Resources for Journalists & Editors:

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CoverSleeve illustration (PDF) or jpeg file

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Read more about the CoverSleeve

More press releases

To arrange an interview with the inventor and other leaders at Concord Litho, contact Ali Westcott at 603.225.3328 or send an email request to info@concordlitho.com.

Concord Litho Secures Patent for CoverSleeve,

a Unique Magazine Cover Format

January 23, 2006 – Concord Litho received a patent for its CoverSleeve invention, a tabbed magazine cover format that stores a multipage advertising insert inside.

In today’s announcement CEO Peter Cook said Patent No. 6,974,158 was issued to the company and inventor Jerry Westcott, VP of Direct Marketing Services at Concord Litho. It is the first patent for the $40 million family-owned company, which prints everything from direct mail components and newspaper inserts to fundraising premiums, such as calendars, datebooks, and cards

“We believe our patented CoverSleeve represents a truly revolutionary advertising vehicle available to magazine publishers and catalogers,” Cook says. “We’ve had great interest from publishers who are seeking a low-cost way to stand out and increase their advertising revenues at the same time.”

Publishing giant Rodale’s “Prevention” digest-size magazine has been using the Concord Litho CoverSleeve since 2002 with great success, according to inventor Westcott, who has been with Concord Litho for almost 25 years. Westcott says he came up with the CoverSleeve idea while brainstorming new ways for magazine publishers to generate additional advertising revenue.

“The front and back covers are prime real estate spots for advertising, so I naturally started focusing there,” Westcott says. “Combine that with a format that allows a reader to interact with the piece – open up a tab, pull out a value-added insert – and you’ve got what I thought was a unique spot for premium advertising and a cool way for publishers to generate some extra ad revenue.”

“Reader involvement is critical to advertisers and this format encourages that,” Westcott says. One “Prevention” ad-awareness study showed that 70% of readers remember the CoverSleeve, pull out the inside contents, and interact with it.

Concord Litho CoverSleeve magazine covers are produced inline on a web press, which prints the piece in a single press pass, and at the same time creates the pocket, folds the inner advertising insert into the pocket, seals it and makes a small perforated tab so that the insert can be removed from the cover. The format can be produced for digest- or full-size publications, perfect bound or saddle-stitched.