November 4, 2004

JohnsonRauhoff marketing/communications firm lands three new clients

By MICHAEL ELIASOHN / H-P Business Writer
St. Joseph -- JohnsonRauhoff has landed three new accounts, one of them being Home Depot. The others are Spartan Chassis and Quixtar.

To serve the three new clients, the St. Joseph-based marketing communications company has expanded from 60 to 83 employees, JohnsonRauhoff President Jackie Huie said.

However, most of the added workers are contract employees, who are scheduled to work until January.

"It took more than three years to get our first project with The Home Depot," Huie said in a news release. "After winning two rounds of bids and pitching four times, we were selected as one of two new groups brought on and it's been exciting ever since."

For the Atlanta, Ga.-based home improvement chain, JohnsonRauhoff is preparing its newspaper inserts, in-store signage and catalogs in the categories of kitchen and bath, lighting and electrical.

It does the design, photography and production -- everything except the printing, Huie said. For instance, for a general newspaper advertising insert, JohnsonRauhoff prepares the pages showing kitchen, bath, lighting and electrical products. For a catalog exclusively of kitchen or bath products, it does the entire catalog.

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer and the second largest retailer in the United States. It has more than 1,500 stores in the United States.

The other new clients are Spartan Chassis Inc., which has contracted with JohnsonRauhoff to handle all of its consumer advertising and trade communication programs, and Quixtar, for which it will do strategy, design, photography and graphic production for a special project.

Spartan Chassis, based in Charlotte, Mich., is a leading developer and manufacturer of custom chassis for recreation vehicles and fire trucks. JohnsonRauhoff will handle communications programs for it and its parent company, Spartan Motors Inc., Huie said.

Spartan manufactures fire truck and RV chassis in Charlotte. Its Crimson Fire division has three factories, in South Dakota, Alabama and Pennsylvania; and its Road Rescue division makes emergency vehicles in Marion, S.C.

The third new client, Quixtar (formerly Amway), is one of the Alticor family of companies based in Ada, near Grand Rapids.

Quixtar uses its thousands of "independent business owners" worldwide and the Internet to market health, cosmetic and consumer products.

JohnsonRauhoff is a full-service marketing communications group and photography studio serving national and international accounts from its locations in St. Joseph Township and Benton Harbor. It has a total of sixty employees at offices in Ann Arbor and Louisville, Ky., serving specific clients.

Huie said the company specializes in four areas -- appliances, retail, automotive and pharmaceutical.

Its other clients include General Electric, Hamilton Beach, Johnson Controls, Meijer and Wal-Mart.