A direct mail company in Somerset is winning new business and taking on new staff despite the gloomy economic conditions.

MPS, which is based in Bishop Sutton near Bristol, recently celebrated a new half-a-million pound contract in Asia and Australasia and is now expanding its workforce by a third to handle the extra demand.

The firm has expanded from five people. It took on a new business sales manager a month ago and is now taking on two more to bring the staff to eight.

Mail and Print Services was started just over a year ago by Rob Fagnani and is handling a two-year digital mailing campaign for Dumex, part of Cow & Gate.

To help win the contract Rob carried out six months of research in Asia and even attended special training courses to learn about the different customs in each of the countries where MPS would be operating.

"I wanted to be able to exchange greetings in their languages and understand the different protocols and effort has been worthwhile," he says. "In Thailand, for instance, the practice is to accept a business card in both hands and read it there and then."

The Cow & Gate campaign started just before Christmas last year in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam and will include Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia and China.

Rob has flown hundreds of thousands of miles to find print partners.

"We are using different print partners in Thailand and Singapore, so we can split quantities if required as well as give the client contingency," he said.

MPS is using XMPie software to produce the 20 versions of each digital mailer and outputs 15,000 or more PDFs a week for download by the printers in Thailand and Singapore. Global fonts were brought in to handle the different languages and each mailer has a five-day turnaround and contains over 120 variable images. Data is generated from a new website offering mothers and fathers help and advice during pre and post birth.

Rob says the emphasis is on delivering the highest levels of service, which is why MPS is now taking on two new employees.

"We've gone back to basics and realise that during a downturn clients require us to go the extra mile. We've got to react to the market and increase our workforce accordingly."