Don Percenti believes it takes more than a snapshot to capture a special moment.

American Achievement Corporation (AAC) is a recognition company. Its products immortalize graduations in the pages of a yearbook and recognize goals reached in the form of a class ring. Although these products are staples of American society, they are primarily geared toward the youth market. In the last few years, Don Percenti, president and CEO, has focused on introducing technologies to enhance the company’s product line while maintaining the same sense of tradition.

In 2000, AAC acquired Taylor Publishing, a yearbook production company. Prior to the acquisition, AAC sold recognition products such as diplomas, graduation announcements, class rings, caps and gowns, and family jewelry. In combining the two companies, AAC found a way to fill a hole the company had in the recognition industry.

Don Percenti, President and CEO

“American Achievement was an organization that sold recognition products but had no yearbook division,” said Percenti. “It was a perfect addition to our portfolio of products.”

Personal touch
The technology surrounding yearbook production has changed drastically in the past few years. The norm is no longer black and white books with occasional color photographs; most yearbooks today are at least 80% full color. Shortly after the acquisition of Taylor Publishing, AAC’s management team sat down to look at where the yearbook industry was going and how his company was going to keep up.

Although color printing had been around for years, it was never affordable in the yearbook industry. Pages of color ran through a press up to eight times, making production tedious and time consuming. While investigating available technology to bring the costs of color printing down, the company discovered the Komori Perfector presses.

“Those presses allow us to run both sides of a signature page for a yearbook in full color once through the press,” said Percenti. “At the same time, the front end, the page production part of the process was automated to a digital computer-to-plate workflow.”

The $30 million investment into new equipment saved the company both time and space. Taylor Publishing had functioned with nearly 35 presses at the time of the acquisition. After the technological upgrade, Taylor has continued to work at 100% capacity with only eight presses. The downsizing of the presses also enabled the consolidation of four manufacturing facilities. The company now has two facilities, one in Dallas and one in El Paso, Texas.

“Because the yearbook is a seasonal business, we have two peak seasons: spring and late summer,” said Percenti. “We never could have completed our orders without the latest technology.”

Rather than referring to his company as being in the yearbook business, Percenti describes it as a technology business. Each of the 200 yearbook sales representatives utilize the latest technologies that the schools use to publish their yearbooks, such as Quark and End Design. Unlike others in the industry, Taylor Publishing had a proprietary software package designed specifically for the yearbook industry. Additionally, in 2006 AAC introduced Studio Works, an online program that changed the way representatives interact with their clients.

“We’re now advisors and not simply representatives,” said Percenti. “One of the school’s staff can work on the yearbook online and submit their copy over the Internet.”

In looking to the future of yearbooks, Percenti said the next significant change would be personalization. Students will get a yearbook, but part of the book will be custom designed by the student or the student’s family members. AAC recently acquired some digital presses and the company expects the changes to be introduced in the next two or three years.

The whole picture
One of the most important factors in developing recognition products is the ability to customize and personalize each item. In the class ring side of AAC’s business, Percenti said the 200 independent sales representatives strive for class ring ownership, both by the students and for their schools.

Three years ago AAC started a program aimed at bringing the prestige back to college rings. AAC discovered that the colleges with the highest buy rates were those with traditional ring programs. Rather than mailing the students their rings or ordering it from a bookstore, AAC involved the alumni and college presidential offices to ceremonially present the jewelry.

“The significance is not simply in the ring; it’s about the whole experience,” said Percenti. “We’ve seen the buy rates go up at colleges where we’ve implemented our ring program. Family members enjoy seeing their students receive a college ring.”

In 2006, AAC and other major players in the industry developed a class ring council to increase buy rates. “For years, the companies competed against each other in the marketplace and there were never any national advertising or promotions,” said Percenti. “We thought that as an industry working together we could afford to build national advertising and other promotions to encourage class ring ownership.”

When he looks at AAC, Percenti sees a service organization. He does not believe customers should worry about the process involved before they receive their recognition. What he wants them to focus on is the feeling they have when they hold their yearbook, class ring, graduation announcements, or diplomas in their hands.

“Our mission is to recognize and inspire personal achievement by helping people celebrate and remember special moments in their lives,” he said. “We’re not a business many people think about, but almost everyone has received one or more of our products.”