In what it says is the most significant change in its 78 year history Melbourne-based printer Newlitho has rebranded to Neo, unveiled a new company logo and has built a new state-of-the-art website.
Neo is a third generation family owed company which started out as religious publisher New Life Publications in 1938, before transforming into a general printer in 1976. It picked up its first real estate printing job 20 years ago, but the residential real estate sector has since ballooned to 95 per cent of the company’s clientele. Today Neo provides services across 13 markets, including stationary, publishing, letterbox and logistics.
The printer recently broadened its capabilities to become a wider real estate distribution specialist which now includes marketing services. But CEO Seth Watts still describes print at the ‘lifeblood of the company’.
“Newlitho is a throwback to the era of lithographic printing and just is not relevant to how we operate in 2016,” Watts explains to Australian Printer.
“We wanted a name that was more flexible and would allow us to grow without being limited to specifically focus on print.”
Neo comes from the Greek word for new and shares the beginning and the end of the company’s new name. “The symmetry was too good to ignore,” Watts says.
The extensive overhaul, which includes not only new branding but a state-of-the-art website, has been months in the making. Neo recently completed the biggest capital investment in its history, making it a force to be reckoned with in the Australian printing scene.
“We could not be happier with the name and the new branding,” says Neo chairman Paul Daley.
“Saying goodbye to Newlitho is bittersweet, but I think I speak on behalf of the team when I say that we are all incredibly excited for the next chapter.”
Watts says despite an evident disconnection between the company name and its service offering for the past decade, a rebranding was not possible until this year.
“Rebrands have often been associated with negative events in the print industry, so we set a target for the business to be debt free and coming from a position of financial strength before undergoing this,” he explains.
“So we waited until we had five years of fantastic growth before we did the rebrand. Our last two years of operating have been the most successful we have ever seen.”
As the publisher of the Real Estate Weekly Peninsula and Real Estate Weekly Ranges, Neo is considered a product leader and innovator.
Today the company has a staff of 80 operating out its Mulgrave headquarters, and in 2015 it opened a second plant in Sydney with further expansion on the cards.
Watts adds, “Sydney has proven to be enormous for the business and our first 18 months in the city has been beyond expectation. We are also seeing good opportunities for growth in Queensland and some opportunities in South Australia.”
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