Jostens

• Jostens was started in 1897 by Otto Josten. For years, it had been under the Visant Holding Corp but in November 2015, the Jarden Corporation acquired Visant.
• In 2016 April, Jarden merged with Newell Rubbermaid to form Newell Brands Inc. which later sold Jostens to Platinum Equity, the new owner of Jostens, at 1.3 billion. Michael Burgess is the current CEO of the company.
• The company does not often disclose its figures but according to a StarTribune article, Jostens stated that its 2017 revenue was $768 million and according to D&B Hoovers, Jostens has an estimated revenue of $1,404.39 million.
• Jostens acquired the American Achievement Group in November 2013.
• Jostens has 124,447 followers on Facebook, 8,727 on Twitter, and 35,700 on Instagram.
• Jostens website has e-commerce functionality. It enables customers to shop and order products online. To ensure the easiest and most personal experience on the site, customers have to first register and sign in before proceeding to add items on their carts and the purchase.

Balfour's Engagement and Capabilities

• Balfour was founded by Lloyd Garfield Balfour in 1913. Balfour is a registered trademark of Commemorative Brands, Inc. Commemorative Brands is a subsidiary of American Achievement Corporation (AAC), a private company. AAC is one of the portfolio companies of Fenway Partners, a private equity firm.
• Balfour is a leading manufacturer of yearbooks, class rings, graduation regalia, and letter jackets. AAC, the parent company of Balfour, reported $290 million and $270 million in sales in 2010 and 2014 respectively. AAC's current revenue is approximately $741.65 million. The current revenue of Commemorative Brands is around $341.68 million.
• Balfour acquired Gaspard in 2015.
• Balfour has 23,551 followers on Facebook, 3,033 followers on Instagram, and 1,034 followers on Twitter.
• Balfour's website is a complete e-commerce site. Customers can view discount offers, login or create an account, and start shopping right from the homepage. It also includes information about warranties, repairs, returns, shipping, and delivery.

Oak Hall Cap & Gown

• Since it was founded in 1989, Oak Hall has been a family-owned business.
• Oak Hall was the pioneer of the first sustainable graduation gown in the industry, and according to D&B Hoovers, the company has an estimated revenue of $46.08 million.
• In 2003, Oak Hall acquired both ER Moore and Cotrell and Leonard.
• The company does not have a very large social media presence.
• Oak Hall's Facebook account can be found here. It has 1,564 followers and 1,546 likes.
• Oak Hall's Instagram account can be found here. It has 24 followers and 11 posts.
• Oak Hall's Twitter account can be found here. It has 6 followers.

• Oak Hall does not appear like a company with a very strong e-commerce presence, mainly because it encourages customers, such as parents, teachers or faculty to call them or send them an email to order.
• However, the company's website has e-commerce functionality, which means that other than the option of calling or sending an email to order, customers can also order online and have their packages delivered to their homes.

Ownership

• Multiple references were found to the company remaining family-owned since its 1937 formation. The CEO, Don O. Walsworth, is the son of the founder, and the president, Don Walsworth, is the founder's grandson.

Go-To-Market Data

• Walsworth was reported to have earned $181.3 million in revenue in 2016 and $181.5 million in 2018.

Acquisition History

• In the last 20 years, Walsworth has acquired Ripon Printers (2019), The Ovid Bell Press (2012), and IPC Print Services (2010).

Social Media Presence

• Walsworth maintains social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook, with dedicated Twitter and Instagram accounts for its Yearbooks division.

E-Commerce Capabilities

• Walsworth has limited E-Commerce capabilities, including web forms for obtaining quotes and an apparent storefront for consumers to purchase yearbooks from their schools.

Church Hill Classics Engagement and Capabilities

Ownership

• Church Hill Classics is still owned by founder and CEO Lucie Volves.

Market Data

• Church Hill Classics is a 10 time winner of the Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies.
• The company started out in 1991 and first made Inc. magazine’s list in 2003 at No. 291 due to its 612% growth between 1998 and 2002. Since then, the business has had a 56% growth over the last few years and has since placed No. 4,514. From 2002 to 2016, the company’s annual revenue grew from $1.9 million to $10.9 million.
• The company's annual revenue is now listed at $13.6 million.

Acquisitions

• The company has not acquired any other companies in the past 20 years, nor have they been acquired by anyone.

Social Media Presence

• Church Hill's Facebook page has a following of 5,151 people.
• The company's Twitter account has 2,207 followers.
• The company's Instagram page has 597 followers.

