Photo by Photos By Lori Duff / Monitor staff

Concord Litho President Tom Cook (left) and his brother, CEO Peter Cook, are the third generation to run the family business.Purchase photo reprints at PhotoExtra »

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Photo by Photos By Lori Duff / Monitor staff

Concord Litho President Tom Cook (left) and his brother, CEO Peter Cook, are the third generation to run the family business.Purchase photo reprints at PhotoExtra »

Sales at Concord Litho jumped 10 percent in 2004, nearly five times the industry average, as the printing company pulled in new customers and churned out new products for old ones.

The family-owned company, which prints everything from greeting cards for Catholic charities to 5-foot-tall Coolatta posters for Dunkin' Donuts, chalks up its growth to several marketing campaigns, a new patent-pending product and the idea that the company should do far more in terms of creativity and design than simply run the presses.

Recently, Concord Litho split into two divisions, separating its commercial printing from its fundraising customers, like the World Wildlife Fund. But company officials say this year is about staying the course and boosting efficiency, rather than barreling along at the current growth rate.

"Our focus is more on margins than growth," said CEO Peter Cook, 37, who runs the company with his brother, Tom. "It's picking the right opportunities and targeting work we can do efficiently, not just growth for growth's sake."

To reach its $44 million sales figure last year, Concord Litho, located on Old Turnpike Road, launched a marketing campaign aimed at its fundraising customers. Called "Who's Your Donor?" the campaign urges charities to think about targeting certain personality types - the socialite, the retiree, the single guy, the intense woman - and then turn to Concord Litho to devise the calendar, wrapping paper, picture book or organizer to get the donor on board.

It's part of a larger idea that the company has cultivated over the past few years: To be a successful printer, you can't just print. For its fundraising customers, one-third of its overall business, Concord Litho aims to be the ideas-man, too.

"We're in the door before the manufacturing process, looking at what it will take (for charity groups) to raise money," said Tom Cook, 40, the company president. "Printing becomes secondary."

Concord Litho's other big push last year came from its patent-pending CoverSleeve, an ad-vehicle for magazines. The CoverSleeve creates a pocket in the front cover of a magazine that can hold a foldout advertisement, creating what the Cooks hope will be premium ad space. About 70 percent of magazine readers who see a CoverSleeve will open it, they say.

The design has been in used sporadically for a couple years, but last year Prevention, a health and fitness magazine, put a CoverSleeve in all 12 of its issues. Peter Cook said several other magazines have shown an interest, too.

To sell the CoverSleeve, Concord Litho has put together an ad campaign, instead of relying on individual salespeople to market the product on their own. Peter Cook said Concord Litho spends about $200,000 on marketing a year - a figure that used to be nothing at all.

Founded nearly a half-century ago by the Cooks' grandfather, Forrest, Concord Litho began as a greeting-card press, adding the work for nonprofits and church groups (Concord Litho has 2 million prayer books in circulation) and other commercial items only later. At its largest, Concord Litho printed enough greeting cards each year to circle the earth nine times.

But in the most recent recession, Concord Litho took a hit. The company lost 20 percent of its sales and went from an employment high of 285 in 2000 down to 185 in 2002.

The Cooks said they were hammered by stepped-up outsourcing and the dot-com bust. And the post-9/11 anthrax scare sent the printing industry into complete disarray.

"The direct mail market dried up overnight," said Peter Cook. "All of the sudden it was not attractive to put things in the mail."

Additionally, commercial printers have consolidated, putting economies of scale to work, and making competition fiercer. And some greeting card companies have found they can produce more in Asia for less. (next page »)