Focus Direct Acquires Creative List Solutions
Direct mail marketer Focus Direct, San Antonio, TX, this week (March 29) purchased list management and brokerage firm Creative List Solutions, Provo, UT, continuing an acquisition strategy that has seen the firm grow its revenue four-fold since 1995.Creative brings Focus Direct into the financial industry with 40 new lists and clients. Creative will be combined with Focus Direct division DataMark Systems, Salt Lake City, UT, to enhance its geodemographic targeting system which combines demographic and geographic information with customer behavior patterns to deliver selective marketing messages.
Focus Direct also offers list management, brokerage and compilation and will tap into its combined sales forces which include a brokerage office in Atlanta to market the Creative lists. Focus president/CEO Fred Lederman said the cash transaction for Creative will not result in any layoffs. Creative employees will work remotely from their existing offices for now with plans to evntually consolidate operations in Salt Lake City. Exact figures of the deal were not disclosed.
Creative is the fourth acquisition by Focus in the last two years. DataMark was acquired last year for $7.7 million as were Shelton PreSort, San Antonio, and General Envelope and Lithography, St. Louis, MO. Those acquisitions coupled with organic growth has helped Focus increase its revenues from $11.5 million in '95 to $46.7 million last year.
Focus will continue to aggressively seek acquisition candidates with annual revenues of $5 to $25 million and Lederman said he is currently investigating three specific companies.
