SGK positioned to expand brand performance offering
By Canadian Packaging Staff
Design & Innovation General Anthem Brandimage Matthews International Corporation Schawk Inc. SGKDefinitive merger agreement to be acquired by Matthews International completed.
DES PLAINES, IL—SGK, formerly marketed as Schawk, Inc., has no grave concerns about its merger acquisition with Matthews International Corporation.
Matthews International Corporation—headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA with some 5,800 employees in over 20 countries—is comprised of two business groups, Memorialization (for the deceased) and Brand Solutions, and generates approximately $900 million in revenues.
As a designer, manufacturer and marketer of memorialization products and solutions for the cemetery and funeral home industries in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia, Matthews International has completed the definitive merger agreement to acquire SGK, a leading global brand development, activation and deployment company that drives brand performance.
As a brand solutions provider, Matthews offers design and strategy through teams in: Portland, OR; Boston, MA: Leeds, United Kingdom; Julich and Vredeen in Germany; and Hong Kong.
SGK says the deal will position it to expand its brand performance offering to include ‘brand delivery’ services, enhance its brand development services and deepen its brand deployment services. SGK reported sales of US$443 million for 2013 and has approximately 3,600 employees in over 20 countries.
SGK’s brand development services are offered under the Brandimage and Anthem nameplates. Both brands create brand desirability: Brandimage does this by creating meaningful brands; Anthem does this by amplifying and selling brands. Brand deployment services, which help create brand profitability, are offered under the Schawk nameplate. Schawk does this by producing brand assets and protecting brand equities.
The brand delivery offering is expected to include services required to deliver printing plates and cylinders and may be expanded in the future. Matthews Brand Solutions has been engraving cylinders and processing plates for several decades and has a significant presence and trusted reputation in Europe. Additionally, the Merchandising Services Division of Matthews Brand Solutions will enhance SGK’s brand development offering.
SGK chief executive officer David A. Schawk remarks: “While the capabilities of SGK and Matthews Brand Solutions are exceptionally complementary with very little overlap, a rigorous plan for the successful integration of both operations is already being designed by a team of internal leaders and external advisors.”
Adds Schawk, “We are committed to identifying, adopting and supporting the very best products, services and practices—those that provide the greatest value to our clients—regardless of which business originated them.”
SGK president Eric Ashworth says: “In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be looking at how to create a richer, more integrated set of brand development services; one that gives control of the brand from the moment of its creation to its activation across channels through the in-store experience, in the hands of marketers.”
He continues: “Coupled with an enhanced brand deployment offering and a new brand delivery offering, SGK is in a fantastic position to empower our brand performance offering,”
SGK is a division of Matthews International. For more information visit: www.sgkinc.com.
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