Gareth Stevens Publishing is a leading publisher of educational books and high-quality fiction for children ages 4-16. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin since the company's founding in 1983, Gareth Stevens now publishes more than 200 new titles each year and has well over a thousand titles in print.
The Challenge
Gareth Stevens Publishing was looking for ways to increase its market share in the competitive educational publishing segment. Direct Mail was an area they had traditionally avoided, focusing all sales efforts on representatives across the country.
When the decision was made to try Direct Mail, they sought a catalog company capable of designing and producing an easy-to-use catalog affordably and on time.
a.i. Design Group Responds
Our expert team of designers developed a system for presenting Gareth Stevens' products that is bold, innovative and easy to update. Because of the way the books are displayed, we are able to approximate the book dimensions relative to the other collections on the page, giving the reader an immediate sense of the size of books in each collection. Bold headlines introduce the contents of each spread, and detailed information about each collection is presented in sidebars running adjacent to each collection for quick reference. When the time comes to update information, collections can easily be added, removed and repositioned as needed.
Meeting tight deadlines, accommodating last-minute additions and implementing cost containments are cornerstones of our production process. We manufacture all of our catalogs on time and within budget. Our production processes were just what Gareth Stevens was looking for, even though our corporate offices are nearly 500 miles apart! The use of the latest proofing methods and electronic file transfer make the approval process seamless and efficient.
The Result
Gareth Stevens' foray into Direct Mail has been a solid success. Readers are responding favorably to the catalog format, making the printing and mailing costs well worth the investment.
