The acquisition is a win-win for both companies, according to executives from both companies.

“Many of our customers have asked us to develop a strong presence on the East Coast, and this acquisition of DPI addresses that need,” said Rick Bellamy, chief executive officer of RPI. “It will help us significantly reduce the time to deliver personalized products to consumers and businesses, and minimize unexpected delays in order delivery created by elements out of our control, such as weather.”

“Our customers can now take advantage of increased scale, faster delivery times to the West Coast, and expanded IT development capabilities offered by RPI,” said Bob Moore, chief executive officer of DPI. “They also will benefit from a broad assortment of products and services that will enable new ways to bring the brand to the consumer.”
This is RPI’s second significant acquisition in the past two years. In 2011, RPI acquired Paro, a company based in the Netherlands that provides print products for the corporate and consumer markets in Europe.

By acquiring DPI, RPI is addressing a growing market need for a company that can deliver powerful, near-time, web-to-print solutions for global brands addressing both the consumer and business markets, Bellamy said.

“With the proliferation of today’s technology, we have entered a new age of personalization,” Bellamy said. “Consumers are using social and mobile platforms to control conversations about the brand story. Savvy companies are looking for authentic and meaningful ways to participate in these conversations, and to ultimately engage consumers to co-create experiences where tangible physical products are essential to the experience.”

RPI specializes in make-on-demand photo merchandise for mass and specialty retailers, an estimated $2 billion market worldwide. However, stationery ($11B), yearbooks ($4B), home décor ($26B) and pets ($50B) represent much larger market opportunities for personalized print products, Bellamy said.

“With the acquisition of DPI, we believe we are uniquely positioned to help companies address and capture this multi-billion dollar market opportunity,” he said.
DPI will become a RPI company and its management team and 27 employees will be blended into the RPI management structure and workforce. Other terms of the deal, including acquisition price, were not disclosed.

About RPI
RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The Seattle-based company, founded in 1979, has additional production facilities in Atlanta and in Eindhoven, NL. RPI’s blue-chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and state-of-the-art manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. RPI has one of the largest digital printing facilities on the West Coast for both HP Indigo and Xerox Igen technology and has been listed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for the past four years. For information, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

About DPI
DPI was formed in 1992 to address the emerging digital printing and print on demand market. Since then, DPI has evolved into a full service color digital printer supporting all aspects surrounding the digital printing and marketing process. As one of the first Indigo digital printing sites in the United States, DPI has been recognized as a true innovator in digital color printing technology. DPI specializes in versioned or personalized printing for national chain-based and dealer-comprised companies by focusing on web-to-print solutions for global brands addressing the B2B market.

LINK TO FAQ >

SEATTLE, WA, April 29, 2013 – RPI (Reischling Press, Inc.) (www.rpiprint.com), a leader in make-on-demand, private-label personalized products for mass and specialty retailers, today announced that it has been named Seattle Business magazine’s Manufacturing Innovator of the Year in the Washington Manufacturing Awards. RPI was named for the Large-sized Company category. The award honors manufacturing companies for outstanding and innovative practices.

“We’re honored to be recognized by Seattle Business magazine and delighted that our innovation efforts are recognized and have contributed to a climate of growth in the manufacturing sector of Washington State,” said Rick Bellamy, CEO. “Since the company’s inception, RPI has pioneered the mass customization industry, providing flexibility, lean manufacturing and long-term value to our retail and digital publishing customers. Now we’re doing so globally and I’m proud of our team,” said Rick Bellamy, CEO.

With an industry size of about 6,768 manufacturing firms in the State of Washington, the sector added more than 30,000 jobs to the state economy between the periods of February 2010 to October 2012 – according to the latest data released from the Washington State Employment Securities Department, in January 2013. Representing a total of 9.3% of all employment in Washington State, manufacturing is an influential component of the regional economy and watched as a key indicator of overall economic performance in the state labor and economic markets.

