Pennington, N.J. – May 2, 2007 – Direct Group, a full-service provider of high-quality, high-volume direct marketing solutions and services, announced today that it has acquired Enterprise Marketing Solutions, Inc. (EMSi), a database marketing company providing statistical modeling and analytics, data management, hosted database solutions and e-mail programs for the direct marketing industry. This timely acquisition complements Direct Group’s capabilities as a multi-channel marketing solutions provider offering clients a fully integrated approach to direct marketing.  

 

Based in Piscataway, N.J., EMSi creates tailored marketing solutions for customers in the insurance, telecommunications and cable, and security industry sectors. The company’s core services are based on a model called “Marketing 3-D,” which offers clients access to the latest tools and services focused on data, decisions and delivery. These three key service areas encompass sophisticated data sourcing, mining and management; consumer insights, targeting and modeling; and database hosting, management, fulfillment and results measurement. Customized programs include direct-to-consumer and business marketing campaigns that use multiple channels of delivery (direct mail, e-mail, teleservices, and others) and are designed to improve marketplace results and ROI.  

 

The EMSi staff and facility will remain in operation at their current location and its two principals, Ken Palma and Mike Brown, will join the Direct Group executive management team.  

 

“We are thrilled to have EMSi – led by such high-caliber, accomplished professionals as Ken and Mike – join our team,” said Don McKenzie, President and CEO of Direct Group. “This strategic acquisition continues Direct Group’s evolution from a best-in-breed production and fulfillment operation into a provider of fully integrated, value-added direct marketing solutions for our clients. ROI-enhancing databases are the cornerstone of today’s most effective marketing campaigns, and EMSi’s capabilities in this area bring our clients a distinct competitive advantage.”

 

McKenzie noted that Direct Group has also introduced a number of client-focused offerings in recent months designed to provide customers with postal and production cost savings and increased response rates. In March, Direct Group introduced Postal Optimizer^®, the industry’s most comprehensive package of postal-cost-savings solutions, followed by the introduction in April of ReadSmart^®, a patented text-formatting technology that makes copy easier to read and has already been proven successful in numerous direct-mail marketing tests.  

 

McKenzie said, “These value-added initiatives, along with our strategic acquisitions of HintonHill in January and now EMSi, demonstrate that we are executing on our long-term vision to shape Direct Group into a leading provider of integrated marketing solutions and services that help our clients achieve the best value and results for their direct marketing campaigns.”  

 

Palma and Brown co-founded EMSi’s predecessor company in 1996, and each bring more than 25 years of experience in managing the design, development and implementation of database marketing programs, systems and applications; as well as marketing measurement and tracking, customer care, management information systems and business operations.  

 

“Both EMSi and Direct Group are fundamentally committed to meeting the needs of our clients, and this drives all elements of our businesses,” said Palma. “This mutual client-centric focus creates a very high level of commonality between the two companies and we are looking forward to bringing more value to our mutual customers through new and innovative products, services and solutions.”  

 

Brown added: “Direct Group has an exciting vision for how best to serve the needs of clients, and it is a vision that is already being embraced by the marketplace. For that reason, we are very excited to be joining their team, and believe that we can help the company realize its goals. At the same time, EMSi’s customers will benefit tremendously from Direct Group’s production capacity and buying power.”    

 

As part of the integration of EMSi into Direct Group, Matt Graham, Vice President of Fulfillment Services and CTO, will assume responsibility for all systems, technology and database and response management for the company. Previously, Graham was responsible for managing the database and technology operation at Transcontinental Direct U.S.A. (formerly CC3). That team ensured the full integration of database services into the company’s offerings, and did so over a multi-plant platform.  

 

“In today’s direct marketing industry, clients demand and deserve targeted, strategic approaches to customer acquisition and retention programs that deliver ever-higher returns,” said Graham. “Adding EMSi’s outstanding modeling, analytics and data management capabilities to our existing operation greatly enhances our portfolio of service offerings. We will now be able to put even more powerful, tech-enabled, data-centric campaigns into action for our clients.”

 

###

 

Direct Group offers a fully integrated array of direct marketing services – including database management, modeling and analytics, prepress, print, personalization, lettershop, commingling, direct mail, e-mail marketing, telemarketing, response and fulfillment. The company serves a wide variety of industry segments and enjoys many long-term partnerships with world-class customers throughout the United States. Direct Group offers cost-saving solutions through its Postal Optimizer^® product line, and response-driven solutions through its ReadSmart^® text-formatting technology. Direct Group’s corporate offices and three operating facilities, which include one of the world’s largest-volume, single-site commercial mailing operations, are in New Jersey, and the company has a sales and customer service facility in Maryland. For more information about the company, visit www.directgroup.net.

 

EMSi is a database marketing company providing statistical modeling and analytics to target prospective customers, developing highly targeted marketing lists of every shape and size using customized tools and technology, and delivering client customer and prospect list management services and hosted database solutions. EMSi provides unique marketing solutions to customers in the insurance, telecommunications and cable and security industry sectors. Solutions include direct-to-consumer and business marketing programs that use multiple channels of delivery (direct mail, email, teleservices, and others). For more information about the company, visit www.goemsi.com .  

 

About SV Investment Partners SV Investment Partners (www.svip.com ), formerly known as Schroder Ventures US, is a New York-based private equity investment firm and is the equity partner of Direct Group. The firm specializes in buyouts and buildups of business services companies in the U.S. middle market in partnership with management.