He Wowed 'em in Toronto
May 2, 2007

Tony Gagliano, CEO of St. Joseph Print, caught the audience at PIA/GATF’s Offset & Beyond off guard with an impassioned presentation–all the more effective for foregoing slides.

The Toronto printer lies hidden in plain site among North American graphic arts firms. His audience Tuesday morning followed every syllable, and Gagliano spoke with authority as both manufacturer and publisher of print communications.

The 2,000-employee firm began growing dramatically after acquiring the Canadian government print office in 1997. Gagliano related a story that was both personal–his imigrant Italian father’s accomplishments in building a business–and universal, as he told of his faith in print especially because it works so well with the internet.

He told of a client “that prints billions and billions of pages of content every month totally driven by the internet. No internet, no printing.”

“We see print as the engine that powers communications. But. . .the train requires other rail cars and, in our business, document management, content and media are the rail cars.

“It is not enough, in our minds, to offer clients a print solution; the key is to offer them a communications solution.”

An example: in 1994 St. Joseph was one of 29 suppliers to Sears catalog, retail and in-store marketing materials, including photography. Now they are the sole supplier, having researched Sears’ needs and built utilities to provide better service.

“We redefined the fundamentals of our relationship and are now Sears’ only communications partner. . . .and we are doing 25 times the volume we were previously doing with Sears.”

The firm also has a publishing arm, and so thinks deeply about the role of print publications in the media mix. “The print magazine remains essential to the communication of ideas,” says Gagliano. “This is because it appeals to and speaks to a community of interests, groups of like-minded people who share similar views and ideals.

Last year the firm invested $50 million in MAN Roland webs in just one plant in Concord, Ontario, “making it one of the most state-of-the-art web facilities in North America.”

St. Joseph boasts:
–a national entwork of 50 digital print centers;
–200,000 sq.ft. of studio space and 400 marketing specialists
–reinvests 70% of profits; pays out 10%; donates 10%; and pays 10% in dividends.

“It is a sustainable way to build a company for all its stakeholders; we have never waivered on the formula,” he asserted. St. Joseph Communications will be covered in the May edition of GAM for its environmental practices.

This just in:
–The New York Times sold its 1.4M sq.ft. Edison, NJ print plant facility for $140 million. The former NYT headquarters, sold by the paper for $175 million in 2004, just changed hands again, for $525 million. Shoulda waited.

Xerox says it is developing a technology to color correct images based on laymen’s terms—brighter sun, greener grass, etc.

Microsoft leaps to defend its Office-based document standards as state legislatures move toward OpenDocument Format (ODF) generic file standards for record keeping and public access. Google, Sun, and IBM support ODF. www.odfalliance.org

–Toasters that print: Breakfast-Art Image Toaster from Brookstone. And the ever popular computerized

Posted by on May 2, 2007 | Comments (0)