Valpak
{{short description|North American direct marketing company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, LLC
| logo = Valpak logo.svg
| type = Subsidiary
| foundation = {{start date and age|1968}}
| location = St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.
| key_people =
| area_served = United States
| industry = Direct marketing
| products = Coupons, advertising postcards, customer data
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| num_employees =
| parent = AmatoMartin
| subsid =
| homepage =
| footnotes =
}}
Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, LLC, commonly known as Valpak, is a North American direct marketing company owned by AmatoMartin. Valpak provides print, mobile and online advertising, customer data and coupons. Valpak mails coupons to 41 million demographically targeted households each month{{cite web|title=Valpak Introduction of Premier Plus Strengthens Appeal of Direct Mail for Retailers|url=https://thewisemarketer.com/retail/valpak-introduction-of-premier-plus-strengthens-appeal-of-direct-mail-for-retailers/|work=The Wise Marketer|access-date=10 May 2023}} and millions more consumers through its advertising postcards and website every year.
History
Terry Loebel, an unemployed autoworker, founded Valpak in 1968, using a $500 loan to start mailing coupons from his home to households in Clearwater, Florida. In 1972, Valpak established its first franchise in Orlando, Florida. A group of investors purchased Valpak from Terry Loebel in 1985.{{cite news|last=Harrington|first=Jeff|title=Valpak pioneer Terry Loebel dies at 71|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/valpak-pioneer-terry-loebel-dies-at-71/1243445/|access-date=3 November 2013|newspaper=Tampa Bay Times|date=31 July 2012}}
In September 1991, Cox Target Media, Inc. purchased Valpak and by 1997, Valpak was mailing out 11 billion coupons a year.{{cite book|last=Glover|first=Charles E.|title=Journey Through Our Years: The Story of Cox Enterprises, Inc.|year=1998|publisher=LONGSTREET|location=Atlanta, Georgia, USA|isbn=1-56352-570-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/journeythroughou0000glov/page/197 197–199]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/journeythroughou0000glov/page/197}} In 2005, Valpak opened a St. Petersburg, Florida headquarters with 50,000-square-foot space and had 310 employees. In January 2017, Platinum Equity acquired Valpak from Cox Target Media, Inc.{{cite news |last1=Manning |first1=Margie |title=Valpak gets a new owner |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2017/01/03/valpak-gets-a-new-owner.html |access-date=March 19, 2019 |work=Tampa Bay Business Journal |publisher=American City Business Journals |date=January 3, 2017}} In November 2023, AmatoMartin acquired Valpak from Platinum Equity.{{cite web|title=Platinum Equity Sells Valpak to AmatoMartin|url=https://www.platinumequity.com/news/platinum-equity-sells-valpak-to-amatomartin/|work=Platinum Equity|access-date=1 March 2024}}
Products
= Coupon envelopes =
Valpak prints, packages and ships coupon envelopes from the Valpak Manufacturing Center, a $200-million, 500,000-square-foot print production facility in St. Petersburg.{{cite web|last=Chmura|first=Chris|title=ValPak ventures from direct mail to digital coupons|url=http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/22082669/2013/04/25/valpak-ventures-from-direct-mail-to-digital-coupons|work=Fox 13|access-date=22 November 2013}} Print inserts in the envelope advertise local businesses and national brands with coupons for dining, health and beauty, entertainment, automotive, home services and more.
In each of its mailing cycles, Valpak sells the outside of its envelope to select national advertisers for promotions, marketing campaigns and sweepstakes. Advertisers include Tennis Channel, HGTV, Legoland, Shutterfly and Panera Bread.
= Advertising postcards =
In October 2019, Valpak partnered with the United States Postal Service on a 2-year test of Plus One postcards.{{cite web|title=Valpak’s PlusOne Product Solidifies Reputation as Direct Mail Innovator|url=https://martechseries.com/content/email-mktg/valpaks-plusone-product-solidifies-reputation-as-direct-mail-innovator/|work=MarTech Series|access-date=10 May 2023}} These postcards became a permanent USPS product in January 2022.{{cite web|title=Plus One Permanent Product|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/01/12/2022-00396/plus-one-permanent-product|work=The Office of the Federal Register|access-date=10 May 2023}} Valpak also provides an automated postcard service to audiences like new movers as well as other targeted and saturation postcard products.{{cite web|title=Postcard Advertising|url=https://www.valpak.com/advertise/postcards|work=Company website |access-date=10 May 2023}}
= Customer data =
Valpak's data and analytics platform incorporates thousands of data points across billions of records (aggregated public, survey, behavioral, transactional and proprietary data) for brands to identify and advertise to specific audience segments.
Marketers can also use its self-service mailing list platform to create their own mailing lists prioritized by rankings, deliverability and postal rates.{{cite web|title=Direct Mail Mailing Lists|url=https://www.audiencesolutionsgroup.com/mailing-lists/|work=Audience Solutions Group|access-date=10 May 2023}}