In June, Valassis (VCI)—it delivers advertisements and coupons—bought Brand.net, an online display, video and mobile advertising platform. Management believes this acquisition will help Valassis widen its existing reach and adapt its “old school” direct mail business to the digital world.
Valassis shared the results of a study indicating that 90 percent of grocery retailers still use weekly circulars as their promotion of choice, although they expect social media and digital channels to greatly impact their tactics within five years.
The addition of Brand.net, an online display, video and mobile advertising platform, to the Valassis Audience Network digital display business provides an expansive network of online and off-line data, state-of-the-art ad serving and targeting technology. “Today, consumers are in control and their media habits are changing at a remarkable rate which means that clients need to use a mix of media to stay both visible and relevant,” said Rob Mason, Valassis president and CEO.
One of my colleagues lacks confidence in Facebook’s business model. As he wrote in a June 5th email, “It looks like Facebook is a questionable vehicle for generating sales for its advertisers. The best has always been direct mail.” And he believes that direct mail’s best investment is Valassis thanks to its steady cash flow generation.
My colleague believes that 2011′s rocky financial results were not a reflection of deep problems with Valassis. He described the “bumps” as “too much of a good thing...Last summer people used the coupons far faster than expected. This was because of a bad economy.”
The Newspaper Association of America called for the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission to reject a proposed negotiated services agreement (NSA) between the U.S. Postal Service and direct-mail giant Valassis, saying this special rate proposal will cause significant financial harm to newspapers throughout the country, and will not improve the financial condition of the nation’s postal system.
A recently installed printing press was enough to bring the top executives of digital and print advertising services company Valassis to Wichita on Tuesday. Valassis president and CEO Rob Mason and chief operating officer Ron Goolsby made the trip from Valassis headquarters outside Detroit to formally cut the ribbon on the new machine that will increase the Wichita printing division’s efficiency, benefit customers and allow the company to be more price competitive.
The 57"-wide press can print sales circulars, coupons and newspaper inserts at 2,000 feet per minute.
It’s not just a printing press, rather an $8 million project that took
Valassis recorded revenues of $518.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, a decrease of 5.2 percent from $547 million in the prior year quarter. This decrease was due primarily to reduced spending by consumer packaged goods clients and the absence of custom co-op programs within the company’s Free-standing Inserts segment.
Valassis’ fourth-quarter revenues were $595.3 million, a decrease of 5.7 percent from $631.2 million in the prior-year quarter. Its full-year revenues were $2.24 billion, a decrease of 4.2 percent from $2.33 billion in 2010. These decreases in revenues were due primarily to the shortfall in Run-of-Press revenues.
Valassis has been named as one of the “Top 50 Companies for Executive Women” by the National Association for Female Executives. This is the first time Valassis has been named to this list. The association’s survey evaluates companies on every aspect of women’s advancement.
Valassis’ revenues were $528.4 million in the third quarter, a decrease of 7.7 percent compared to $572.4 million for the prior year quarter. “The combined effect of the economy and increasing coupon redemptions are prematurely exhausting annual consumer promotion budgets in the second half of 2011,” said Alan F. Schultz.
