Seattle-Based Companies Leverage Individual Expertise to Showcase How Brands Can Further Engage Fans and Increase Loyalty with Customized, Physical Objects

SEATTLE - RPI (Reischling Press, Inc.) (www.rpiprint.com), a leader in make-on-demand, private-label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers; The Madison Park Group, a leading manufacturer and distributor in the specialty stationery and gift industry; and Cheezburger, one of the largest humor destination sites in the world and No. 28 on The Wall Street Journal's annual list of the top 50 U.S. venture-backed companies; today announced a partnership to offer personalized ICanHasCheezburger cards in order to meet growing consumer demand in the online greeting card, pet humanization and mass customization categories.

Specifically, Cheezburger and The Madison Park Group will leverage RPI's embedded storefront service to offer personalized greetings made by RPI, sold by The Madison Park Group and branded by Cheezburger and the consumer. Through its ease of integration, RPI's storefront enables The Madison Park Group to offer the only place online where you can create and send custom-printed Cheezburger Memes featuring your own photos, such as invitations and Christmas cards, on demand.

"We've enjoyed our partnership with Cheezburger to bring its popular online content into the retail marketplace," said Katherine Dikeakos, marketing manager for The Madison Park Group. "With the RPI personalization storefront, we're excited to take this partnership to the next level and give fans another way to enjoy the Cheezburger brand, while adding their personal touch by customizing their own message and photos."

According to the October 2011 Forrester Research, Inc., report titled: Brand Loyalty Isn't Enough For Products Anymore, "brand loyalty has long been a critical pillar of product strategy, but its power is in relative decline. While brand still matters, it's not sufficient in and of itself to position products in the market. Consequently, product strategists need to start thinking differently about brand loyalty, starting with the notion of total product experiences. Creative product strategists will build total product experience chains - product strategies built on links of brand, gaming, and product customization - to help reinvigorate loyalty."

"In our digitally-dominated world, people crave a connection with tactile objects to accompany their virtual experiences. Personalized products fill that craving, extending the content experience into the physical world," said Rick Bellamy, chief executive officer for RPI. "This partnership is a great example of how companies can further their existing brands, drive additional revenue and increase customer loyalty through personalized products."

"Cheezburger has a mission of bringing five minutes of happiness to millions of people each day," said Chris Wood, business development manager for Cheezburger. "Our relationship with The Madison Park Group and RPI allows us to extend that further by bringing our online brand experience to the offline world with a new line of customizable products."

Bellamy added, "With RPI's storefront, co-creation is made easy for consumers and gives brands a fast track to new revenue. Additionally, products can be shipped worldwide within three days."

Cheezburger's personalized print products are available just in time for the holiday season online at The Madison Park Group's www.create.madpark.com. Additionally, if you have ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at Cheezburger, the company behind all the cat memes, visit www.bravotv.com/lolwork to catch clips of "LOLwork," Bravo's 30-minute doc-com that goes inside the office of ICanHasCheezburger.com. The show debuted on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 11 p.m., ET/PT.

To learn more about RPI's personalization storefront, please visit: http://www.rpiprint.com/fulfillment/software/.