About RPI

RPI (Reischling Press, Inc.) is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and near-time manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, Wash. with a Western European distribution center in Eindhoven, NL. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

Media Contact:
Michelle Lanham, Sr. Marketing Manager, RPI (Reischling Press Inc.)
206.905.5999

SEATTLE & EINDHOVEN, Netherlands–(BUSINESS WIRE)–RPI-Paro, an RPI Comany (Reischling Press, Inc.) (www.rpiprint.com), a leader in make-on-demand, private-label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers, is pleased to announce that Verschoore, the largest photo specialist in South-West Netherlands, is utilizing RPI’s new personalization storefront to offer personalized print products.

For almost 100 years, Verschoore, a specialty retail and print shop for digital photos, has focused on delivering valuable products and services to its customers. Now, through its partnership with RPI, the retailer will extend its services and offer customers the ability to personalize their own photos and create customized print products.

“We have always been a company that takes a customer-oriented approach with a primary focus of serving their needs and helping people create picture-perfect memories,” said Arjen Verschoore, owner of Verschoore. “RPI’s storefront provides a great range of fun, innovative products. It supports our strategic vision of connecting with customers and allows us to do this in a way that brings them greater value.”

RPI’s personalization storefront is embedded into Verschoore’s existing e-commerce site, providing customers with a seamless shopping experience. Additionally, the storefront helps propel Verschoore into the mobile market, allowing customers to develop photo books and other personalized content on smartphones and tablets and share the content through social media channels.

“With our storefront, we enable Verschoore to focus on its key priority, its customers, while we provide the technology platform and customizable product lines,” said Paul Adriaans, general manager for RPI-Paro.

“Verschoore shares our passion and vision in helping consumers unleash their creative expression,” said Rick Bellamy, chief executive officer for RPI. “We are excited to play a role in helping the company offer its customers meaningful content and valuable memories, while extending Verschoore’s connection with their customers through personalized products.”

Through its ease of integration, RPI’s storefront enables stationery manufacturers, online retailers, and offline retailers to offer hundreds of personalized products to their customers with zero inventory and through a cohesive online experience.

To learn more about RPI’s personalization storefront, please visit: http://www.rpiprint.com/fulfillment/software/

About RPI

RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and best of breed manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, Wash. with a Western European distribution center in Eindhoven, NL. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

About Verschoore

With 13 shops across Zeeland and Brabant, Verschoore is a prominent, household name in the world of image carriers and the latest digital technologies in this field. The company has both a keen instinct for new industry trends and an unwavering commitment to serving the needs of its customers throughout South-West Netherlands. For almost 100 years, the specialists at Verschoore have continued to grow and innovate alongside the digital evolution while helping its customers navigate these changes and delivering valuable products and services. For more information, please visit http://www.verschoore.nl/.

Contacts

SEATTLE– November 13, 2012 – RPI (Reischling Press, Inc.) (www.rpiprint.com), a leader in make-on-demand, private-label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers; The Madison Park Group, a leading manufacturer and distributor in the specialty stationery and gift industry; and Cheezburger, one of the largest humor destination sites in the world and No. 28 on The Wall Street Journal’s annual list of the top 50 U.S. venture-backed companies; today announced a partnership to offer personalized ICanHasCheezburger cards in order to meet growing consumer demand in the online greeting card, pet humanization and mass customization categories.

Specifically, Cheezburger and The Madison Park Group will leverage RPI’s embedded storefront service to offer personalized greetings made by RPI, sold by The Madison Park Group and branded by Cheezburger and the consumer. Through its ease of integration, RPI’s storefront enables The Madison Park Group to offer the only place online where you can create and send custom-printed Cheezburger Memes featuring your own photos, such as invitations and Christmas cards, on demand.

“We’ve enjoyed our partnership with Cheezburger to bring its popular online content into the retail marketplace,” said Katherine Dikeakos, marketing manager for The Madison Park Group. “With the RPI personalization storefront, we’re excited to take this partnership to the next level and give fans another way to enjoy the Cheezburger brand, while adding their personal touch by customizing their own message and photos.”

