Chief Marketing Officer
IWCO Direct
IWCO Direct is one of the largest and most integrated direct marketing firms in the United States employing roughly 1,000 people and generating ~$200M in annual revenue mainly through deeply rooted client partnerships in the large enterprise space. The firm has experienced a rich history of nearly 60 years of major growth and success, but faced challenges in 2020 as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns. In 2022, Cerberus Capital - one of the largest and most reputable investment management firms in the US with $60B in assets under management - acquired IWCO, and has fully committed to significantly investing in the transformation, innovation, cultural reinvigoration, and growth of the organization. Gary Masse, a long-time Cerberus-appointed executive, was named CEO last year, shortly after Cerberus injected nearly $50M into the complete transformation of IWCO's production environment with particular emphasis on a massive transition to digital printing capabilities. This investment doubled the firm's capacity, formerly able to produce ~1 billion mail pieces annually and now able to produce well over ~2 billion pieces annually. But it also allows for significant innovation opportunities including hyper-personalization and far more creative formatting capabilities, aligning IWCO to a more modern client service approach. Given this newly optimized environment, the firm now seeks its next CMO who will lead and continue to develop a skilled "agency-like" team of strategists, creatives, account leaders, and analytics pros, while defining and driving the firm's growth strategy around new vertical and new market entry, and potential inorganic/acquisition opportunities. IWCO's executive team and board are highly confident it is positioned to double in size in the next few years, particularly with the right marketing chief in place.
A Foundation you can build on
Getting a sense of the foundation that has been built prior to your arrival offers a lens through which you can see where your career may go.
IWCO
IWCO is a $200M+ privately held marketing solutions company based out of Chanhassen, Minnesota. While IWCO offers the full spectrum of multichannel direct marketing capabilities including social media and digital, a majority of their business and success is driven by their industry-leading direct mail marketing solutions for large enterprise organizations across the United States. They operate across many verticals, with a more significant presence in sectors such as Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Non-Profit, Grocery, Home Improvement, amongst others. IWCO prioritizes excellent client experiences which has led to a strong foothold in the market particularly with notable large enterprise Fortune 500 clients including Unitedhealth Group, Capital One, and others. Alongside their relentless focus on their customers they also distinguish themselves from competitors because they aren't afraid to push the envelope and do what nobody else in the industry is doing.
History
IWCO has a rich history of nearly 60 years, founded in 1969 by local printing legend, Frank Beddor, who was inducted into the printing Hall Of Fame in 1987 following launches of 8 printing businesses across the midwest, the most successful of which was IWCO Direct. The company experienced unparalleled success through the 80's and 90's, and would continue its significant growth and market dominance through the 2000's, becoming the largest and most innovative direct mail solutions provider in the country. The firm faced major challenges in 2020 during pandemic-induced shutdowns, and the culture of the firm took a hit. But in 2022, Cerberus Capital - one of the largest and most reputable investors in the US - appointed one of its most trusted operators for the last 12 years, Gary Masse, to run the business shortly after they invested $50M into a digital innovation and transformation initiative. Gary is on a mission to take IWCO to new heights, recently appointing several new executives, and now looks to identify one of the firm's most crucial fixtures, its CMO.
A Stand Out in Direct Marketing
While digital has driven a lot of buzz, direct mail marketing remains one of the most effective marketing channels with a total market value of ~$40B in 2022. IWCO is, and always has been, a stand out in direct mail marketing with a massive growth opportunity in front of it. The firm offers much more than simply "mail production" - it has fully integrated its organization with data mining and analytics capabilities, direct mail designing and digital production with hyper-personalization, and management services including postal strategies, which drives significant results for their loyal customers. They recently made a significant investment of $50M into their technology and digital manufacturing capabilities to support the achievement of their lofty goals and agenda, poised to build on their already impressive reputation in a competitive industry. The new CMO will be extremely critical in helping IWCO leverage existing propositions (and potentially acquiring new capabilities) to define new market and new vertical opportunities, while driving innovative, new ways of thinking about 1:1 direct marketing opportunities in the enterprise space.
Scale
IWCO employs 1,000 people across the country, and generates upwards of $200M in annual revenue. With the strong partnership and backing of Cerberus Capital ($60B AUM), the organization is on a mission to achieve rapid growth with a set goal of $400M by 2027. Today, they service a broad spectrum of customers across the United States including several notable enterprises such as UnitedHealthcare and Capital One. Their direct print marketing has significant scale. With recent investments of nearly $50M, capacity has increased from producing 1 Billion mail pieces per year (~100M per month) to producing over 2 Billion pieces per year (~200M per month), coupled with incredibly modernized digital capabilities that allow for hyper-personalization and targeting.
Our Take On IWCO's Values
Committed to Investments
IWCO’s majority owner, Cerberus Capital, recently injected nearly $50 Million into the organization’s digital technology and production capabilities which have more-than-doubled its output capacity, while most importantly, allowing for true innovation when it comes to serving its customer’s in unique ways. The company is sincerely committed to the investment into growth and reshaping a positive culture.
Relational and Collaborative
IWCO’s refreshed executive team has laid an entirely new groundwork in its approach to communication, deeming collaboration, open dialogue, honest and transparent healthy debate, and ideation as top priorities. The ELT simply does not allow for lack of collaboration or ultra-egos to get in the way of its progress.
Outside the Box
IWCO’s CEO, Gary Masse, is driving a sea change in how the company’s people think and act. He is creating a sense of “empowerment” inside the business so that the company will harness the power of everyone’s new ideas, fresh perspectives, and innovative thoughts to drive modernity into an otherwise stale industry.
