Direct mail company Marketing Via Postal Group Inc. has doubled its size with a local acquisition.
The Costa Mesa-based company, which goes by MVP, does about $15 million in sales each year handling direct mail marketing for 120 customers, including Yahoo Inc. and Universal Studios Inc., which is part of General Electric Co.
It bought Santa Ana-based Designer Mailing Inc., which is set to double MVP’s revenue, according to Vice President Keith Flanigan. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Designer Mailing was the second largest bulk mailer from Santa Ana, after the local facility of Los Gatos-based Netflix Inc.
MVP is planning to use the acquisition to boost its mailings, which often are laser-printed folded cards that advertise products and services.
The opportunity to buy the company came after Designer Mailing’s business began to slump as its subprime mortgage customers such as Ditech.com, IndyMac Bancorp Inc. and New Century Financial Corp. went away, according to Flanigan.
“They expanded into a recession,” he said. “They doubled in size by late 2006 but then home lending began to dry up.”
MVP also had a number of lenders as customers. But they made up a smaller percentage of its business, he said.
MVP came off its strongest December yet as its customers put more focus into direct mail, according to Flanigan.
It also is moving its operations, which employs nearly 50, to Designer Mailing’s 45,000-square-foot operation in Santa Ana. Designer Mailing’s 90 workers are set to stay there.
Ice Cold
Canada’s VGS International Inc. has opened a Costa Mesa office to oversee the marketing and distribution of its new vodka brand Is Vodka.
The vodka, pronounced “ice,” is distilled seven times and is made from Icelandic water and non-genetically modified European wheat.
Is Vodka sells for $40 for 750 milliliters in an ornately decorated bottle.
It’s one of the many vodka brands on the market. Competitors include Grey Goose, part of Bermuda-based Bacardi & Co., and Ketel One, the main brand of Nolet Spirits USA Inc. in Aliso Viejo.
Nolet, which had nearly $10 million in sales in 2007, recently announced it would lay off as many as 40 workers, according to the state’s employment Web site.
VGS sells its vodka to upscale bars, nightclubs and hotels in California and Nevada,including the Peninsula Beverly Hills,with the help of distributors.
The company, which is privately held and backed by investors, doesn’t disclose yearly sales.
VGS counts a handful of workers at its offices in Canada and Nevada.
The company’s Orange County office also staffs a handful of employees who oversee marketing and distribution.
VGS opened an office in OC since it is near nightclubs, bars and hotels in Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas, according to Chief Executive Madeline Vinski.
“It’s a good halfway point,” he said.
VGS launched Is Vodka late last year. To get the word out, the company is hosting vodka tastings at award shows and bars.
Charity Collection
There’s a new apparel company in town that touts charity giving as its key selling point.
The Terra Collection in Costa Mesa launched its line of eco-friendly designed T-shirts last November.
The company saw a brief boost in sales at Christmas. So far the shirts are sold online, at Halsea in Newport Beach and at Salt in San Francisco.
At about $65 bucks a pop, sales of the shirts could be challenging in the tough economy.
“The good thing about being new in a bad economy is we won’t expect much for a few years,” company founder Jennifer Capaci said. “We spend our time building the brand by getting the word out.”
While Capaci also faces stiff competition from other T-shirt sellers, she says she heavily promotes that 15% of Terra Collection’s sales go to 16 environment-focused charities. All of the tags on racks advertise the charity component.
The charities include Conservation International, the Coalition for Clean Air, Surfrider Foundation and Children’s Hunger Fund.
Online shoppers can chose which charity they want to fund directly, whereas sales from store shoppers are distributed to the funds equally, Capaci said.
Capaci, an accountant by training, was inspired into the business after her friend started a line of maternity T-shirts.
Her husband created the shirts’ designs. They’re made through dying, screen-printing and embroidery at locations in Los Angeles and Gardena.
Financial backing for the startup came from a business partner Capaci declined to name.
