Proforma

Platinum Award: Direct Mail. Promotions Made Easy. Designing direct mail pieces isn't rocket science, but it sure helps to know some fundamental rules of marketing. And one of the most im-portant ones is to know who you're writing for. Rick Lewis, president of ProForma Preferred Systems, Long Beach, Calif., never seems to have any trouble remembering who his audience is. Unfortunately, that's not always the case for everyone else. "So often, designers design for themselves," opined Lewis, "They design for what they like, not what their clients would like." Lewis, however, does just the opposite—and it's working.

Building the Future From the Past. Just north of L.A., perched high on a hill west of the Santa Monica mountains, lies the prestigious Brooks Institute, one of the world's leading photography schools. For 50 years, the Santa Barbara-based institution has excelled at teaching students the fine art of photography. However, marketing itself aggressively—that's another story. Strange as it may seem now, in this age of art as commerce, that's the way it was back then. Art and artists were the school's primary concerns. As long as the school maintained its excellent reputation, marketing, it was thought, would almost take care of itself. However, when

Platinum Award: Promotional Products. Thinking Inside the Box. It seems like everywhere you go these days there are more and more billboards and banners imploring you to "think outside the box." Yet, for Keith Beck, sometimes it's best to just stay inside. For instance, thinking inside the box helped Beck, president of ProForma Pacific Systems in Pleasanton, Calif., put together an award-winning gift box package. And it was thinking inside the box that led Beck to use a design abandoned by a failed dot-com instead of paying to design a new one. A design, in hindsight, that seems to have been destined for this particular customer. Of course,

For forms distributors, the cash is in the college market. You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to realize that a forms distributor's opportunities can be limited when selling to public school districts. With laser printers practically in the classroom, office supply superstore competition and, most of all, bidding regulations, what are distributors to do? If they're smart, say those who have been there, they'll skip school. For colleges, appearance is everything, providing opportunities for distributors who can handle commercial print jobs. This brochure, for example, was created by Rick Lewis and Debra Bradfield of ProForma Preferred Systems in Long Beach, Calif., for

Strategic and thoughtful campaigns can provide big pay-offs Marketing products and services within the forms industry is not something distributors take lightly. Rather, it is a major business component that serves as a distributor's lifeline to success. It is, in fact, a form of communication—allowing distributors to not only present ideas and solutions to current and potential clients, but also to build and maintain relationships. With that said, no price is too high when it comes to strategic marketing campaigns. Spending upwards of $3 million on creative sales, business development, marketing support, advertising, direct mail, public relations and the occasional community event, Cleveland-based

ProForma Adds 500th Distributor — The Cleveland-based ProForma distributor network has added its 500th franchise. ProForma One Stop Marketing, Memphis, Tenn., has been opened by Kurt Wulff, a former sales representative for Moore. Wulff said that the decision to establish the distributorship was based on quality-of-life issues. Wulff chose ProForma because, "It will allow me to have more free time and minimize financial risk." ProForma was third among the Top 100 Distributors with sales of $175 million. The company expects to top $200 million in total sales for the 2000 calendar year. Precept CEO Deason Resigns Doug

Five who thrive by tempering technology with the personal touch At Glenwood, Minnesota-based American Business Forms, technological changes in the industry present both opportunities and challenges. Because of its ability to buy back time, President Larry Zavadil believes that Internet technology is one of his company's biggest assets. "The Internet gives customers the ability research and order products without having to be personally guided, face-to-face, through the process," Zavadil said. "With the extra time, sales associates can again prospect during the day, and write orders in the off hours." When used improperly, however, Zavadil stressed that e-commerce can be as much of a

Product diversification spurs continued growth By Bill Drennan, Maggie DeWitt and Danielle Litka DIstributors are experiencing another strong year as total sales for the Top 100 Distributors has reached $1.92 billion, compared to $1.76 billion last year—an increase of nine percent. The reason appears to be product diversification as form sales for the Top 100 declined slightly to $780 million, a five percent drop from last year's $822 million. Form sales accounted for only 40.6 percent of total sales this year, down from 46.8 percent a year ago. Label sales increased by five percent to $177 million this year. However labels as a percentage of total sales

Newsbrief American Buys CST/Star Assets American Tissue, Happauge, N.Y., has purchased the assets of CST/Star Products, Wheeling, Ill., which recently closed. The purchase includes all of CST/ Star's eight plants, presses and other equipment, accounts receivable and all brands, trademarks and copyrights. The new company, operating under the name American Forms, is led by President and CEO Alan Vosper. American has opened three of the purchased plants—Wheeling, Ill.; Plano, Texas; and Leola, Pa.—employing about 100 people. Approximately 85 of those employees formerly worked for CST/Star. No senior management has been retained. In addition to the three plants, American Forms has distribution agreements at several

Distributor-only CSRs and five plants are positioned to handle distributor orders The $2.43 billion direct-selling giant of the forms industry—Moore North America, Bannockburn, Ill.—has launched a business unit geared to the independents and joined the DMIA. The new unit, called Latitudes, is based in Iowa City, Iowa. According to Dick Dennis, vice president of the Resale Channels, Latitudes is completely independent of Moore's direct-selling divisions. Rather than reporting to a vice president of sales, Dennis reports to Patrick Brong, the president of Logistics & Operations for Moore. No stranger to the independent channel, Dennis previously served as vice president of sales for Vallis