two locations in Plymouth, Minn. and Brooklyn Park, MN.

“We were attracted to Printing Arts because of their unique capabilities and full complement of print services that are focused on delivering innovative solutions for customer specific needs,” said Visions CEO, Jon Otto. “We were also very interested in Printing Arts because they are an award winning ‘green company’, with certifications from two environmental leaders: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the PIM Great Printer Environmental Initiative.”

Rick Hansen and Jerry Shapiro of Printing Arts Inc., along with Otto and Gabriel Castaneda of Affinity Marketing, will comprise the management and ownership team of the newly-expanded Visions.

“These acquisitions continue our growth trajectory, which began in January 2008 with the purchase of Creek Litho’s assets,” said Otto. “The trend in the industry is to develop more sustainable business relationships that consolidate services and streamline the management of multiple vendors. A single-source operation makes it more efficient, convenient and cost-effective for our clients.”

“We are now able to provide a fully integrated marketing solution through offset and digital printing along with advertising and marketing expertise. In addition, as a NMSDC Certified Tier 1 Minority Business we now have the size and capacity to help clients meet their corporate or government subcontracting goals,” said Gabriel Castaneda.

During the past 23 years, Visions has served a broad base of leading private sector companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies. We now look forward to helping our clients with our newly expanded selection of services.