E-commerce

• Church Hill Classics has e-commerce sales direct from their e-commerce website diplomaframe.com, and also through their retail partners by purchasing direct from their partner's e-commerce sites.

Key Findings

• Picaboo is a private company founded by Howard Field and Kevin McCurdy in 2002. It has since been acquired by RPI (Reischling Press, Inc).
• Picaboo is an online service that provides image publishing and printing services. Picaboo has had $7.8M of funding, and has over 1 million customers.
• Picaboo has a revenue of $7.5M in the current quarter. Revenue has been in decline in the last 6 quarters. Picaboo has 39 employees.
• Picaboo’s website visitors are mainly from USA (46.7%), India (12.1%) and Canada (8.4%).
• Picaboo has been involved in 5 acquisitions: DPI, iPads.com Inc, Paro Group Limited, Picaboo Corporation, ColorCentric Corporation.
• Picaboo has a sizable following on social media channels (Facebook: 90,025 followers; Instagram: 1,021 followers; Twitter: 4,039 followers).
• On Picaboo’s website, users can upload their photos and design a variety of personalized photo products, like photo books, cards, calendars, canvas prints, etc. Picaboo is most known for their photo books. The website is built on WordPress CMS.

• Picaboo website said it has a partnership with thousands of U.S. and Canadian schools, and is the fastest growing yearbook company in North America.
• Since 2010, it has created yearbooks for schools in all 50 U.S. states, 10 Canadian provinces and 11 countries around the world.
• It designs yearbooks for a range of educational institutions: elementary school, middle school, high school, home school, literary magazines, camps, Greek, colleges and universities
• Picaboo Yearbooks helped over 5,000 schools sell more than a million yearbooks.
• Picaboo also sells a range of other products, which includes photo books, cards, calendars, home decor, totes, notebooks, journals, mouse pads, and scrapbook pages.

Overview of Picaboo's Products and Prices

 Yearbooks 

• Picaboo creates two sets of yearbooks, which is a hardcover and a softcover. These books are available in 9” x 12” or 8.5” x 11” sizes. The pages are in color and comes in gloss or silk-matte lamination.
• The price for a hardcover yearbook that contains 20 pages is $18.99. The softcover version will be $9.49. You can add an additional page for $0.25.

 Photo books 

• Picaboo offers six different story books you can personalize with photos.
• The storybook is a reading adventure and the starting price is $24.99.
• For the classic photo book, you can customize the front and back cover with photos and texts and the starting price is $19.99.
• The seamless lay-flat photo book comes with a matte cover and is great for including travel, wedding and special occasion photos. The starting price is $64.99.
• The Madison photo book is secured with a genuine leather wrap and the starting price is $199.99.
• The flush mount photo book has a genuine leather and foil-stamped cover and starts at $399.99.
• The premium mini book are pocket-sized and starts at $19.99.

 Cards 

• Picaboo offers more than 450 pre-made designs or you can customize and personalize cards from scratch. The paper used is a card stock that comes 15 or 18 points thick.

• Their signature cards are 15 points thick rigid and includes envelopes. The prices for these start at $1.29. Their premium cards are 18 points rigid and includes envelops with return addresses. The prices for these start at $1.59.

 Calendars 

• Picaboo offers two different calendar options where you can personalize them with photos of your choice.
• The classic calendar is 11 x 9 and costs $24.99. The premium calendar is 14 x 11 and costs $39.99.

Home decor

• Picaboo offers a selection of home decor items that can be personalized with photos. Their home decor items include photo mugs, coasters, ornaments, crystals, blankets, pillows, canvas, prints, metal prints, collage prints and photo panels.

•  Photo mugs are $12.49 and holds 11 ounces.
• The coasters measure 3.75″ x 3.75″ and costs $19.99 for a set of four.
• The ornaments range from 2.75 inches to 3x3 inches and costs $24.99.
• The 3D photo crystals range from $14.99 to $399.99.
• The blankets come in three types: arctic pro fleece, coral fleece, and sherpa fleece. The prices range from $79.99 to $119.99.
• The pillows come in two types: basic pillow and removable pillow cover. The prices range from $39.99 to $69.99.
• The canvas prices range from $79.99 to $169.99.
• The photo prints range from $0.13 to $9.99.
• The mental prints range from $29.99 to $299.99.
• The collage prints are $4.99 for a 10x8 and $9.99 for a 14x11 inches.
• The photo panels range from $19.99 to $49.99.

