Reader’s Digest Association (RDA) is the world’s leading direct marketer of magazines, books and music. Procurement of direct mail is a core business activity for RDA and in March 2007, RDA was acquired by a private equity firm, who introduced an immediate focus on increasing long term profitability. A primary component of the strategy was reducing costs in key spend categories.

Williams Lea’s solution was to build a global print utility under a single reporting structure. RDA’s $218 million print spend was aggregated with Williams Lea’s $800 million spend creating the largest independent print sourcing entity in the world. This enabled RDA to benefit from unprecedented leverage.

Results

• Contractually guaranteed savings of $130 million over the first three years
• $450 million in savings over the life of the contract

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