St. Joseph Communications has added to its assets with the acquisition of direct marketing firm Bassett Direct. Financial terms of the deal were not provided.
Launched by Rich Bassett in 1994, Basset Direct specializes in high-impact and personalized direct marketing campaigns, with a client roster that includes Air Miles and World Vision Canada. Its products include oversized and multi-panel brochures, self-mailers, pop-ups and custom formats.
John Gagliano, president of St. Joseph’s print group, said that personalized direct market stands out as a “powerful component” in the modern media mix, enabling companies to leave “lasting, tactile reminders” with customers.
Gagliano said that St. Joseph plans to deepen its direct mail offering with customers while providing Bassett Direct’s customers with access to the company’s “interconnected solutions” across a variety of media.
St. Joseph’s Toronto-based “Print Campus” is the largest print facility in Canada, with annual output of more than 154 million direct mailers, 200 million catalogues and magazines, and more than one billion flyers.
A January study by InfoTrends entitled Direct Mail: Integral to the Marketing Mix in 2016, found that 66% of direct mail is opened, with 82% read for a minute or more. More than half (56%) of consumers who responded to direct mail went online or visited a physical store, while 62% who responded in the past three months made a purchase.