According to the October 2011 Forrester Research, Inc., report titled: Brand Loyalty Isn’t Enough For Products Anymore, “brand loyalty has long been a critical pillar of product strategy, but its power is in relative decline. While brand still matters, it’s not sufficient in and of itself to position products in the market. Consequently, product strategists need to start thinking differently about brand loyalty, starting with the notion of total product experiences. Creative product strategists will build total product experience chains — product strategies built on links of brand, gaming, and product customization — to help reinvigorate loyalty.”

“In our digitally-dominated world, people crave a connection with tactile objects to accompany their virtual experiences. Personalized products fill that craving, extending the content experience into the physical world,” said Rick Bellamy, chief executive officer for RPI. “This partnership is a great example of how companies can further their existing brands, drive additional revenue and increase customer loyalty through personalized products.”

“Cheezburger has a mission of bringing five minutes of happiness to millions of people each day,” said Chris Wood, business development manager for Cheezburger. “Our relationship with The Madison Park Group and RPI allows us to extend that further by bringing our online brand experience to the offline world with a new line of customizable products.”

Bellamy added, “With RPI’s storefront, co-creation is made easy for consumers and gives brands a fast track to new revenue. Additionally, products can be shipped worldwide within three days.”

Cheezburger’s personalized print products are available just in time for the holiday season online at The Madison Park Group’s create.madpark.com. Additionally, if you have ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at Cheezburger, the company behind all the cat memes, visit www.bravotv.com/lolwork to catch clips of “LOLwork,” Bravo’s 30-minute doc-com that goes inside the office of ICanHasCheezburger.com. The show debuted on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 11 p.m., ET/PT.

To learn more about RPI’s personalization storefront, please visit: http://www.rpiprint.com/fulfillment/software/

About RPI
RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private-label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and best-of-breed manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, Wash. with a Western European distribution center in Eindhoven, NL. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

About Cheezburger  
Cheezburger runs more than 60 popular meme sites including I Can Has Cheezburger?, FAIL Blog, Memebase, The Daily What, and Know Your Meme. Cheezburger is one of the largest humor destinations in the world and where millions of people come to enjoy their 5 minutes of happiness every day. Cheezburger counts a passionate fan base of more than 25 million people who contribute hundreds of thousands of pieces of content and remixes each month.

About The Madison Park Group 
With its roots tracing back to 1977, The Madison Park Group established itself as one of the earliest specialty greeting card companies in the U.S. Over thirty years later, the company has expanded through strategic manufacturing and distribution arrangements within the industry. Today, The Madison Park Group has grown far beyond greeting cards with products including personal accessories, gifts and party goods. The company sells its wide-range of products to more than 6,000 retailers across the country and via distributors in other countries including Canada, England, Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

For further information, please contact:

Monica (Rodriguez) Graham, Communiqué PR
monica@communiquepr.com
(206) 282-4923 ext. 125

Traci Pichette, RPI
tracip@rpiprint.com
(206) 905-5999

As CTO, Eddy will contribute to strategic direction in support of the company’s mission of unlocking brand content. Brett will lead enterprise application and systems development with a focus on technical solutions that unify global systems, expand services and drive cost efficiencies. He will report directly to RPI Chief Executive Officer Rick Bellamy as a member of the executive team.

“Brett comes to  RPI with a broad range of experience and a demonstrated track record of building strong teams and innovative technology solutions that increase company performance, fuel growth, drive efficiency, and generally add to the bottom line,” said Bellamy. “Brett’s strategic vision and technology expertise is key to accelerate progress on realizing our vision to unleash creative expression.”

“I’m excited to be a part of a team that is dedicated to continuously innovating high quality products and services. It is apparent that RPI believes in meeting the needs of customers and partners,” said Eddy. “As an avid photographer, I’ve been a big fan of RPI’s products long before I even knew they were RPI’s products and manufactured here at the company. I look forward to leading our technology effort to help enable the company’s rapid growth and bring greater value to our worldwide customers.”

Prior to joining RPI, Eddy served as the CTO of Windermere Solutions where he focused on delivering new, sophisticated technology solutions to the real estate vertical nationwide. During his tenure, Eddy incubated new ideas that created differentiating advantages for brokers, agents and the customers they serve. Specifically, he launched Windermere.com on a new technology platform, which included a full redesign and development effort, developed mobile applications targeted at real estate agent marketing efforts, among other accomplishments. His previous experience also includes executive leadership and management roles at Ignition Garage, Rosetta Solutions, WatchGuard, Rosetta Solutions, Microsoft and Visio Corporation.

