Charterhouse: the sum of its parts

After a year that has seen a major acquisition and re-branding, as well as growth into the European mainland, Charterhouse believes its combined size has not affected its flexible approach to customer service.

It’s been a busy year for Charterhouse, the UK’s leading independent print manager. With sales in excess of €100 million for 2006/7, the company is firmly established in the premier league of European print management companies.

This success has been achieved through a combination of acquisition, European expansion and an ability to provide innovation and ethical solutions in a rapidly changing market place.

A host of leading brands enjoy the benefit of Charterhouse’s unique service and the company boasts a blue-chip client list that would be the envy of any service organisation, including: Airmiles, ING Direct, Mark & Spencer, Masterfoods, Powergen, Renault, Nissan, Shell, Sony, T-Mobile, Unilever, Waitrose, Which? and Woolworths.

Led by a six-strong board (Chief Executive Gary Mahoney, Matthew Stevens, John Munro, Jason Hammond, Anthony Hawkins and Nick Pride), Charterhouse have gone from strength to strength, forging areas of distinct expertise in the marketplace. “Our emphasis is on delivering responsible print management programmes direct to global brands, as we work towards becoming one of the most respected print management companies in Europe”, comments CEO Gary Mahoney. “We are much larger now, but still strive to be more innovative, perceptive and flexible than the established big players, with the added benefits of being partnership based and ethically guided”.

In November the company revealed its new “Charterhouse Sum” - a quirky re-brand that equally embraces both its professional approach and sense of fun. It is some way removed from the traditional print manager’s identity, but the company was keen to portray a message that clearly communicated the many strands to its unique service. As Wendy Owens, Charterhouse marketing manager, explains: “The brand reflects what we do every day; stand out from the rest of the industry, think differently and use our enthusiasm and personality to carry the client with us.”

During the last six months Charterhouse has significantly enhanced its European presence in recognition of the need to deliver a multi-local solution to clients. With an impressive client list that includes both UK and mainland European operations at Renault, Sony, Shell and Unilever, the company has been swift to establish a local presence in Amsterdam, Brussels and most recently Stockholm and Warsaw.

This strategy follows a geographical cluster approach to servicing client offices with similar cultures and business requirements (with the Swedish office servicing the entire Nordic region) and significantly strengthens the Charterhouse service offering in Europe.

Whilst widening European opportunities continue to develop with existing clients, Charterhouse has already added new business to its roster following this expansion, with a large agency group already benefiting from its presence in Stockholm – which is headed up by divisional director Buster Oldmark.

"We are much larger now, but still strive to be more innovative, perceptive and flexible than the established big players, with the added benefits of being partnership based and ethically guided." Gary Mahoney

Matthew Stevens, Charterhouse board director, comments: “Our expansion into Europe is a key development for the company, as an increasing number of our clients are looking for a local print management solution across a number of countries. The new offices take our offering to the next level, and we are already enjoying the benefit.”

This strategy recently led to a substantial contract award from Renault Europe, covering the production of DM, POS, marketing print and magazines for the car manufacturer’s Netherlands and Belgium regions. The Renault Netherlands contract was re-signed after a successful initial twelve-month period working with Charterhouse, and Renault Belgium has signed for the fi rst time as a result of this success. Combined, the two contracts are worth over €12 million. Anthony Hawkins, board director, explains: “The new deal with Renault Belgium is testimony to the success of our first year with Renault Netherlands and our growing presence in Europe. It is based on the best practices we originally employed to great effect in the United Kingdom.”

These best practices also extend to Charterhouse’s ethical approach to business; both in terms of how it looks after its people and suppliers. In addition the company has confronted both its own and its clients’ environmental impacts.

Last year Charterhouse became the first CarbonNeutral print management company and launched its groundbreaking initiative CarbonNeutral Print Production – two policies that are closely aligned to its ISO 14001 accreditation and environmental improvement targets.

CarbonNeutral Print Production is a unique service that allows its clients to measure, offset and reduce all the CO2 emissions associated with any printed marketing communication. The high profile launch was held at the London Zoo “Bugs House” last summer and was supported by Acting Party Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable MP who opened proceedings as keynote speaker.

ING Direct became the first client to join the programme and make its marketing print CarbonNeutral and was presented with a certificate in recognition of its commitment to the initiative. Nigel Thomson, customer relationship manager, commented: “ING Direct is delighted to support the Charterhouse Print Production Programme and applauds the lead role it is taking on this issue.”

The CarbonNeutral Print Production programme is the first such initiative to be undertaken by a print management company and is an important part of Charterhouse’s ongoing strategy to maintain high levels of environmental responsibility. Guy Meyers, commercial and communications manager, comments: “As a leading European print management company, it is important that Charterhouse not only responds to the drive for environmentally sound specifications, but that we provide our clients with the tools to take positive action.”

“Staffcare” is another example of Charterhouse’s ethical business stance. This covers a variety of policies that include the support of charity and community work as well as an array of staff incentives. As well as holding the coveted “Investors In People” badge, the company also picked up a “Best Company” Star Status Accreditation at this year’s prestigious “Best Companies” awards.

“Best Companies” provides organisations with confidential feedback from employees through their bespoke on-line survey that measures employee engagement across eight key factors (from leadership to personal growth and well being), and is affiliated with “The Times Top 100 Companies”.

Jason Hammond (Charterhouse board director) collected the award and commented: “We are delighted to gain this recognition and it is an important step in our quest to be the company that people want to work for as well as work with.”