Quad Graphics Eyes 2028 Growth Inflection With Direct Mail, Packaging Push

Quad Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) outlined its strategy to transition from its traditional print foundation into a broader marketing experience platform, highlighting direct-mail technology, packaging expansion, in-store retail media and a continued focus on debt reduction. Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Tony Staniak said the company, founded in 1971, now generates approximately $2.4 billion in revenue, serves more than 2,100 clients and employs 10,000 people. Quad historically grew through print operations focused on magazines, retail inserts, catalogs and direct mail before becoming a public company through its 2010 acquisition of World Color Press. Beginning in 2018, the company began building a marketing-services platform through acquisitions including creative agency Periscope, now called Betty, and digital agency Rise Interactive. Staniak said the company’s model combines data, creative services, campaign production, digital media capabilities and distribution. “We are the ones in the U.S. that have the full offering, all the way through creative, through design, through ultimately execution of the campaign,” Staniak said, contrasting Quad’s model with advertising agencies that may outsource production or print-focused companies that lack creative capabilities.

Executive Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations Julie Fraundorf said Quad’s data platform includes more than 3 billion continuously revalidated data points, covering approximately 97% of the U.S. adult population and 92% of U.S. households. The company said it touches 10% of U.S. Postal Service volume excluding first-class letters and packages. Fraundorf said the company is incorporating artificial intelligence into production scheduling, waste planning, creative work and internal processes. Its audience-building tool includes natural-language prompting powered by Snowflake AI, which she said enables agency employees to use data attributes and personas without requiring advanced technical training. Quad formally launched its Direct full-service direct-mail agency earlier this year. The offering combines strategy, audience identification, creative development, pre-market testing, production, postal optimization and campaign measurement. Fraundorf said the platform is designed to unify services that are often handled separately and to support direct-mail campaigns alongside digital and email channels.

The company is also expanding its packaging footprint. Quad expects a new 100,000-square-foot folding-carton facility in Salt Lake City to become operational during the fourth quarter of 2026. The facility will join existing folding-carton operations in Franklin, Wisconsin, and Spartanburg, South Carolina. Fraundorf said the Salt Lake City location was selected for its access to western transportation routes, proximity to consumer packaged goods companies and co-manufacturers, and potential to reduce lead times for West Coast customers. Quad also operates packaging facilities in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and has packaging partnerships in Central America and Asia. In April 2025, Quad acquired select co-mail assets, client volume and technology from Enru, a third-party co-mail and logistics provider. Fraundorf said the acquisition enables Quad to bring third-party mail volume into its facilities, increasing mailing pool sizes and potentially producing greater postal discounts. She noted that U.S. postage rates have increased more than 55% since 2020, according to the company’s presentation. In an example presented by Quad, combining its co-mailing, householding and postal-promotion programs reduced postage costs by 27%. Quad has also been develop...