“For several years now, Excelsior Printing has worked with Berkshire Information Systems on various projects that mutually benefited our customers.   We have grown to admire the capabilities of BIS and, especially, its people,” said David Crane.  “When the opportunity arose to acquire the assets of the company and work more closely with its customers, we felt we had to act quickly.  It is very exciting to establish a new company that complements our existing business and keeps important jobs in Berkshire County.”

Excelsior Integrated, LLC is an independent company and continues to maintain its current customer relationships with numerous corporations, media companies and tourism offices.  “Our customers will now benefit from a tight integration with the capabilities or our new sister company, Excelsior Printing,” said Shawn Ouillette, Executive Vice President of Excelsior Integrated and former BIS executive.  “In the past when one of our tourism customers asked us to help them create a brochure or other marketing materials we would make suggestions of companies to work with, but ultimately had no real influence in the process.  Now, with Excelsior Printing we can create integrated product offerings that allow for great value and outstanding service.”

The joint capabilities of the two companies create a powerful combination from a customer’s point of view. “Over the last several decades the Printing Industry has experienced a lot of pricing pressure due primarily to the proliferation of technology,” said Brendan Burns, CEO of Excelsior Printing.  “Ultimately, this has benefited customers.  What has been more difficult for customers is that they face their own competitive pressures and often need to manage three or more vendor relationships to support their marketing and business development needs.  Now, together with our new sister company, Excelsior Integrated, we will be able to jointly offer a streamlined solution for most of their needs, and at great value along with the outstanding service Excelsior has always been known for.”

Excelsior Integrated, LLC management will consist of Brendan Burns, CEO (also CEO of Excelsior Printing), David Crane, Chairman, Shawn Ouillette, Executive Vice President and the former employees of BIS.  The Company plans to remain in the former BIS  facilities in Lee, MA.

Founded in 1892 and reborn in 2005, Excelsior is dedicated to providing its customers with creative, cost-effective printing, digital communications, mail and distribution programs that provide a competitive edge. Specialty business divisions include SeedPrint, packaging for the seed industry, and Oatmeal Studios, greeting card publishing.  For more information on Excelsior, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, visit us at www.excelsiorprinting.com, or email Julianne Fruscio at jwfruscio@excelsiorprinting.com.

Excelsior Winner in New England Regional Printing Awards of Excellence Competition

NORTH ADAMS, MA– November 23, 2011 – The Printing Industries of New England (PINE) has announced that Excelsior of North Adams is an award winner in the Association’s New England regional Awards of Excellence Competition. The announcement was made November 15 during PINE’s 2011 Industry Awards Gala, held at the Newton Marriott in Newton, MA, with hundreds of industry professionals in attendance. PINE’s Awards of Excellence Competition,  attracted over  200 entries from 30 printing and imaging companies  across New England who competed in a variety of printing and graphic communications categories such as best annual report, direct mail campaign, corporate identity package, and more.

Excelsior won Awards of Recognition for a brochure produced for MCLA’s PMBA program and a specialized UV coated seed packet, for Olds’ Seed, and an Award of Merit for McGaw Graphic’s product catalog. A panel of judges with extensive experience in printing and print production, were brought in to examine the wide range of work submitted. Each entry was judged anonymously on its own merit in a category with similar printed pieces. The judging criteria included: registration, clarity and neatness, sharpness of halftones and line drawings, richness and tonal qualities of color, paper and ink selection, ink coverage, difficulty of printing, effective contrast or softness, overall visual impact and bindery.  Mark Gebbie, Pressroom/Bindery Supervisor at Excelsior says, “It’s a major accomplishment for Excelsior to be recognized by the Industry for their work and dedication to making memorable products for our customers.  Getting not only one, but three, Awards of Excellence from PINE says a lot about the high quality pieces that are produced by this company.”

Founded in 1892 and reborn in 2005, Excelsior is dedicated to providing its customers with creative, cost-effective printing, digital communications, mail and distribution programs that provide a competitive edge. Specialty business divisions include SeedPrint, packaging for the seed industry, and Oatmeal Studios, greeting card publishing.  For more information on Excelsior, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, visit us at www.excelsiorprinting.com, or email Julianne Fruscio at jwfruscio@excelsiorprinting.com.

Mobile Marketing 101: Decoding the QR Code

November 10, 2011
4:00pm – 5:00pm
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
Williamstown, MA

RSVP at www.berkshirechamber.com or click here _______________________________________________________________________

“For the past eighteen months, I have enjoyed the privilege of working with David Crane and the team at Excelsior as the company developed its growth strategy in a difficult economic climate, culminating in the acquisition of Oatmeal Studios in January,” says Burns. “During this time, I have become increasingly excited about the growth prospects for the company and the opportunities within our industry of Commercial Printing and Specialty Publishing. Excelsior has terrific people, the ability to create beautiful products, and an enduring commitment to excellence. Indeed, Excelsior lives up to its name and I am excited to become a part of it.”

