Connections, insights, positivity and potential galore for publishers and retailers
“I’d forgotten how much I absolutely love being a Dragon! It was so inspiring to not only see a wealth of fabulous products, but also to hear the publishers’ back stories,” enthused Sally Matson, owner of Red Card in Petworth, about the GCA’s Dragons Speed Dating event which took place yesterday, 27 February.
“And this year there were lots of great newbies and talented illustrators who participated, which is so encouraging for the greeting card sector as a whole,” Sally added, echoing the hugely positive feedback from the den of leading retailers at London’s Business Design Centre, each sharing their advice with the 72 participating publishers during the afternoon – action from the event can be seen in the video above.
Continuing the successful formula of the previous nine years, the publisher participants were divided into two groups, with one half going to face the retailer Dragons first for a series of 10-minute one-to-one pitches, while the other half were treated to insights from a panel of publishers and then they swapped over.
“We learned so much,” commented Hatty de Roeper, co-founder of Sanders De Roeper, a view that was amplified by the other participating publishers.
“The panel presentations were really brilliant, very engaging, reassuring and interesting. This really rounded off the day for us and. hearing from more established publishers that everyone makes mistakes daily, really did ease the mind!” added Hatty.
Mark Janson-Smith, managing director of Postmark, summed up: “The best one by far! What an exhausting, but amazing day. The quality of the cards I’ve seen so far is exceptional – 100% I will be placing orders as a result. I’ve come away with at least three new suppliers just from my dates and who knows how many more after I go through my bag of samples from the others I didn’t meet.”
Other multiple and small group retail buyers who were happy to be Dragons for the afternoon included those from Between The Lines, Cardfactory, House of Cards, John Lewis & Partners, Jumping Bean, Lark, Moonpig, Mooch, Oliver Bonas and Waterstones.
Joining Sally and Karen West from Red Card in breathing the indie fire were Andrea Pinder from Presentation, Caroline Ranwell from Hugs & Kisses, Chris and Debbie Beards from Mantons, Lucy Eason from George’s, Aga Marsden of Highworth Emporium, and Jo McBeath from Chirpy.
“It really was such a great Dragons event,” summed up Amanda Fergusson, CEO of organiser the GCA. “We’ve already had so much positive feedback, and orders have been placed already as a result, with more to follow.
“The panel session went down incredibly well, so huge thanks to Mark Callaby from Ohh Deer, James Mace from The Art File, Jo Wilson from Dandelion Stationery, Iain Hamilton from Bewilderbeest and Anneke Driscoll from Lucilla Lavender, for generously sharing their knowledge and experiences. And of course, thanks to this year’s sponsors, Loxleys, Enveco and GF Smith.”
