Alliance
Creative Group bundles together everything a client needs to handle their brand
identity in print and packaging, with the kind of back-end supply chain
management capabilities and brand development skills needed to execute an
entire strategic marketing campaign, including fulfillment and the assembly of
customized product kits. With a vertically integrated component architecture
that allows the company to share resources and capabilities across its multiple
business units, ACGX has incredibly dynamic reach.
Alliance
Creative Group’s recent extension of a successful 12 year plus relationship
with the biggest privately-held beauty company on earth, John Paul Mitchell
Systems, stands as a testament to the company’s printing and packaging prowess.
President of JPMS, Luke Jacobellis, even went so far as to say that ACGX, while
a valuable business partner for over a decade now, nevertheless continues to
seriously impress the world renown developer of some 100 award-winning styling
and care products, which today does business in over 80 countries around the
globe.
ACGX
was tapped by JPMS to handle substantially all cartons, inserts and master
shipping boxes for their PM SHINES™ translucent hydrating demi-permanent line
of 27 intermixable hair colors. A project whose success owes a great deal to
tight-knit cooperation directly with JPMS, as well as the decades of
creative/design production experience brought to bear by ACGX’s creative team,
which has a distinct mastery of balancing eye-popping aesthetics with practical
packaging assembly requirements. It is this versatility and class that ACGX’s
clients have come to know and love, since the company morphed from online
marketing, to a full-spectrum brand identity management and print/packaging
house in the 2000’s. The company currently has a staff of 23 full-time
employees in their Schaumburg, Illinois HQ and maintains a sophisticated
umbrella of independent contractors to boot.
Alliance
Creative Group’s ability to handle order fulfillment, including complete packaging
and kitting of products into attractive, yet cost-effective bundles, while also
doing initial distribution and ongoing, on-demand replenishment, further
distinguishes them from other players in the print and packaging space.
According to Q4 2013 research by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), the domestic
market opportunity for packaging is around $11B and while only 7% or so of that
volume is digital, shorter product life cycles are increasing overall demand
for digital (as opposed to traditional analog) printing by leaps and bounds.
This trend, further enhanced by growing product versioning and environmental
impact concerns on the part of clients, means the iron is red-hot for ACGX,
given that they are a one-stop-shop solution provider, which has considerable
expertise in digital print.
Market
research by German print hardware specialists, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
(ETR:HDD), throws a bright light on an already well-established phenomena, that
customers typically recognize their favorite products (and are made to feel at
ease about their purchase) by the familiar/engaging packaging of the brand.
Heidelberger’s analysis even indicates that some 80% of women recognize their
favorite perfume not by the scent, but by the product’s packaging.
Ernst
& Young put the global packaging market at around $500B last year with all
sources included and further noted key market features, like brand success
being driven primarily by eye-catching and colorful designs that grow
awareness, as well as the emergence of the mass luxury category in cosmetics
and other consumer goods. The E&Y report also indicated that managing the
increasingly complex supply chain “balancing act,” was fundamental to the
success of a given brand/product.
The
ability to do it all is one of the most compelling advantages ACGX clients get
access to and there is little wonder then at the company’s strong Q2 results
this year, showing a 26% YoY jump, with gross profits up 51.6% over the same
period. ACGX even set a new record this year, with over $6M in revenues for the
front half of 2014. That strong growth story is further underscored by a recent
initiative to form the “Alliance Tank” operational unit, which is tasked with
developing shared resource utilization, as well as strategic M&A now that
the company is logistically proven, with an unquestionably established track
record of first-rate performance for their clients.
ACGX
is looking to tack on additional infrastructure in the creative/design,
packaging and supply chain management areas, but is also looking at PR &
marketing operations, as well as tech and software developers. The optimal
targets will have compatible sets of competencies that will further improve the
company’s already dominant internal theme of synergistic verticals and ACGX is
particularly interested in targets that have a proof-of-concept completed in
the consumer products arena, especially if there is a natural dovetail with the
company’s own extant portfolio.
Strong
client retention capabilities and the capacity to handle all aspects of
print/packaging requirements continues to drive business to ACGX’s door and
with a management team overhaul to support their growing network of clients
(many of whom have been with the company for over a decade), the company’s
project management, strategic marketing and business consulting strengths are
better than ever. COO and general counsel for ACGX, Paul Sorkin, even said in a
recent interview with Small-Cap/Micro-Cap online Investment Newsletter service,
QualityStocks, that the company looks to be on pace for $12M in revenues this
year, with as much as $800k in net income. No doubt buoyed in part by the
company’s entry into the ultra-hot marijuana sector, where they will provide
the burgeoning product mix (everything from candles and edibles, to lights and
supplements) with the same kind of first-class printing, packaging, marketing,
and supply chain support services that brands like Paul Mitchell have come to
trust with their bottom line.
More
info on Alliance Creative Group is available at www.AllianceCreativeGroup.com
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