HH, leading print management and marketing services provider, has secured a €5 million global marketing communications contract with Sara Lee, the global consumer brand manufacturer. Following a three-year period of working as a procurement partner to Sara Lee in three European markets, the new contract with HH has been expanded to nine European countries, including the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

The contract follows an initiative between IBM and Sara Lee which reviews global strategic partnerships for various categories of spend, including printed marketing communications.

The business model provides Sara Lee with a combination of online procurement and asset management systems and dedicated onsite HH support teams for the Sara Lee marketing departments. The HH account team consists of 18 people and will function as a hub between the marketers, creative agencies and the suppliers.

A joint HH / IBM implementation team is managing the phased roll-out to the new countries.  The team are assessing the individual spend and workflow profile of each region to ensure savings can be maximised at the earliest opportunity.  Sara Lee has an extensive requirement for Point of Sale (POS) printing, one of the key areas of strength in HH's services portfolio. HH will be working closely with client brand owners to deliver the wide remit of in-store marketing communications required, flyers, brochures, POS, Digital POS and studio services.

"We are delighted to be delivering significant savings and support Sara Lee's marketing teams with our specialist knowledge, as well as working together with IBM as a strategic partner" says Robert MacMillan, CEO, HH Associates.