3/26/07 -- Under terms of a newly signed multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement, Quad/Graphics will become the exclusive printer and prepress provider for L.L.Bean catalogs beginning in January 2008. The contract covers all prepress, printing, binding and mailing for L.L.Bean’s catalogs – more than 65 catalog titles in all, including L.L.Bean’s full-line and prospecting catalogs, and its Men’s, Women’s, Kids, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Traveler and Outdoor Discovery Schools titles – as well as a portion of its photography. Prepress production will be managed by the Quad/Imaging Service Center in Braintree, Mass., and at a new prepress facility to be located in Freeport, Maine, in or near L.L.Bean’s headquarters. Printing and distribution of the catalogs will be handled from Quad/Graphics’ gravure printing plants in Martinsburg, W.V., Oklahoma City, Okla. and Lomira, Wis. QuadPhoto, Quad/Graphics’ digital-photography subsidiary, will handle a portion of L.L.Bean’s photography at an in-house studio to be established at L.L.Bean headquarters in Freeport, Maine. Quad/Graphics’ direct-marketing vision and capabilities were a key factor in L.L.Bean’s decision. Quad/Graphics supports catalogers and other direct-marketers with a wide range of printing and data services and processes to create targeted, responsive 1-to-1 communications. Quad/Graphics also offered L.L.Bean the most comprehensive, cost-effective production solutions from prepress through distribution, including state-of-the-art gravure technology, swift production turnaround times and the ability to deliver significant postal savings through co-mailing and high-density, carrier-route sorting. "We were impressed with their innovation, technology and quality," said Steve Fuller, L.L.Bean Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing. "We are delighted to re-establish our print partnership with one of the nation’s most remarkable catalogers," said Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics President & CEO. "This partnership is firmly rooted in the unlimited power and possibilities of ink on paper, and combines our platform’s technology and consistency of quality with one of the most-recognized brand names in American business. We are truly excited and honored to be L.L.Bean’s print partner."