 Totes 

• Picaboo creates two types of tote bags in 24 x 13 inches. One includes a woven handle and the other has a rope handle.
• The woven handle costs $54.99 and the rope handle costs $59.99. 

 Notebooks 

• Picaboo offers notebooks that can be customized with photos, text, logos and stickers. Each notebook is bounded with black coil and has 80 pages of blank lined paper.
• The notebook is 6.5 x 8.75 inches and costs $12.99.  

 Journals 

• Picaboo offers journals that can be customized with front and back photos, text, and stickers.
• Each journal has 160 blank 6.25 x 8.25 inches lined pages and costs $19.99.

 Mouse pads 

• Picaboo’s mouse pads are customizable with photos, text, logos, and stickers.
• The pads are 9 x 8 inches and are covered with a durable cloth. It costs $12.99.

 Scrapbook pages

• Picaboo offers scrapbook pages ranging from 8 x 8 or 12 x 12 inches. It offers 23,000 designs and they are customizable with photos.
• The 8 x 8 page costs $1.99, while the 12 x 12 page costs $2.99.

Overview of Picaboo's services

• Yearbooks are printed with the latest printing technology on high-quality archival 100lb paper.
• Picaboo offers ground shipping for free if someone has an order of 50 or more copies of a yearbook.
• Ground shipping in the U.S. is $8.99 for one book, and $0.99 for each additional copy.
• Two day air shipping in the U.S. is $16.99 for one book and $4.49 for each additional copy.
• Next day air shipping in the U.S. is $29.99 for one book and $6.49 for each additional copy.
• In Canada, ground shipping is $14.29 for one book and $2.59 for each additional copy. Bulk shipping on orders of 50 or more books is free.
• In Canada, air shipping is $19.99 for one book and $6.49 for each additional copy.
• In Alaska and Hawaii, ground shipping is $13.99 for one book and $3.99 for each additional copy. Bulk shipping on orders of 50 or more books is free.
• In Alaska and Hawaii, two day air shipping is $22.99 for one book and $4.49 for each additional copy.
• In Alaska and Hawaii, next day air shipping is $33.99 for one book and $6.49 for each additional copy.

Oak Hall Products and Services

• Oak Hall serves over 7,700 universities, colleges, and high schools (1,700 universities and colleges and over 6,000 high schools).
• The products of Oak Hall include college caps & gowns, high school caps & gowns, kindergrad caps & gowns, custom regalia, academic hoods, caps, & tams, graduation accessories, tassels & tassel accessories, honor accessories, medallions, and stoles.
• The services of Oak Hall include customization of apparels; renting of apparels; shipping of orders; creation, customization, and management of private ordering websites for schools.
• The pricing for some of their products include graduation tassels: $8, kindergarten tassels: $2.45, honor stoles: $17.98, honor cords: $9.95, judicial robes: $350-$440, choir robes: $45, bachelor's cap and gown: $56.98, master's cap, gown and hood: $96.98, doctoral regalia: $464.50, master's regalia: $336.50, custom doctoral regalia: $966.
• The pricing for some of their services include doctoral regalia rental fee: $117.98, Ph.D./Ed.D. regalia rental fee: $191.25, custom doctoral regalia rental fee: $220, shipping fee: $15.95-$28.

Selected Findings

• Church Hill Classics works with thousands of high schools and colleges.
• The company’s products for students/graduates include "class of" lasting memories photo frames, autograph picture frames, JV and varsity letter frames, and school days frames.
• Church Hill Classics offers licensed frames and other products with profession seals for professionals in the accounting, chiropractic, dentistry, legal, medical, nursing, optometry, pharmaceutical, and veterinary industries.
• The company’s products for military personnel include medal frames and display cases, honorable discharge frames, flag cases and flag boxes, challenge coins display holders, and other frames for specific branches.
• Church Hill Classics’ Create-A-Frame service allows consumers to customize certificate frames, picture frames, double certificate frames, diploma and tassel frames, varsity letter frames, and portrait and certificate frames.

Number of High Schools and Colleges Served

• The company primarily produces scholastic yearbooks for schools and is the only American family-owned yearbook publisher.
• The company provides its products and services to more than 4,400 schools nationwide.

Products and Solutions Offered

1) Scholastic Yearbooks

• The company has a separate division called "Walsworth Yearbooks" in order to produce yearbooks for the American schools.
• It also provides various yearbook marketing solutions like PEP (parent email program), printed reminders, marketing staff training, big event marketing, customized marketing, and online sales among others to the various American schools.

