February 5, 2003 -- (WhatTheyThink.com) -- Vertis Inc., a privately held company with estimated annual revenue of nearly $2 billion, and almost 9,000 employees serves some 3,000 major clients around the world. Donald Roland has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Vertis and a Director of Vertis since June 2000, and has been Chairman since April 2001. Roland commented about their strategy during these challenging economic times in an exclusive interview with WhatTheyThink.com. “The power of graphics in marketing and advertising is immense,” stated Roland. The company conducts their own market research which shows that print remains far and away the most effective media for generating a buying response. “We ask the question, "When you are ready to make a purchase, which media do you turn to make a decision?" In 1998, some 62 percent identified print media, newspapers, inserts, magazines, direct mail, and brochures. In 2000 and 2002, 60 percent identified print media. In 1998, we didn’t ask about the Internet because it wasn’t a major factor yet. In 2000, 11 percent identified the Internet in making decisions, and in 2002, 13 percent. The Internet is growing but not at the expense of print advertising.” Vertis does not want to be known as simply a printer, but rather a solution to meet the advertising needs of their clients. Says Roland, “Printing happens to be one of the most effective processes to do that. We design and recommend printing process solutions where they are most effective. Because of their effectiveness, customers continue to give us their business. Our identity in the graphics world is secondary to our identity in our customers’ world. If our customers recognize us, then the graphics world will recognize us. We are not in the business to please the industry but to please our customers.” Vertis is one of the world’s largest providers of integrated marketing solutions that combines advertising, direct marketing, media, imaging and progressive technology.  The company is headquartered in Baltimore, MD, with production and sales offices throughout the U.S. and United Kingdom. --- Editor’s Note: Premium Access Members of WhatTheyThink.com can view the entire interview entitled: “Customer Focused, Not Process Focused: Donald Roland, Chairman & CEO, Vertis”. The interview is available at www.whattheythink.com.