New Valpak Franchise Ownership for Boston Announced

LARGO, Fla., June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Valpak, a leader in local print and digital coupons, announced that it has signed a franchise agreement with Rick Baker to acquire the Valpak of Boston franchise, one of the largest franchises in the network.

Valpak of Boston was previously owned and operated by Valpak corporate for 22 years.

Baker, a former vice president of Valassis, assumed The Blue Envelope^® distribution in March and mailed out to residents in Eastern Massachusetts, covering the areas of Worchester, East and North Shore and the Rhode Island border.

"After many years working on the corporate side, I had a strong desire to become an entrepreneur and own my own business," said Rick Baker, Valpak of Boston franchisee.  "Given my extensive background in direct marketing, and the opportunity to take over the existing franchise in Massachusetts, Valpak was the perfect business choice for me."

Baker has a long history in the marketing communications industry; he spent the past 11 years as the vice president of Valassis. Prior to that, Baker was the vice president of direct marketing for Harry and David, overseeing marketing efforts for the $400 million dollar catalog retail company.  Baker and a team of 12 have already begun helping businesses in the Eastern Massachusetts area. Baker looks to add four to six more salespeople within the next year and also hire a digital sales expert and a graphic artist.

"As we were looking for a suitable candidate to take over the Boston market, we wanted someone with in-depth knowledge and experience in the industry," said Todd Leiser, director of franchise sales at Valpak. "With Rick Baker's expertise, he epitomizes that definition and we are thrilled to have him take over this market and bring the blue envelope to even more consumers in Eastern Massachusetts." 

A leader in cooperative direct mail, Valpak mails over 20 billion coupons to more than 40 million demographically-targeted households per month in more than 100 markets in 45 states and four Canadian provinces. Today, in addition to its flagship blue envelope, the brand offers its business customers an impressive portfolio of digital advertising products including Smartphone apps, which are also integrated into the new Passbook and Windows Phone Wallet, QR codes, online coupons and SMS/text messaging to reach consumers at home, and on-the-go.

Ideal candidates for Valpak franchise ownership should possess a desire to join a trusted industry-leading brand, work within a proven franchise system, develop relationships with local businesses and have a comfort level with selling new, digital technologies. Franchisees should also possess a minimum liquidity of $75,000, and a minimum net worth of $150,000.

Valpak franchisees benefit from extensive training and support including more than 300 hours of classroom, in-field and online training. Additionally, the Valpak peer mentoring program pairs tenured Valpak franchisees with new franchisees for a two-year period. Valpak also handles all of the coupon design, printing, collation and postal logistics for its franchisees, allowing them to concentrate on selling branded direct marketing campaigns to customers within their exclusive territory.

Since its launch in 1968, Valpak has been broadly recognized and trusted, which has contributed significantly to its current success. Valpak's state-of-the-art, 470,000-square-foot manufacturing center in St. Petersburg, Fla., makes it possible for the company to mail to more than 500 million homes in North America. Valpak is also backed by experienced leadership with Cox Enterprises, one of the largest media companies in North America, which acquired the brand in 1991. Recently, Cox Target Media also acquired Savings.com, a leading online source for savings and personalized deals. Working together, Valpak and Savings.com will offer consumers a more extensive selection of offers and rewarding shopping experience as content is shared across platforms.

For more information on advertising with Valpak of Boston, please contact Rick Baker at (508) 475-1302.

For more information on Valpak franchise opportunities, please contact Todd Leiser at [email protected] or (800) 678-2743 or visit www.valpakfranchising.com.

About Valpak®
Valpak, one of the leading direct marketing companies in North America, is owned and operated by Cox Target Media, along with Savings.com. With nearly 170 franchises across the United States and Canada, the signature Blue Envelope® delivers savings and value to nearly 40 million households each month. Annually, Valpak will distribute some 20 billion offers inserted in more than 500 million envelopes. Valpak also offers digital solutions with http://www.Valpak.com, an online site for free coupons, e-commerce and coupon codes, which has nearly 70 million offer views each month, as well as mobile coupon app for smartphone platforms For more information about advertising with Valpak, please contact 1-800-676-6878.

About Cox Media Group
Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps.  Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America's leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings.  The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 57 radio stations, eight daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services.  CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 30 million TV viewers, more than 4 million print and online newspaper readers, and 14 million radio listeners.  For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com. 

SOURCE Valpak