Eddy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial design from Western Washington University.      

About RPI

RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and best of breed manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, Wash. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

The sixth-annual list offers the most comprehensive look at a vitally important segment of the economy: America’s independent entrepreneurs. This is the fourth consecutive year that RPI has appeared on the list – which this year includes the no. 1 ranked Unified Payments, Yelp, Chobani, Giftcards.com, KIND and hatmaker Tilly’s, among other prominent brands.

“We are experiencing tremendous demand for personalized print products,” said Rick Bellamy, CEO of RPI. “It’s been exciting to not only meet the demand, but to continue to develop our industry-leading mass customization platform and help expand customizable products into new markets. Providing a quality product that’s highly individualized and at an affordable price, is very fulfilling for us and our customers. We are incredibly proud to earn our fourth consecutive placement on the Inc. 500|5000 list. It helps affirm our efforts to help brands monetize their content and further extend their brand with personalized products. We believe that the opportunities for growth going forward are tremendous.”

In a stagnant economic environment, median growth rate of 2012 Inc. 500|5000 companies remains an impressive 97 percent. The companies on this year’s list report having created more than 400,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the honorees reached $299 billion. Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/5000.

“Now, more than ever, we depend on Inc. 500|5000 companies to spur innovation, provide jobs, and drive the economy forward. Growth companies, not large corporations, are where the action is,” says Inc. editor Eric Schurenberg.

About RPI

RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and best of breed manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, Wash. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

SEATTLE – July 26, 2012 – RPI (Reischling Press, Inc.) (www.rpiprint.com), a leader in make-on-demand, private-label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers, is pleased to announce that Ellinée design studio (www.ellinee.com) has selected RPI’s customizable product line and manufacturing and fulfillment services for ellinee.com, its new personalized stationery shopping experience.

Ellinée will leverage RPI’s customizable product line to create its own elegant, fresh designs, allowing customers to easily create unique stationery and handcrafted paper invitations for every occasion – from weddings to birthday parties. Just in time for the summer entertaining season, RPI will also manufacture and fulfill Ellinée’s products to ensure customers receive high-quality products with rapid delivery times.

“Ellinée was created with a passion for paper. All of our designs are handcrafted by our internal design team and made to inspire people to create the perfect piece to celebrate life’s moments,” said Doug Colbeck, CEO of Ellinée. “RPI shares our passion for design, customer service and quality. With RPI as our partner, we can guarantee our customers will receive high-quality products delivered to their door within a few days, whether it’s a single order or in the hundreds.”

Combining the design talent of Ellinée’s in-house design team, its DIY blog and RPI’s expertise in print-on-demand services, ellinee.com offers the best designs for wedding, baby, holidays and personalized stationery.

“Today’s consumers are constantly looking for ways to create meaningful products that reflect who they are,” said Rick Bellamy, CEO of RPI. “Ellinée is a designer-driven business focused on enabling consumers to customize beautiful designs in a simple, straightforward way. We’re excited to partner with Ellinée to provide our industry-leading just-in-time manufacturing and fulfillment services and further fuel the growth of memorable, personalized products.”

To celebrate the launch of the new store, ellinee.com is offering customers 25 percent off their first order. To redeem this special offer, at checkout, enter code: SIMPLYELLINEE.

About RPI

RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and best of breed manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, Wash. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.

About Ellinée

Ellinée design studio offers fresh, contemporary stationery designs for every occasion. Our studio is born from a passion for paper, original designs, and artfulness. We love to inspire you every day as you create the special moments in your life; from planning an elegant wedding or playful birthday party, to making a paper rose to top that special gift.

You’ve known Ellinée as a DIY resource. We are now proud to expand our designs into a full shopping experience, offering personalized stationery printed and delivered to your door.  We invite you to join us as we continue to dream, design and create.

