BALTIMORE—Vertis Communications celebrated the opening of a 23,000-square-foot premedia facility in the St. Louis suburb of Earth City, MO. The facility was relocated from Maryland Heights, MO.The company will use the new digs to produce work for retail and consumer packaged goods, advertising agencies, printers and packaging converters on a local and national level.Vertis also…
On Demand Keynote Speakers Set BOSTON—Details are being firmed up for the 2007 AIIM and On Demand Conferences & Expos, which will bring the event to the Boston Convention & Exposition Center for the first time. The event will run from April 16-19. Show days will be kicked off by a series of free keynote addresses. On Wednesday, April 18, John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects, will present “The Parallel Evolution and Convergence of Enterprise Content Management and Business Intelligence.” He will be immediately followed by Jeff Teper, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, Office Business Platform. “Freakonomics” author Stephen J. Dubner will lead off Thursday,
LAST MONTH, I suggested some ways that you can put public relations to work and get the word out about your business. This month, the topic is self-promotion—a subset of PR in which you can showcase the skills, expertise and capabilities of your organization. The two go hand in hand. In November, for the third year in a row, I had the pleasure of judging the DICE Awards. DICE, the Digital Imaging Customer Exchange (www.dicegroup.org, formerly the Indigo Customer Exchange), has been around for more than a decade and just reached the 300-member mark. The group has expanded beyond owners of Indigo presses
THE GOOD news, bad news scenario has struck the commercial printing industry, as well as the mailing community. The first bit of news should help serve as some consolation to the latter. Unless you’ve spent the last month on holiday in Copenhagen, you’re well aware that the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act was miraculously salvaged by Congress in the closing minutes of the 109th session, a.k.a the lame duck, (see story on page 5). On December 20, H.R. 6407 was pushed through by President Bush, giving the green light to legislation aimed at modernizing the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) business practices. The
Valassis, ADVO Settle, Merge LIVONIA, MI—After several months of acrimony, Valassis and ADVO have decided to patch their differences and merge. The sides have dropped their chancery court case and will move under one roof via a renegotiated $1.2 billion deal, at $33 per share for the outstanding common shares of ADVO stock. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007. Bowne Buys St Ives Financial NEW YORK—Bowne & Co. is acquiring St Ives Financial, the financial printing division of St Ives plc. Terms of the deal were not revealed. St Ives, which is keeping its annual report printing business, has financial printing
BALTIMORE—Michael DuBose has been named chairman and CEO by Vertis Communications, effective immediately. DuBose assumes the CEO position from Dean Durbin, who resigned. Durbin has been CEO since last February and president since November of 2004.DuBose assumes the chairman’s position from Donald Roland, who will remain on the board of directors. Durbin will provide transition…
WHEN YOU think about it, the direct mail industry boasts some of the most formidable enemies and loyal friends today—just another way of saying there are “challenges and opportunities.” But it’s not tired, cliched rhetoric. It seems that the tougher life gets for the mailing community, the bigger the potential payoff. As this edition went to press, the ‘Lame Duck’ Congressional session was winding its way down and, with the Republican party so severely beaten, the likelihood that meaningful postal reform could be hatched prior to the final whistle seemed quite remote. But for some producers of direct marketing materials, the farther away cost
Putting an iGen3 in Team Spells Digital Success CAROL STREAM, IL—Some 350 people attended the open house recently held by Team Concept to showcase the capabilities of its new Xerox iGen3 digital color press. The shop reports running the machine 24 hours a day within just four months of installing it. Pictured in front of the digital press are (from the left) Tony Rouse, Team Concept president and CEO; Paco Salcedo, its iGen3 certified specialist; Julie Higgins, customer business development manager for Xerox; Laurie Kaminski, Team Concept’s iGen3 manager; and Mike Murphy of Xerox. Punch Graphix Rolls Out Xeikon 6000 ITASCA, IL—After
Salt Lake City-based AlphaGraphics reports it is planning to reach 500 locations over the next five years. Ingrid Wilmet has joined Impressions Inc. of St. Paul, MN, as an account manager. Kim Hawley has joined Dallas-based Taylor Publishing as vice president of sales and marketing for the Taylor Specialty Book division. He most recently held the position of sales manager for the Commercial Book division of Walsworth Publishing. Richard Eade, formerly of Butler Color Press, has joined Inserts East in Pennsauken, NJ, as director of operations. Des Plaines Publishing, Des Plaines, IL, announced that Michael Ford has joined the company as president and CEO.
BALTIMORE—A Big Flower, by any other name, proved not to be as sweet as Vertis from an advertising standpoint. But upon further review, the national marketing specialist felt a new branding would be more appropriate. Thus, effective immediately, the company is now called Vertis Communications.The name change emphasizes Vertis’ communications services in the marketing, advertising…