2) Print Product Solutions

• The company offers various printing product solutions such as heatset web printing, sheetfed printing, and binding and cover treatment.
• The company's web presses feature "closed-loop color control" that helps the company ensure consistent color quality in its printing.

3) Digital Product Solutions

• These include e-commerce solutions, website design and content organization, email marketing solutions, brand awareness creation on social media, and Walsworth mobile applications, which enable companies to convert their publications into digital editions.

4) Publishing & Design Support Solutions

• The company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, 'Donning Inc', enables organizations to have their rich heritage and history published in book form and thereby, create an impact on their employees, customers, members, and community.

Services Offered

1) Mailing & Fulfillment

• The company provides its clients with a full array of mail and fulfillment solutions for both domestic and international mail. It has USPS trained and certified mail specialists who provide professional service.
• The company also offers 'IMB Tracking Program' to its clients that enable easy and accurate tracking of packages.

2) Digital Presence Assessment

• The company provides its clients with a digital presence assessment scorecard that helps them benchmark their current digital presence and also identify the performing and non-performing areas of their digital presence, and thus take corrective actions.

3) Content Assessment

• The company's content assessment services help clients identify if their published content is in line with the reader preferences and changing reading trends.
• It also helps organizations evaluate the content of their competitors and thereby, identify differentiation opportunities.

4) Publication Makeover

• The company helps its magazine publisher clients identify improvement ideas and cost-saving options and suggest ways to expand advertising opportunities, reduce costs, and make the publishing process more efficient.

Product Pricing Details

• The company has not disclosed any pricing details for the school yearbooks that it sells through its e-commerce platform. It clearly states that one needs to contact the respective schools for procuring the pricing details.
• The company also does not furnish any pricing details for the various product solutions provided to associations, magazine publishers, book publishers, and catalog publishers. One needs to "request a quote" from the company website.

Service Pricing Details

• The company again does not offer any pricing details for its various services in the public domain and one needs to contact the sales team and request a quote.

Research Strategy

Balfour

• Balfour is a 100-year startup company under the umbrella of the American Achievement Corporation, founded in 1913.
• Balfour has served and worked with over 3,700 schools in total and employs over 1,200 staff within its workforce.
• Balfour has a long successful history of manufacturing, sales and marketing of class rings, yearbooks, letter jackets, and graduation regalia. The company serves middle schools, high schools, and college students and alumni.
• It provides services such as repair services, customizable class rings, return services for undergraduates, and shipping services.
• Their product pricing information is as follows: yearbook-only package costs $54, reflection beads $24.99, personalized 14 karat laser soccer pendant at $299.99, dessert plates at $6.99, throw blankets at $27.99, backpacks at $24.99 to $44.99, alumni gifts at $59.99 to $199.99, personalized journals and photos at $16.99 to $39.99, team logo bath rob at $39.99 among others.
• Their pricing information for services like the free repair service attracts a $14.95 shipping/handling/insurance charge. For shipping information and pricing, on most of their products such as yearbooks, championship letterman, and high school class rings among others, are traditionally shipped to the student's local school representatives.

Research Strategy

Highschools and Colleges Served

• Jostens has served millions of consumers for more than 100 years. The company has catered to thousands of colleges in North America and features a reach across every K-12 school district in the US, i.e., over 13,500+ school districts.

Product Offerings

•  Custom jewelry like rings, bracelets, class tags, lockets, and others.
•  Graduation kits containing announcement cards, apparel, jewelry, souvenir, caps, gowns, photo cards, water bottles, etc.
•  Yearbooks, memory books, guide books, and other publications.

Service Offerings

• Jostens offers professional customization of jewelry, apparel, gifts, photos, yearbooks, accessories, and others.
• The company also offers print/digital advertising services, process outsourcing, event planning, online designing, promotion tools, and commercial printing services, among others.
• Jostens also conducts education workshops, conferences, summits, and events.

Product Pricing

• Custom jewelry: $269-$600 
• Caps, bags, blankets, drink ware, and other accessories: $18-$50 
• Jewelry accessories: $16-$33 
• Shirts, pants, hoodies, jackets, shorts, etc.: $18-$70 
• Graduation kits: $106-$256 
• Yearbooks: $25+ 

Service Pricing

• Yearbook track workshop: $175 
• Photography track workshop: $215 
• Education Summit: $200 
• National Conference: $395+