Quad/Graphics, Inc., a global marketing experience (MX) company, is rolling out “Built on Quad.” This new campaign showcases Quad’s latest brand identity and marks the company’s first large-scale marketing and advertising effort in its 52-year history. Quad’s new brand campaign will run through digital, OOH, print, events, experiential, direct mail, sponsorship and sales assets. It will also be showcased at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, including the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Quad provides end-to-end marketing solutions that removes friction wherever it occurs in the marketing journey for more than 2,900 clients, including Sirius XM, Amazon, the Albertsons Companies, and other major brands. The “Built on Quad” campaign focuses on the company’s strength as a one-stop partner for the modern marketer, and it also pays homage to its roots as one of the largest and most successful commercial printers in North America. The company produces over 765 billion pages and mails more than 8 billion direct mail pieces per year making Quad one of the USPS’ largest clients.

The costs of digital advertising are skyrocketing. By some metrics, prices on major platforms such as Meta, Google, and TikTok grew by anywhere from 61–184% year-over-year in 2021. At the same time, returns are plummeting; recent changes in privacy policies, such as those by Apple, have made it more difficult to target ads to consumers, who are increasingly likely to tune out the advertising that they see anyways. All of these trends are making digital advertising increasingly unprofitable and ineffective, forcing companies to rethink their marketing strategy and spending. Increasingly, companies that are rethinking their strategies are turning to an analog method: physical paper catalogs. And it’s not just traditional retailers that are increasing their catalog investments either. Even online disrupters such as Amazon, Bonobos, and Wayfair have entered the catalog game. But does this mean that every retailer should consider a direct mail strategy? If not, when does it work best?

This season, retailers and shoppers alike are contending with a shorter holiday shopping window — on top of tariffs, waning consumer sentiment and recession fears. The 2025 holiday shopping season is shorter than usual, with 28 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s one extra day compared to last year’s ultra-condensed shopping season, but four fewer shopping days than 2023. Cyber Monday will fall in December this year, and Christmas will be on a Thursday.  By some metrics, the holiday shopping season is shaping up to be merry and bright. The National Retail Federation projects U.S. holiday sales will surpass $1 trillion for the first time in 2025, rising as much as 4.2% over last year. Similarly, EMarketer is forecasting holiday sales of $1.369 trillion, up 3.6% year over year.