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Image 4 Named #8 on 10 to Watch List

Published Monday Oct 29, 2012

Three-Year Avg. Growth: 60%

Headquarters: 7 Perimeter Road, Manchester

Product/Service: Environmental design,

branding and program execution

CEO: Jeffrey Baker

Founded: 1987

Total Number of Employees: 24

Website: www.image4.com

After taking two big hits-first a staff cut and plummeting sales after 9/11 when tradeshow business halted and Image 4 lost $1 million in business overnight and then again during the recent recession-a refocused Image 4 is growing again.

Image 4 has long been known for creating eco-friendly tradeshow booths and for helping businesses brand their environments, but in 2009 it started designing pop-up retail stores and temporary retail spaces that have become a major driver of growth. Image 4 recently designed and erected the two largest pop-up stores in America, says CEO Jeff Baker, a 26,000-square-foot pop-up store for Lids at the Super Bowl in February and a 39,000-square-foot pop-up store for Zumba at its annual worldwide instructor meeting in Orlando in August. Each had thousands of visitors over the few days they were set up.

We just stripped down to what we're really, really good at-branded environments, Baker says. We help companies communicate their brand and all it means in a physical environment.

Also in early 2009, Baker hired sales reps for Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio. Columbus is home to the largest retail design firms in the country, Baker says, while Los Angeles is home to the largest banking and retail companies-all sweet spots for Image 4.

We laser focused on profitable clients that were easy to do business with and with whom we felt we had good alignment, Baker says. We focused tightly on sales to companies who looked like the companies we were already successful with.

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