Industry Swims Upstream – August 2014 M&A Activity
Mailing and fulfillment service companies are aggressively moving upstream into printing, graphic design and data management services. Streamworks, in Arden Hills, Minnesota, jumped up the value ladder and acquired Imagewërks Marketing, a design and production boutique, also located in Arden Hills. The acquired company had itself evolved over three decades from a printing company into a “comprehensive marketing company.” The buyer, Streamworks, also has been a work-in-progress, having been formed just last year when Action, a direct mail and fulfillment company, joined with Expedite Direct Mail & Fulfillment, a provider of printing and direct mail services. The newly combined entities will still provide printing services, and promote ink-on-paper as an effective communication channel; print services are subsumed under the broad message that the company provides “integrated marketing communications.”