GCA Dragons Speed Dating surpassed expectations
Put together 72 greeting card publishers, 20 top retail buyers and a panel of industry experts for an afternoon and what do you get?
It’s the GCA’s Dragons Speed Dating event and, this being the Year Of The Dragon, everyone who participated yesterday, March 7, in a fast-paced few hours of pitching, learning and networking came away all fired up with positivity and potential.
“What an absolute gem of an afternoon – being able to actually get your cards in the hands of such prestigious buyers and gauge their reactions to your products there and then was invaluable,” commented Micky Calf, founder of Studio Bokette, echoing the views of fellow publishers who attended.
Continuing the successful formula of previous years, the publisher participants were divided into two groups, with one half first going in to face the retailer Dragons in the Den while the other half were treated to insights from a panel of publishers and experts, and then they swapped over.
“It was a really great afternoon – so lovely to meet lots of new faces,” said Tori Heath-Smith and Laura Clarke, buying manager and card buyer of Scribbler.
“We will definitely be following up at PG Live and have made several appointments at the show to see some of the publishers we’ve seen.”
Other multiple and small group buyers who were happy to be called Dragons for the afternoon included those from Cardfactory, House of Cards, John Lewis & Partners, Lark, Postmark and Sainsbury’s.
Kerry Nicholls and Jason Billings-Cray, category lead and buyer at John Lewis & Partners, also relished the event: “It was such a buzzy afternoon. We really enjoyed meeting a lot of new publishers who are just starting out – what talent there is in this industry!”
A strong posse of leading indies completed the horde of Dragons, each one enthusiastically sharing their feedback and giving advice to the publishers who entered the Den.
At the end of the day Kaye Thurgood, owner of Sincerely Yours in Shenfield and Hornchurch, admitted: “I’m shattered, but I loved every minute of it. I met such a broad range of people, each with their own fascinating stories and some fabulous products. I was so impressed by all the preparation they’d all done.”
As a newbie publisher Marit and Richard Taylor, co-owners of Apricot Cards, didn’t quite know what to expect, but came away in no doubt it had been a “very positive experience”. Richard admitted: “It was quite stressful to begin with, but what an exciting way to receive valuable feedback and such good advice!”
David and Jo Denning, founders of Lovely Paper Stuff, were equally appreciative of “the opportunity to network with other publishers” as well as “gaining feedback from retailers to our products”.
And Grace Jackson Design founder Grace Jackson has no doubts as to the merits of participating: “What a great experience and just fantastic to get in front of such fabulous retailers. I’m excited to see what will follow as a result.”
Taking place on the eve of International Women’s Day today, 8 March, it was all all-female panel at this year’s Dragons who share their experiences on a number of key industry topics.
Karen Wilson, joint owner of Paper Salad, emphasised the role of branding to create a point of difference in a saturated market. She cited Paper Salad’s vivid use of six-colour printing as well as innovative finishes as part of the publisher’s usps, and Karen also stressed the need for people to be original and not plagiarise others’ designs.
Kelly Hudson, md of specialist intellectual property lawyers McDaniels Law, covered protecting publishers from plagiarism and also revealed that Brexit has made UK copyright law somewhat murky.
Raspberry Blossom founder Rebecca Green shared her experiences of owning and managing a fast-growing publishing business in the ten years of trading while Georgina Fihosy, of diversity and inclusion card specialist AfroTouch Design, explained how her business success has been based around having established multiple income streams including wholesale, consumer and trade websites, and bespoke corporate work. She also explained how she had overcome a natural shyness and worked on improving her communication and public speaking skills.
Meanwhile Nicola Webster, founder of NJW Consulting, shared her knowledge of social media and some of the tricks of the trade in making the most of Instagram.
Having led the organisation of this year’s event Adriana Lovesy, GCA membership and marketing manager and founder of Mrs Lovesy card company, was delighted by the positive reactions from both participating publishers and buyers alike.
“Dragons is such an invaluable event, not just because it enables publishers to pitch their company one-to-one to fabulous buyers, but also for the opportunity it creates to network and share experiences with other publishers as well as learn so much from the panellists,” said Adriana. “Nothing beats face-to-face interaction, whether you’re a brand-new start-up, established company or experienced buyer. All this was very evident at yesterday’s event.”
And, with each of the Dragons going home with a bulging bag of samples from all the participating publishers, there’s bound to be more follow-up business.
There was no time wasting for Dragon Sally Matson, owner of Red Card, Petworth, who delved into her goody bag of samples from all the participating publishers as soon as she got home.
“Is sitting on the floor surrounded by so many glorious cards a definition of being ‘a cardie’ I wonder!” she quipped.
