Zmags Triples Revenues in 2008
Digital publishing platform provider Zmags announced today that it tripled revenue in 2008, surpassing goals in every region even in the face of a challenging economy, and landing more than 1,600 new clients over the course of the year. Other 2008 milestones included:
Closing a $6.6 million round of financing from investors NorthCap and Openview Partners, primarily to fund its U.S. expansion;
Establishing new U.S. headquarters in the heart of Boston’s financial district;
More than doubling its worldwide employee headcount;
Launching a significant upgrade of its digital publishing platform, Zmags Publicator; and
Signing its 2000th customer.
“These results would be impressive even in a strong economy — but considering the current environment, they are really outstanding,” said Jens Karstoft, CEO of Zmags. “I’m very proud of our team for all their hard work and continued focus on the most important element of growing a business: delighting our current customers, because their referrals continue to play a significant role in our success.”
New customers include Audi, American Express Publishing, Barclays, Celebrity Cruises, Geico, Minor League Baseball, The Neiman Marcus Group, Philips Healthcare, Reader’s Digest Association and Thomson Reuters.
Campbell-Ewald chooses Zmags for its major clients: “If you can think it, you can do it.”
Another of Zmags’ new customers is Campbell-Ewald, the eighth largest advertising and digital communications agency in the U.S. A part of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG), Campbell-Ewald clients include Chevrolet, Kaiser Permanente, USAA and the United States Postal Service.
According to Joe Ferraro, Art Production Manager at Campbell-Ewald Publishing, the agency evaluated many different options when searching for a digital publishing platform for its largest clients. Most tools fell into one of two camps: easy to use, but publications had to fit into a rigid template; or provided a lot of creative freedom, but not the ability to create publications easily or quickly. Most alarming for a busy agency, said Ferraro, is that every tool they looked at ultimately required that Campbell-Ewald upload files that the vendors would then convert into a digital publications — a process that took several days.
“Zmags had the exact blend we were looking for,” said Ferraro. “It’s completely self-service, so we can create digital publications on our own in just hours. But Zmags also provides unmatched creative control. For an agency, it’s the best of both worlds. We very quickly realized that with Zmags we could do a lot more — if you can think it, you can do it.”
OpenView: Zmags has all the ingredients
“Zmags has all the ingredients to thrive in the digital publishing space — solid technology, a strong base of wildly enthusiastic users and a flexible delivery model that makes it very easy for people to do business with them,” noted Firas Raouf, Venture Partner at OpenView Partners. “Throw in a growing market that’s highly dissatisfied with traditional offerings, and you can see why we view Zmags as such an exciting investment opportunity.”
About Zmags
Zmags provides a self-service online publishing platform that quickly and easily converts traditional print and digital media into rich interactive content. Designed for any document-intensive organization — from magazine publishers to corporations — Zmags is known for its exceptional rich media and analytics capabilities. Zmags online publications load faster than any other type of online media, and with the highest fidelity, helping organizations grow revenue, reduce costs and enhance the customer experience. Thousands of organizations in 35 countries rely on Zmags to produce high-impact online media. Visit www.zmags.com.