For more information, visit ellinee.com or check us out on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

The full interview is available here.

For full story click here.

NEW YORK and SEATTLE – May 21, 2012 – RPI (Reischling Press, Inc.) (www.rpiprint.com), a leader in make-on-demand private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers, is pleased to announce the launch of its new personalization storefront that offers personalized print products made by RPI and branded by the retailer and consumer. Along with its storefront platform, RPI is announcing its new line of print products specific for the pet industry. RPI debuts the personalization storefront and pet print products at the 2012 National Stationery Show® held May 20-23, 2012, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Targeting stationery manufacturers, online retailers, e-greeting sites and specialty retailers, RPI’s personalization make-on-demand platform can be seamlessly embedded into any retailer’s existing website. Through its ease of integration, brand owners can now offer hundreds of personalized products to their customers with zero inventory through a cohesive online experience.

With the launch of its new platform, RPI also created a new line of personalized print products designed specifically for retailers in the pet industry. According to Mintel, a leading market research company, the pet industry is expected to maintain a steady pace of growth, increasing by 33 percent over the next five years to become a $67.7 billion industry. Given this trend, brand owners and retailers are seeking new, innovative products that will enable them to capture a portion of this market share, while creating greater brand loyalty among their consumers.

“RPI is in the business of unleashing creative expression by enabling partners to unlock their content and extend their brand experience through mass customization,” said Rick Bellamy, chief executive officer for RPI. “Our new personalization storefront platform will help brand owners monetize their content with personalized print products without diluting their brand, or redirecting traffic away from their site. We are excited about the opportunities for brands to increase customer engagement with these products.”

The new RPI platform offers several key benefits and features. First, by implementing RPI’s personalization storefront, retailers can stay focused on their core business while RPI provides its technology platform and consumer expertise to help retailers extend their customers’ experience beyond their brick-and-mortar store and drive additional revenue. Second, with on-demand manufacturing, a retailer can offer hundreds of SKUs with zero inventory, enabling consumers to express their individuality. Third, retailers receive a consistent brand experience across all channels with RPI’s design and merchandising services. And last, RPI’s global operations deliver worldwide distribution direct to consumers within two to three days, and is scalable under peak demand.

According to a January 2012 Forrester Research, Inc., report titled, Co-Creation in 2012, “Co-creation will become a pillar of product innovation by 2015. Although the market remains relatively immature, we have witnessed growing awareness of co-creation from our clients across a wide range of industries, and we continue to see empowered product strategy professionals experimenting with co-creation engagements in interesting ways,” wrote Doug Williams, analyst at Forrester. “Co-creation will continue its upward trajectory in 2012, driven by emboldened vendors that are eager to show product strategists the value and benefits that co-creation can bring to the product development process.

In addition to the new platform, RPI’s new line of pet products allows retailers to extend their existing product line while enabling consumers to create fun, customized, innovative print products through mass customization. The new line includes:

• “Woof Cards” – Using the “mommy calling card” concept, RPI has created on-the-go cards that pet owners can personalize with their name, their pet’s name, and phone number or email that they can hand out to other pet owners to schedule play and/or park dates.
• “Furfolio” – Using the photo album concept, pet owners can create memorable photo albums of their pets as keepsakes.
• “Fur-nouncements” – Similar to baby announcements, fur-nouncements are designed for pet parents to announce their recent pet adoptions and new fur babies to their family and friends.

RPI, which works with some of the world’s most well-known brands who represent more than 40 percent of the total on-demand, personalized product market, currently offers more than 350 customizable print products — from personalized photo books, posters, and calendars, to invitations, greeting cards and stationery – using state of the art digital manufacturing technology to offer long-lasting and high quality.

To learn more about RPI’s new personalization storefront and print products, please visit www.rpiprint.com and www.woofcards.com.

About RPI

RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products for mass and specialty retailers. The company’s broad range of blue chip retail and online publishing customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution, creative design services and best of breed manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. The privately held company is headquartered just outside of Seattle, WA. For more information on how RPI is helping fuel the rapid growth of personalized products, please visit www.rpiprint.com.