Prior to Excelsior, Burns worked as Founder and Managing Director of Stepping Stone Capital Partners, LLC. Previously Burns has held leadership positions in several companies in the information technology, e-commerce, targeted marketing, and publishing fields. Notably, Burns was a pioneer in online publishing and advertising as the founder of AdOne Classified Network, which later became PowerOne Media. As CEO there, Burns built the largest network of local media and advertising websites in North America, attracting investors such as Hearst Corporation, Newhouse/Advance, Venrock Associates, and the Pritzer family.

Excelsior has been steadily building its menu of capabilities in addition to print and mail, and Burns will help in creating and executing strategies for continued growth. Chairman David Crane says, “Brendan is a great addition to our team. His real world experience running businesses, combined with his academic and consulting knowledge, gives him a unique ability to deliver creative and innovative solutions to help our customers. I’m confident he will play a key leadership role as Excelsior continues to evolve and grow.”

Founded in 1892 and reborn in 2005, Excelsior is dedicated to providing its customers with creative, cost-effective printing, digital communications, mail and distribution programs that provide a competitive edge. Specialty business divisions include SeedPrint, packaging for the seed industry, and Oatmeal Studios, greeting card publishing. For more information on Excelsior, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, visit us at www.excelsiorprinting.com, or email Julianne Fruscio at jwfruscio@excelsiorprinting.com.

Sunday September 4, 2011

PITTSFIELD — By now, you’ve probably seen them printed in catalogs, displayed in store windows or gracing the label on your favorite can of cola: Those black-and-white squares packed with even smaller black-and-white squares.

You’re not looking at a shrunken crossword puzzle; you’re looking at what’s called a “Quick Response” code, or QR code, for short. It’s encoded data, which functions sort of like a bar code — but for mobile phones with code scanners.

“These little black squares are showing up everywhere,” said David Crane, the owner of Excelsior Printing Co. in North Adams, a Berkshire-based business that likes to stay on top of new industry trends. “I didn’t even notice them until six or nine months ago.

“It’s definitely a growing area,” Crane added. “A lot of our customers are starting to integrate their print with this mobile media.”

But, in the words of Excelsior Printing’s Julie Fruscio, “A lot of people don’t know what they are.”

Yet.

When the supermarket clerk scans your bag of potato chips, the bar code brings up the price. A QR code behaves in a similar way, but instead of a price, it dials up a spot online — a Web page or a video on YouTube or a Facebook page — on your phone’s Web browser. And the response is quick — thus its name, Quick Response.

Businesses — including a growing number in the Berkshires — are finding the codes to be an effective marketing tool, printing them in their newspaper advertisements or on fliers. Regular folks are using them to share important information — on wedding invitations, for example.

Here’s a just few ways they’re being used:

• Real estate agents use them for property listing fliers: Scan the code and up pops the details about a house or a video tour of the inside.

• Restaurants or stores use them to connect to a discount coupon.

• Theaters use them in advertisements as a direct link to buy performance tickets online.

• On business cards, people use them as links to their Facebook or LinkedIn pages or to their phone number or email address.

• Couples print them on wedding invitations to let their guests download the information or directions to the ceremony.

• Newspapers use them to accompany stories so readers can immediately go online to view related content, such as news videos or documents.

Elsewhere, they’re showing up in newspaper ads, billboards, commercial cars and trucks, magazines, business cards, T-shirts and resumes. There are even temporary tattoos of QR codes — yes, you can scan the code on a person’s arm.

QR codes were created in 1994 by a subsidiary of Toyota, and were originally used to track vehicle parts. Eventually, the codes were adapted for everyday mobile phone use. While the United States is just beginning to become acquainted with the QR code, in Japan and Europe, they’ve been popular for years.

To the business community, especially, these codes are making a lot of sense.

According to various sources:

• Twenty percent of all consumers use their mobile phones to browse and research products.

• Thirty-seven percent of all U.S. smartphone users bought something on their phones during the last six months.

• In 2009, mobile commerce in the U.S. tripled to $1.2 billion.

• By 2015, it’s predicted that $119 billion in goods and services will be purchased via mobile phones.

“In six short years, that’s 100 times what people spent in 2009,” said Ashley Sulock, the communications director of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. The chamber recently held a QR code workshop to show about 50 members how this kind of mobile marketing works.

In a unique twist, the chamber conducted a poll at the workshop — in which the attendees used their mobile phones to vote. And by the numbers, QR codes remain — for most — something new.

Sixty-seven percent of the 24 people who voted said they had seen or used QR codes, compared to 49 percent in a national poll that was cited by the chamber. Sixty percent of those who voted at the workshop said they had used QR codes to access additional information, while 12 percent said they had utilized the technology to obtain a coupon or discount.

In the national poll, 53 percent of the respondents said they had used QR codes to obtain either a coupon or a discount.

Fruscio, of Excelsior, who helped Sulock run the workshop, said that response indicates people will use QR codes if they can receive something in return.

“If they’re engaging, you know they’re interested,” Fruscio said.

For those concerned with security, Fruscio said the owners of QR codes can determine the geographical locations of those who access their information, but none of their personal data.

“They don’t tell Big Brother information,” she said. “You don’t know much more about the clicker than where they are and what time of day they click.”