Valassis and Alliance Marketing Announce In-Store Marketing Partnership

LIVONIA, Mich., April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, and Alliance Marketing, the nation's largest independent ad group, representing over $2 billion in annualized retail sales, announced today an arrangement to develop and execute in-store marketing and media programs, effective second quarter 2011. Alliance Marketing and its affiliates represent independent supermarkets in 15 states. The new partnership brings over 200 independent retailers to Valassis' In-Store network, representing 70 retail banners.  Valassis will help Alliance Marketing emphasize promotional pricing at the shelf, heighten the effectiveness of brand messaging at point of purchase and streamline the way consumers find information about products and how they can be used.

"We are tremendously excited about our partnership with Alliance Marketing and the retailers they bring into the Valassis In-Store network," said Michael Kowalczyk, Valassis Vice President and General Manager of In-Store Marketing. "I would expect that, in combination with Alliance Marketing's creative and analytical prowess, Valassis will be able to deliver an in-store experience previously unavailable to consumers in those respective markets."

"We are excited about our partnership with Valassis," said Joe Wolf, President of Alliance Marketing. "Every week more than 3,500,000 people shop our stores and we represent a great vehicle for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to reach valued consumers. Valassis brings the tools necessary to help us market on behalf of those CPG companies, but more important, improves the shopping and customer service experience our customers have come to expect daily in our stores."

About Valassis

Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum™ media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform – in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers can find compelling national and local deals. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing Children® program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC and NCH Marketing Services, Inc.  For more information, visit http://www.valassis.com, http://www.redplum.com and http://www.save.com/. To learn about advertising opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.

About Alliance Marketing

Alliance Marketing and its affiliates represent over 350 independent supermarkets in 15 states, bringing the marketing and negotiating power of independents together.  The Goodlettsville, Tennessee based company negotiates on behalf of 2.2 billion in annualized retail sales, working to improve the competitiveness of its members in the marketplace as well as increase the value and the experience the consumers have when they shop Alliance stores. Alliance is a full service company that also provides advertising services and software solutions for independent supermarkets across the nation.

Valassis Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following: price competition from our existing competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in client preference for different promotional materials, strategies or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a result of declines in newspaper circulation; an unforeseen increase in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the businesses of our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion spending, including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing budgets which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses; our substantial indebtedness, and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if necessary, and our ability to incur additional indebtedness, may affect our financial health; the financial condition, including bankruptcies, of our clients, suppliers, senior secured credit facility lenders or other counterparties; our ability to comply with or obtain modifications or waivers of the financial covenants contained in our debt documents; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating flexibility; ongoing disruptions in the credit markets that make it difficult for companies to secure financing; fluctuations in the amount, timing, pages, weight and kinds of advertising pieces from period to period, due to a change in our clients' promotional needs, inventories and other factors; our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel may affect our business and results of operations; a rise in interest rates could increase our borrowing costs; we may be required to recognize additional impairment charges against goodwill and intangible assets in the future; possible governmental regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; the credit and liquidity crisis in the financial markets could continue to affect our results of operations and financial condition; uncertainty in the application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the market areas in which we conduct our business, including the adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are described in greater detail in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and the foregoing information should be read in conjunction with these filings.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Valassis

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED