Quad's Quest: Company at a Crossroads

Big shakeup this week in commercial printing: While the iPad was introducing yet another threat to the industry, Quad/Graphics was making a bold move for its future.

Quad is buying a Canadian firm called World Color Press to create the second largest printer in North America.

The deal is interesting not just because of our work with a number of commercial printers, but more so because of the communications challenges involved.

CEO Joel Quadracci rightly called the takeover “a transformational event.” Poised to go public at a time of great upheaval in the industry, Quad is at quite a crossroads. At stake are relationships with customers, employees and now a whole new audience—shareholders.

It’s a big moment of truth for the company. And, as our work with a number of clients during such critical events has shown, Quad will need to provide clear, consistent, strategic communications.

What Quad leaders say and do over the next few months will affect:

n Customer loyalty

n Employee retention

n Brand equity

n Strategic success

In other words, it will have a huge impact on the future success of the company and the industry.