New Equipment Purchase Helps DirectMarketing Firm Achieve Brisk GrowthTobe Direct Attributes 54%Growth To MCS Inkjet Model

NEW YORK, NY -- John Tobe got hisstart in the print business while still inhigh school. His father owned a typeset-ting company, and John would run fromclient to client to pick up orders and de-liver them to the “plant” in the basement.While doing so, he developed a keen un-derstanding of customer wants andneeds, a skill that would serve him well inthe years to come.

John Tobe founded Tobe Direct in1988, with typesetting and a Multilith1250 printing press.

In the early 1990’s, one of his biggestcustomers was Papa John’s. At the time,Papa John’s franchisees were making lo-cal print purchases for their flyers andcollateral. The result was a hodge-podgeof materials that didn’t look the samefrom location to location. So Mr. Tobeput all of the items in a corporate catalog,franchisees made their selections, and hewould gang the orders and administerthem in a co-op program. The programlater became Papa John’s Print Network,which he sold to Papa John’s in 1994.

Today, Tobe Direct serves nationalconsumer brands and retailers, providingturnkey direct mail programs and 1:1marketing campaigns with targeted of-fers based on sophisticated data manipu-lation capabilities.

Mr. Tobe’s first MCS purchase was in2009 with the MCS Array inkjet system.He already had a Kodak 5120 and neededmore inkjet equipment for their postcardand self-mailer jobs, and the Array sys-tem fit the bill nicely.

Since then, Tobe Direct has acquiredmore clients and unique applications,needing the ability to run jobs from assmall as a few thousand to several millionpostcards per job. They chose the MCSEagle UV for several reasons, one ofwhich was the permanent print head --there is no switching of cartridges be-tween jobs, and no having to manage dif-ferent inks for different stocks. They alsoliked the speed and the price point.

“We’ve been aggressively expandingour business for the past three years, but2011 was our breakout year -- we grewfifty-four percent,” said Mr. Tobe. “Wedon’t engage in ‘build it and they willcome.’ We concentrate on the programand the customer needs, and then buildthe capabilities that it requires.”

One of the reasons for this astoundinggrowth was due to a major award from a

F50 account for their direct mail postcardbusiness. Tobe Direct was awarded amulti-year contract, which boosts theirrequirement for production throughputand added capacity. They are presentlyexpanding their space by 300% to handlethe work.

Mr. Tobe’s business model has broad-ened well beyond simple direct mailings.For many projects, the Tobe Direct teamstarts their process by manipulating so-phisticated data sets -- such as customerbuying patterns -- and designs variablemailing offers based on that. Often thisresults in fully variable images andversioned coupons that can only be pro-duced on a color digital press. To accom-modate the increase in this production,Mr. Tobe added an 80 page-per-minutecolor digital press as well as a 120 page-per-minute monochrome digital pressand workflow products from MCS’ Digi-tal Product Family.

MCS, maker of the Eagle Inkjet platform,has served the production mailing marketfor many years. The company’s inkjethardware, software, and camera systemsprovides the integration for high-speedmailing and hybrid inkjet printing as wellas matching systems for inserters.

The Eagle Inkjet platform combines mod-ular 4.25”, 600 dpi print head technologywith MCS’ job layout and print proofingsoftware. MCS systems can be integrated onvarious existing transports and inserters.

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 / MAIL: The Journal of Communication Distribution

Case Study

Impressive ResultsBy upgrading its equipment, TobeDirect achieved these results:•Improved run speeds by 33%•Spending 50% less on ink•Higher throughput which allowsthem to handle more jobs•Expanding space by 300%

“We don’t engage in

‘build it and they will

come.’ We concentrate on

the program and the

customer needs, and then

build the capabilities that

it requires.”

-- John Tobe