Marvel Acquires Cover Concepts to Extend Demographic Reach
Thursday December 18, 7:03 am ET
Acquisition Extends Reach of Marvel's Publishing Operations to 30 Million Public School Children
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2003--Reflecting its goal to further expand the reach of its publishing operations within younger demographics, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:MVL - News) announced today that it has recently acquired the business and certain assets of New York City-based Cover Concepts, a small company specializing in the distribution of free, sponsored materials to public schools across the U.S. Cover Concepts sells advertising space on those materials. Major advertising customers have included Gatorade, McDonalds and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cover Concepts (www.coverconcepts.com) distributes materials such as textbook covers, coloring books, posters, bookmarks and other educational materials, free of charge, to a BPA International-audited network of over 43,000 public schools, reaching a universe of more than 30 million children in grades K-12. Cover Concepts' database enables it to target specific demographic or age groups with branded products and samples. Cover Concepts recently extended its distribution network to include daycare centers, public libraries and summer camps.
Free products distributed within the Cover Concepts network include:
Book Covers
Bookmarks
Locker Posters
Teaching Guides
Health & Beauty Samples
Calendars
Stickers
Notepads
Folders
Coloring Sheets
Incentive Programs
Growth Charts
Cover Concepts anticipates advertising revenue of approximately $4 million and a modest operating profit in 2003 from a team of 12 sales representatives and administrative personnel. Marvel purchased Cover Concepts from Hearst Communications, Inc.
Gui Karyo, President - Publishing, commented, "Though small in size, this acquisition represents an exciting new growth initiative for the publishing division and is one of several steps Marvel is taking to expand its reach to children. Cover Concepts will provide the distribution to schools for various new products targeting the valuable 'tween' demographic (ages 8 to 12) that could begin as early as fall 2004. These products could include lesson plans, periodicals, and other areas of publishing that are traditionally targeted to this demographic. From a financial perspective, we believe this accretive acquisition should provide an exceptional return on investment and more importantly, provide us with a means for expanding the demographic reach of Marvel publishing as well as provide relationships with advertisers that were not previously Marvel Comics customers."
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