The company
Cascade Group is a print and design business with offices in the heart of London’s financial and corporate districts. It offers copying, digital colour printing and binding, as well as direct marketing, large-format displays and litho printing. Clients range from SMEs to the largest of corporate behemoths. The City of London is a competitive market, with highly demanding customers, but co-owner Richard Adler says it’s also extremely rewarding.
Until the end of 2011, Cascade Group was a Kall Kwik franchise. Indeed, it had been a Kall Kwik franchise for 30 years prior to that. But by the time Kall Kwik franchise owner On Demand Communications (ODC) went into administration in December 2011, Adler had already decided to exit his agreement with the company. The Kall Kwik of old, in his opinion, was not the Kall Kwik of few years prior to his company’s exit.
The problems were well documented at the time – franchisees felt they were not getting the support from Kall Kwik that they were paying for – and Adler was a key player in the legal fall-out of that.
"I was part of the small group that liaised with the legal teams and I sat in on the mediations that took place," says Adler. "All the expertise we were paying for had disappeared – we were getting nothing in return for the cash we were spending."
Following the discussions – but before ODC went into administration and the Kall Kwik brand reborn under new ownership – Cascade Group made the decision to go it alone.
"It was both intimidating and liberating to go it alone," he says. "It was the 64-million-dollar question – could we survive outside the Kall Kwik brand? No one could give us a definitive answer to that question. We did speak to key clients – and the gist we got was that, if it was the same team and the same service, then they didn’t really mind what name was above the door."
As if this was not enough to deal with, the company also had to cope with its city customers taking a hammering, both in the markets and in the press, leading to a vast reduction in spending – "we noticed the insurance customers in particular were hard hit," says Adler.
Hence, the company had to not only negotiate being thrust into the print world without the support it had benefited from historically, but it also had to work out a way to grow when customer budgets were shrinking – all in the cut-throat competitive market of providing print for the city’s traders.
The method
After officially leaving the Kall Kwik business, Adler had a weekend to rebrand. He had prepared for the moment beforehand, starting to use the name City Group in the months before he left on some of the company communications, but on deciding to use it officially he discovered the name was already registered elsewhere.
"We probably should have researched it a little more!" says Adler. "So we had to sit down and decide again what to call ourselves – we decided on Cascade Group. Following the decision, we transformed the company over a single weekend, so that included signage, stationery, packaging – everything! It was a bit of a challenge, but we managed it."
Rebranding was just the beginning, though, as reacting to the new-found freedom and the tough market would take more than a change of name. Adler says the solution was a two-pronged attack.
"The main thing we did was that we bought a small marketing company and another ex-Kall Kwik store," says Adler. "We had been using the marketing company in the past while still with Kall Kwik. We wanted to bring that service in-house to provide a more consultative service, and not just be about ink on paper. "
These new services include SEO and website building work, alongside a new design studio. Meanwhile, the purchased Kall Kwik centre – which happened to be owned by Adler’s cousin – added new clients and another central-London base.
The second thing Adler did was invest in new equipment. Cascade bought a Xerox 1000 press and it brought perfect binding, cutting and creasing in-house through a large spend with Morgana. This was aimed at increasing capabilities for personalisation and also speeding up turnaround times and gaining greater control of the print process.
In addition, the business also assessed the plusses and minuses of becoming a 24-hour operation to match the round-the-clock nature of the City environment.
"We trialled staying open later, but we found people were simply not interested," explains Adler. "We just didn’t have the work to justify staying open and waiting for a job to come in. So we just continued with what we have always done – our clients have our mobile numbers and if they need us they can call us and we will get the job done."
As important to all these measures, however, was Cascade finding an alternative source of the advice that for the most part of their relationship Kall Kwik had provided to Adler and his team. Granted, Adler says this had disappeared in the final couple of years, but he says it was crucial to the company’s transition that it supplemented its own in-house expertise with the knowledge of people outside the company.
"We have considerable experience ourselves to make up for the loss of the Kall Kwik service, but we have also not stopped seeking outside advice," says Adler. "We have a lot of contacts in the industry and they are more than happy to have a chat with us. They tell us what is happening in the wider print industry, both in business and kit terms, and it is really useful to have that outlet."
Results
The measures Cascade undertook, both to deal with its new-found independence and to counteract the challenging market conditions, had an instant impact: turnover in 2011 was up 10%
Adler says the changes were funded by money that was within the business already, so were not dependent on bank loans.
"We no longer had the payments to Kall Kwik to make, but we have also always left the fat in the business – we have not gone off and bought Ferraris and Jaguars!" reveals Adler.
The turnover boost has come from serving existing customers better through the equipment investments – with capability now to offer more personalisation and short-run, fast-turnaround work – and new customers brought on board through the added services brought in-house through the purchase of the marketing company.
"The purchase of the marketing business is bringing in so much more business – a lot of which is on a retainer," says Adler. "It has helped us secure the print side of things as it all feeds into each other and our client base has really expanded as a result of the new offering."
Conclusion
"It was a tough decision to go it alone – and I was very nervous about doing it as it was a big step – but one year on, I am so pleased we took the decision," says Adler. "It’s possible we may have lost some clients as a result of the move, but, in some ways, we are probably not too worried about losing them, as I have been told face-to-face from some of the new clients that we might never have had their custom had we remained part of Kall Kwik and that work has been a lot more prestigious than work we have perhaps lost.
"Leaving has really given us a freedom to explore new areas, which has also assisted us in dealing with the challenging market we have faced."
Cascade Group is not resting on its laurels, however, realising that it needs to continue its push forward into new areas.
"We are looking at bringing die-cutting in-house, also moving into grand-format work, possibly with an Océ Arizona, to facilitate the increased exhibitions jobs we are getting," says Adler. "We are also doing more work for charities. It is all really positive and I am very optimistic 2013 is going to be a bumper year."
COMMENT:
Whatever your feelings about the European Union and the sort of relationship the UK has with it, most will agree that when the EU was first created, the pressures and the fears faced by Europe were very different to the pressures that it faces now.
Improved offering
What the Cascade Group has shown is that, if the decision is taken and if it is done properly, breaking off a long-term relationship can be possible. In this instance, it has required the leadership team to follow the strength of their convictions and support from their staff, which as a result has improved the offering they are able to give their customers, old and new.
Philip Thompson, head of BPIF Business
