Spotlight: What it means to be a marketing experience company
Our VP of Brand Marketing, Heidi Waldusky, talks about Quad’s evolution as a marketing experience (MX) company and how each of our employees plays a part.
Q: Quad defines itself as a marketing experience, or MX, company. What does MX really mean?
A: A big part of my role is helping to define how Quad shows up in the industry. Yes, we have a powerful range of marketing products and services, but we’re also a company that believes a successful business is built on relationships. When I think about what MX means, it’s about how we meet and exceed the needs of our clients, not just with our capabilities, but with our talent and our passion for solving their unique business challenges. Simply put, MX means making the marketer’s experience as seamless, flexible and frictionless as possible. With great results to boot.
Q: How do we “sell” MX? Is it something people actually buy from Quad?
A: MX is the approach to how we do business—it’s where superior problem-solving and delivery on our end means real results on our clients’ end, like meaningful cost savings, improved audience targeting or being able to get into market faster. It’s also why we’ve made our solutions easier to “shop” for by grouping them into distinct suites: Creative, Production and Media, fueled by Intelligence and Tech. A good analogy might be: If the suites are our tools, then MX is the toolbox. The truth is that the philosophy behind MX is how we’ve always driven value for our clients. Using it as our company position allows us to quickly telegraph who we are and how we want clients to feel when they partner with us.
Q: How do we know that being an MX company matters to marketers?
A: We continuously listen to marketers. They’ve been telling us that they’re overwhelmed by choices and channels and that they’re seeing rapidly rising friction and inefficiency as they attempt to make all the pieces of their marketing machines work together. Quad understands those pain points, and so we’re explaining to marketers that we can help solve their biggest problems with solutions that are crystal clear, totally understandable and—this part is
crucial—designed to work together.
Q: What does being part of an MX company mean for Quad’s employees?
A: MX is about fulfilling the needs of marketers. Everyone at Quad contributes to that, from manufacturing to finance to strategy to creative execution and so on. We all play a role in delivering the best marketing experience possible, no matter the client or the task at hand. It’s asking ourselves what our clients need and figuring out how we can solve their problems, generate stronger results or make their lives easier, from invoicing to integration and everywhere in between. The more we understand that MX takes each of us, the better we’re able to deliver on what makes Quad, Quad.
Q: How is Quad continuing to evolve MX? What are you excited to see in the future?
A: Evolving MX means continuing to urgently innovate and expand the offerings we know are critical to marketers today, like our household intelligence capabilities that give brands the strategic insights they need. I’m proud to show up every day for Quad and tell our story. Watching new clients come on board or seeing our existing brand relationships expand speaks to the strength of our commitment and the quality of our work. Our founder, Harry V. Quadracci, had the right idea from the beginning: Together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
