New printing contract covers five leading consumer magazine titles

SUSSEX, Wis., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Under terms of a new five-year, multi-million-dollar agreement, Quad/Graphics will become Hearst Magazines' largest print supplier starting in January 2011.

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Quad/Graphics will print five of Hearst Magazines' leading consumer magazine titles: Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful and Veranda. The magazines will be produced on Quad/Graphics' state-of-the-art presses at its Sussex and Lomira, Wis., plants.

Quad/Graphics has printed Veranda at its Lomira plant since May 2007.

"Hearst awarded the new printing contract to Quad/Graphics based in large part on the work our Lomira plant has done for Veranda," said Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics Chairman, President & CEO. "We have proved that our people and platform can meet or exceed Hearst's quality and customer service expectations, and we are excited about expanding our business relationship with Hearst."

That relationship goes well beyond simply putting ink on paper. Quad/Graphics' industry-leading co-mail program, which provides significant postal savings, and the printer's advanced workflow management solutions, also play key roles. For example, Hearst Magazines utilizes Publisher's Studio, a publication and print management solution from QuadSystems, Quad/Graphics' software subsidiary, to manage the advertising workflows for its 15 U.S. magazine titles. QuadSystems developed an innovative method for Publisher's Studio to track Hearst Magazines' ads directly from ad forecasting through file trafficking and the manufacturing and distribution process.

"Quad and Hearst are two companies with a lot in common – a commitment to excellence, a strong culture of innovation, and a keen focus on the latest developments in print, bind, distribution and content management technologies," said Laura C. Reid, Vice President of Production, Hearst Magazines. "We are looking forward to continuing to grow a strong partnership with Quad Graphics."

About Quad/Graphics

Quad/Graphics (www.QG.com) is one of the world's leading printers of catalogs, magazines and other commercial products. The company provides services ranging from front-end design and photography through digital imaging, printing, finishing, mailing/distribution (including a massive co-mail program), integrated software solutions for workflow management, and a full range of data solutions such as delivery optimization, segmenting and targeting, database management and analytics. Headquartered in Sussex, Wisconsin (26 miles west of Milwaukee), the company has 11 plants in the United States as well as locations in Europe and South America. Worldwide employment approximates 11,600. Sales are $1.8 billion.

About Hearst Magazines

Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com), one of the nation's largest diversified communications companies with interests in magazines, newspapers, digital media, business media and television. As one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, Hearst Magazines publishes nearly 200 editions around the world, including 15 U.S. titles and 20 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (73.8 million total adults, according to MRI, Fall 2009).

Through its digital media unit, Hearst Magazines operates 25 Web sites and nine mobile sites for brands such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire and Seventeen, as well as non-magazine brand sites such as Delish.com, a food site in partnership with MSN; TheDailyGreen.com; MisQuinceMag.com; and MyPromStyle.com. Hearst Digital has also acquired Q&A platform Answerology.com; teen sites eCRUSH.com and eSPIN.com; social shopping site Kaboodle.com; and consumer health site RealAge.com.

SOURCE Quad/Graphics

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http://www.qg.com
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