Gage Marketing Group Purchases Industrio Advertising Agency; Full Ownership to Provide Company with Creative Talent, Premier Clients

Business Wire,  Sept 11, 2007  

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Award-winning firm to bolster Gage's marketing communications efforts;

Industrio posts record sales for fourth consecutive year

MINNEAPOLIS -- Gage Marketing Group announced today that it has raised its minority position in award-winning Industrio advertising agency to 100 percent, adding experienced creative talent and a strong brand portfolio to leverage Gage's existing strengths.

The announcement of the sale was made by Edwin "Skip" Gage, founder and chief executive officer, whose company has made significant contributions to the practice of integrated marketing. Gage created Gage Marketing Group upon leaving Carlson Companies in l991 as the firm's CEO.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1998 to provide turnkey marketing communications services to industrial manufacturers and distributors, Industrio has helped build such regional brands as Larson Boats, Ancillary Care Management, The Tile Shop, and Clam Corporation as it moved increasingly into the consumer side of the marketing industry. For the fourth consecutive year, Industrio will set a sales record, quadrupling its top line since 2004.

Commenting on the advantages of the sale to both firms, Eric McNulty, president of Industrio, said Industrio will now have access to deeper resources in serving principal clients, while Gage will acquire proven creative talent and a larger portfolio of quality brands.

Gage cited Industrio's strengths in providing online and off-line marketing support, an approach Gage has been using since its founding in 1992. "The Industrio team consistently delivers a great creative product" Gage added.

Gage Marketing Group, which was started by Skip Gage in 1992, was in the early 90's the largest promotions agency in the country, before its sizable fulfillment business was divested in 1998. As measured by Advertising Age, Gage Marketing Group is in the top 40 nationally both as an interactive agency and a promotion marketing firm. The company is regarded as an innovative practitioner of integrated marketing, including Web site and interface design, online promotions, database marketing and customer relationship management. Its clients include Microsoft, Thomson West, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Wells Fargo.

Note to Editors:

Phone interviews with Skip Gage can be arranged through Tom Belle, 763-595-3907 or tom_belle@gage.com

A photo of Skip Gage is available upon request

Since 1992 Skip Gage has developed Gage Marketing Group into a highly regarded organization, noted for promoting integrated marketing among Blue Chip clients. Before starting his own company, Gage was a senior officer of Carlson Companies, and was named CEO of that organization in 1989. In the 14-year history of Gage Marketing, the firm has provided services to roughly 75 percent of the Fortune 100. Skip Gage serves on numerous boards, including Carlson Companies, Inc. and Supervalu Inc. In the nonprofit sector, he is a board member of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, chair of the Carlson School of Management Board of Overseers, and chair of Inner City Tennis, a program to promote self-esteem among inner-city children. He is an avid tennis player, and twice as an undergraduate at Northwestern was named the school's outstanding athlete. He and his wife, Barbara, the parents of four children, live in Long Lake, Minnesota.

Gage Marketing Group has over 100 employees in Minneapolis and Newport Beach, Calif. In its practice of developing integrated marketing for clients, the company seeks to fuse various marketing disciplines that are typically deployed both online and off-line. Integrated marketing might involve, for example, direct marketing plus promotion plus loyalty marketing to create Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The company works to bring technology and marketing together, resulting in effective business solutions. Gage Marketing uses a select group of partners to provide research, high-end analysis, online media, and fulfillment services. In some instances, the company has minority ownership in the partner companies, and in others, multi-year partnership agreements.

Industrio was a separate entity before the acquisition. Holding a 30 percent minority position, Gage acted in an advisory capacity to Industrio management, with no direct role in agency operations. Industrio emphasizes creativity and an aggressive orientation to sales growth.

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