History
Towne was founded by Harry Schmidt in 1953 as Towne Advertisers Mailing Service to provide mailing services to local merchants. The name derived from Towne’s first location; The Old Towne Tavern which was located in a shopping center in Long Beach, California.
Since the beginning, Towne’s signature has been PUTTING THE CUSTOMER FIRST. This philosophy has been passed along through each decade and remains a standard today.
In the late 1970’s, Harry Schmidt met a young computer programmer named Jerry Monroe. The two began working together to develop a computerized inventory maintenance and control system. Towne’s first IMCS pioneered electronic management and ordering of customer documents and inventory and created a unique offering providing fulfillment and traditional print and mail services all under one roof. Customers like Beckman Industries and Disney flocked to Towne because of its unique attentiveness to customer needs and its wide array of services.
In 1982, Jerry Monroe acquired Towne Advertisers Mailing Service from Harry Schmidt and continued the company’s expansion. Monroe continued to expand Towne services into telemarketing, data entry and data and mail processing. As the customer list grew, Towne deepened its focus upon customer success.
The technology revolution of the 80’s began to change the face of direct response communications in the 90’s. Just as in past years, Towne rose to the challenge and expanded and customized its offering to meet the demands of the times. In 1994, Monroe hired a seasoned industry consultant to assist him in fine tuning Towne and expanding its services to support customer needs. The relationship between Monroe and the consultant blossomed and in 1996, Towne named Michael Mercier as the third President/CEO in its history.
At the end of the decade, the Internet began to change direct response communications. Information technology had to be fast, transparent, extensible, virtual and user-friendly. As in past years, Towne was up to the challenge. In 1998, Towne created AllPoints Communications, a network of niche suppliers dedicated to working together to seamlessly provide fully integrated and comprehensive services. Towne formally changed its name to Towne AllPoints Communications to reflect the shift in its mission to provide global expertise in direct response communications and began expanding its facilities and presence nationally.
Today, Towne again finds itself on the cutting edge of communications both strategically and tactically. Tactically, Towne multi-distribution center “least cost routing” model is the standard by which others are measured in managing national programs using regional facilities. Towne customers have saved millions of dollars in freight, postage and trucking expense while enjoying an ability to gain advantage over their competitors by getting their message to market faster. Strategically, Towne’s SMARTcommunications™ vision is redefining direct response communications by weaving analytics and traditional and cyber communication techniques together to create a dialogue between sender and recipient. Towne SMARTlink™ technology provides a platform in leading customers to discover the right audience, right message, right media at the right time.
Towne has a rich history and for over 50-years we have evolved with precision and speed to shape our offering to meet the needs of our customers based upon the times. Towne has been a pioneer throughout its history never fearing to venture into unchartered waters. Communications is undergoing revolutionary changes and those who wish to be the best and thrive hire Towne to guide them cost effectively through these changes and attain a higher return on their marketing investments. While results have sealed a bond between Towne and its customers, Towne’s ageless philosophy of placing the customer first has defined our customer experience. Our mission calls for honesty and integrity and for over 50-years Towne has lived by those values. To those who have made the journey with us we extend a sincerely thank you and for those seeking to partner with an organization that has a proven track record of success and is driven by creating customer success we invite you to put Towne to the test. Towne stands ready, willing and able to serve you.