Springfield Cares launches St. Louis magazine

On the heels of relocating her downtown D.V. LaRue graphic design studio, entrepreneur Amy Michael yesterday launched a St. Louis version of her monthly Cares Magazine.

Michael has been publishing Springfield Cares since mid-2010, working from an office at Hammons Tower. On Dec. 7, she moved her sister companies, now under the banner of D.V. Cares LLC, to 122 Park Central Square.

Michael’s firms are occupying 3,600 square feet in a building that previously housed architecture firm Hagerman New Urbanism but has been largely vacant for the last year. The move also marks an alliance between D.V. LaRue and Nick Altrup’s 417 Marketing LLC in which the companies will share Web development and online marketing projects, Michael said. Altrup, who launched 417 Marketing months before earning a Master of Business Administration from Drury University in 2010, said his firm builds sites and handles Web marketing such as search-engine optimization and pay-per-click campaign management. 417 Marketing has 17 clients on retainer – including Positronic Industries and Springfield Music – and juggles 10 to 15 Web development projects at a time, he said.

“The partnership allows (D.V. LaRue) to send that Web development to us,” said Altrup, whose firm employs three full-time developers and a Google AdWords certified specialist, along with a handful of on-call contract employees.

The firm also designed the political campaign site for Elijah Haahr, a Republican who won a state representative bid in November.

D.V. LaRue specializes in print projects, bulk mailing and graphic design.

Michael’s entry into the St. Louis market is in partnership with Emmis Communications (Nasdaq: EMMS), an Indianapolis-based media company with properties in St. Louis. The firms held a launch party Dec. 19 attended by 100 people at Moto Musuem in St. Louis, Michael said.

The magazines are designed to promote charitable giving and healthy living, while acknowledging the local businesses that support area charities. Michael said 12 charities in the St. Louis market are signed on at the $1,500 partner-member rate to receive marketing benefits throughout the magazine and website. Springfield Cares has 25 partners, she said, and distributes 5,000 magazines each month.

Michael formed D.V. Cares LLC to lease the Park Central Square space for five years from Jerry and Sondra Hagerman for an undisclosed rate.

“It’s a lot of good exposure right there on the square. It’s exactly what we need,” she said.