IVYLAND, Pa.--Sept. 15, 2003-- CC3, a leading national provider of both traditional and online direct marketing services, announced today that it will open a new 95,000-square-foot production facility in Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX, to meet the growing needs of its clients and extend its services to the Central region of the United States. The new CC3 Central facility expands the company's national production capacity to 700,000 square feet and enables CC3 to produce and distribute up to three billion pieces of mail annually. Motivated by the need to serve not only local CC3 clients but national clients needing to produce direct mail closer to their target audiences, the CC3 Central facility will provide litho printing, laser personalization, inserting, fulfillment and other direct mail services. The new facility is expected to be running at full capacity by the end of December, offering capabilities that are comparable to the company's existing East and West Coast facilities. It will also serve as a new satellite facility for the company's Mail-Gard division, the nation's largest provider of print-to-mail disaster recovery and business continuity services. "CC3 is a company that listens to the 'voice' of its customers and finds ways to satisfy their existing and emerging needs," said CC3 President and CEO Don McKenzie. "It's clear now more than ever that clients need a provider with multiple facilities that allow them to enter the mail stream closer to their target audiences. As a result, clients benefit from improved response times, reduced costs and the ease of working with fewer regional vendors." The new facility will house state-of-the-art continuous and cut-sheet laser printers with duplex and MICR capabilities, a full complement of high-speed inserters, multi-color UV web/litho presses, and high-speed, intelligent inserters with video jet stations to support its Mail-Gard clients. The operation is expected to generate close to 250 jobs within the local community during the next year. "Because of our customer-centric approach, we're willing to spend the money and make the investments that demonstrate we're a good, long-term partner to our clients," said McKenzie. "Very few direct marketing services providers have expanded their operations in the past two to three years. With this bold entry into the Central U.S. region, we've never been able to serve our clients better." According to the "Communications Industry Forecast and Report," recently issued by industry experts Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the direct marketing industry grew at a combined annual rate of 2.2 percent in 2001-02, and is expected to grow by 7.1 percent in 2003. By contrast, CC3 saw its revenues grow by 65 percent during the last three years, and predicts a 30 percent growth rate in 2003. "In order to be a top competitor in the direct marketing industry, a company needs to consistently make smart, strategic investments that benefit both clients and the industry overall," said Michael Petsky, CEO of Petsky Prunier, LLC, an investment bank that provides merger and acquisition services for direct marketing and marketing service companies. "While many companies have suffered cutbacks, layoffs, plant closings and even worse effects of the economy's impact on the direct marketing industry, CC3 has continued to grow and make solid progress as a leader in the industry. There are very few companies in CC3's category today that can claim the same capabilities and reach," he said. Three Facilities, Single Point of Contact McKenzie noted that the Dallas-Ft. Worth facility opening makes CC3 the only direct marketing services provider in the country with East, West and Central direct mail production facilities, all providing a full range of services through a single point of contact. "The CC3 Central facility will immediately make an impact on our Central clients by bringing the production of their campaigns right into their own backyard," said CC3 Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jay Garner. "It also provides all of our clients with a third full-service direct mail production facility from which mailings can be produced and distributed, significantly reducing both transportation fees and postage expenses." Through CC3's East, West and Central facilities, clients have the ability to further increase the speed of mail delivery, better predict in-home delivery and anticipated response times, and better manage such back-office processes as call centers, a critical campaign element. "The result is a lower in-home CPM than any other provider can now offer," said Garner. Long-Term Growth Strategy The announcement on Monday is yet another manifestation of CC3's long-term growth strategy - which began in 2001 with the integration of the company's five sister businesses - to expand the company's national footprint through organic growth, acquisition and strategic investments. According to McKenzie, CC3 has long enjoyed a history of success, boasting 30 consecutive years of profitability. The company recently completed a four-year, $40 million investment in technology, software and equipment, which included the development of the industry's first and only Web-based direct marketing workflow tools, a host of online services such as e-mail and e-fulfillment, state-of-the-art security measures and a number of other enhancements to its facilities. Since CC3's acquisition by Providence Equity in mid-2002, the company has also invested in @Once, a leading national provider of strategic e-mail messaging solutions, and invested $6 million in intelligent inserters to support its Mail-Gard division. At this time, the company is now imaging more linear feet of personalized continuous forms per month than any other full-service direct marketing services provider. "As a result of our customer focus, we are quickly becoming the industry's number one direct marketing services provider while also continuing to make the capital investments necessary to consistently serve our clients at the highest level possible," said Garner. Leading with Leaders At the helm of CC3's latest investment is the CC3 Central management team - led by Alon Stephens and including Georgi Fushimi, Ruth Fleming and Brian Ridenour. "The CC3 Central facility will certainly enable us to build stronger partnerships with our existing clients in this part of the country," said CC3 Vice President and Director of Business Development Alon Stephens. "With the resources being put into this new facility, we not only have the capabilities necessary to meet and exceed the needs of these clients, but we will have the most sophisticated equipment and technology in the entire region." "Bringing Alon on board to oversee our Central U.S. expansion has paid and will continue to pay big dividends for CC3," said McKenzie. "With his leadership, industry experience and close connections to local direct mailers and the local business community, he will continue to be an asset not only to the company, but to the industry overall."