Comag Under New Ownership
The Jim Pattison Group has entered a long-term distribution agreement with Hearst and Condé Nast, taking full ownership of Comag Marketing Group. CMG had been jointly owned since 2000 by Hearst Corporation and Condé Nast Publications, Inc. providing sales marketing and promotional services in the mass market, direct-to-retail and specialty market channels.
CMG president, Jay Felts, said that the acquisition “is designed to migrate focus from interchannel tension to a renewed collaboration with the retail trade on brand marketing and consumer promotion, ultimately growing the magazine category – which is our overarching goal.”
JPG deputy chairman and marketing director Michael Korenberg believes “this transaction will strengthen the newsstand channel and, at the same time, enable Hearst and Condé Nast, as publishers, to focus on their core competencies.”