Coming Soon: More Coupons From Valpak- Tampa Tribune

Much of the talk in advertising is about ads on the Internet or product placement in TV shows, but executives with this paper-coupon-by-mail company say their business is growing quickly enough to expand production and build a state-of-the-art printing and mailing center.

"We've not been the traditional advertising medium of a lot of companies, but we're seeing more and more companies choosing to mail [coupons] with us," said William Disbrow, president and chief executive officer of Cox Target Media, the St. Petersburg-based company that operates Valpak.

"Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Ruby Tuesdays - they are all companies that have signed up with us recently," Disbrow said.

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Valpak.com Adds Online Grocery Coupons From Boodle™

Boodle™ (www.Boodle.com), a leading online grocery coupon marketplace on the Web, announces its printable grocery coupons are now available on Valpak.com®, the largest local coupon content Web site on the Internet. Visitors to the site can now find and print online coupons for their favorite grocery brands and redeem them at their local grocery store.

Valpak.com adds a unique online consumer audience to the extensive network of more than 500 newspaper and lifestyle Web sites that feature Boodle’s online grocery coupons.

“Valpak is one of the best known and respected names in the couponing industry,” Les Howe, president and CEO of Boodle. “We are delighted that Valpak decided to include our offers on their website and look forward to growing our relationship.” Valpak, known to many consumers for its familiar blue envelopes mailed directly to consumer’s homes, also provides a broad variety of coupons on its website at Valpak.com.

Coupon categories include dining and restaurants, home and garden, fitness and beauty, grocery and more. “We are pleased to incorporate Boodle grocery coupons onto the Valpak.com platform,” said Todd Leiser, vice president and general manager of Valpak.com. “Visitors to our site will find this to be high value content that nicely complements Valpak.com's own unique coupon content from local retailers and service providers.”

Print and Save - Coupons on Google Maps

Today, Google announced printable online coupons on Google Maps. When searching for local information, discount coupons from businesses are now displayed on Google Maps search results and business listing pages. These coupons can be printed out directly from a computer and redeemed at a physical store location of a neighborhood or local business. For users of Google Maps, coupons provide additional relevant business information and ultimately contribute to a better local search experience. For businesses, coupons provide another way to reach customers online.

Google has partnered with Valpak, one of the leading direct marketing companies in North America, to provide coupons from current Valpak advertisers on Google Maps. These coupons include savings from local businesses throughout the United States including dry cleaners, dentists, vets, pizza places, car washes, oil changes, handymen and home remodelers. New coupons from Valpak advertisers are added on a nightly basis to ensure the most recent offers are available immediately to consumers.

"We're very pleased to be the launch partner with Google to offer Valpak's print-at-home online coupons to more consumers and to give Valpak merchants valuable enhanced distribution tied to their existing listing on Google Maps." said Todd Leiser, Vice President and General Manager for Valpak.com, Valpak's online coupon portal. "Valpak's blue envelope has been a North American institution for nearly 40 years and has the type of real consumer value that is perfect to support Google's mission statement of organizing the world's information".

In addition, Google AdWords advertisers can use coupons through the Local Business Center. In the coming months, AdWords advertisers will be able to drive traffic to their coupons on Google Maps. By driving additional traffic to their coupons the advertiser can reach more customers.

To find a coupon for a business in your neighborhood please visit www.maps.google.com.

The Blue Envelope to light up Times Square with holiday savings

The blue envelope of savings, Valpak®, will ring in the holiday shopping season by lighting up Times Square with its signature blue envelope. Via the Times Square ABC SuperSign, America’s famous outdoor electronic billboard, Valpak will flash over the corner of West 44th and Broadway at least nine times a day between December 19, 2005 and January 1, 2006.

Valpak unwraps its holiday advertising campaign to reach the most consumers during the height of the holiday shopping season. The message: advertiser savings are in the blue envelope. Holiday spending will rise this year to $435.3 billion, one-fifth of annual retail industry sales, per the National Retail Federation.

For many advertisers, it marks the most important time of the year, when year-end profit margins end in a rise –or a fall. This holiday season is filled with consumers wary of energy prices, the job market and their dwindling disposable income. Scrooge-like is the consumer’s cautious attitude and necessity for value and savings while shopping.

As more than 1.5 million consumers pass through the Times Square-Crossroads of the World on a daily basis, the Valpak blue envelope and TV spots will remind consumers of the advertisers’ savings to deck their wallets. Be it at restaurants at shopping centers, boutiques at malls, dry cleaners for every party frock, gas stations for the drive to and around town, Valpak is the advertising media that consumers seek out for holiday and year-round savings.

As the backdrop of television telecasts “Good Morning America,” “20/20” and ABC's “Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve,” the Times Square ABC SuperSign lights up more than a message to New Yorkers but to millions around the country.

More than 45 million blue Valpak envelopes will deliver advertiser messages as consumer savings this holiday season. ‘Tis the season of blue for advertisers vying for consumers’ hard-earned and more-fleeting dollar.

Cox Target Media, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems Inc. awarded American Business Award for Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program

Cox Target Media (CTM) and Valpak Direct Marketing Systems Inc. (VDMS) announced today that the companies have been awarded the 2005 American Business Award for the Best Corporate Responsibility Program.

CTM, which owns VDMS, is North America’s direct marketing leader and was recognized for its advertising program in support of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Valpak®, the company’s flagship brand, provided awareness and audience messaging in more than 100 key media markets throughout the U.S. and helped to generate a nearly 20 percent increase in 2004 donations.

Hailed as “the business world’s version of the Oscars” by the New York Post (April 27, 2005), The American Business Awards are the first national, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in the workplace. Hal McMenamin, Director of Marketing, accepted the award on behalf of the Cox Target Media team who worked on the Stamp out Hunger program. More than 1,200 nominations were submitted for consideration in more than 40 categories, including Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program.

Cox Target Media was also named as a finalist in three additional categories, which included Best Overall Company; Best TV or Cinema Ad Campaign for Valpak’s local market, business-to business television advertising campaign; and Best Marketing, Sales Brochure or Kit for the Valpak franchise owner marketing manual.

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges and Advisors and their staffs selected Stevie winners from among the finalists. Finalists were selected by business professionals nationwide during three months of preliminary judging. Winners of 2005 Stevie Award trophies shared the spotlight with Donald J. Trump, who was presented the first Lifetime Achievement Stevie Award by Ali Velshi, host of “The TurnAround” on CNN.

Source: Cox Target Media Press Release

Forbes.com calls Valpak.com "a company to watch"

Valpak.com was called a “company to watch” by Forbes.com.

The article entitled, “Cut It Out: Coupons On An Upswing,” reports that the coupon, a tried and true marketing staple, is experiencing strong growth both offline and online.  Valpak.com is named as one of two companies to watch per Carter Turrell, a marketing analyst with FIND/SVP, a news trend reporting services company.

According to the article, “Valpak.com, the online arm of Valpak Direct Marketing Systems (subsidiary of Cox Target Media, a subsidiary of privately held Cox Enterprises), will reap the benefits of more marketers using online coupons, and consumers' growing familiarity with them.”

While the economy is picking up, consumers continue to be cautious about their spending.  Coupons help promote new product use, stimulate purchases and help shift consumers to particular brands.