
GlobaLocal came into its own as a high powered event in 2014 with a significant presence of international publishers. Publishers and digital players discussed the possibilities of collaborative publishing and the im- peratives of digitization. The event be- gan with the traditional keynote and the CEO conference but the highlight this year was the superbly conducted match- making event. This was followed by a well attended cocktail party at the end of the first day session that provided an opportunity to network with all the par- ticipants. The second day’s sessions fo- cused on STM publishers and start-ups with an HP presentation on how print- on-demand is fast becoming the pub- lishers’ choice.
Turning printed books into mega brands
Sangram Surve, CEO of Think WhyNot, a Mumbai-based marketing start-up fired up the imagination of the audi- ence giving great insights into leverag- ing print content of Vayuputras to scalable levels at a marketing session. The now expanded Shiva Trilogy has been converted into a set of multimedia success stories that range from print, audio books, internet, original sound track for a movie and television and film-based content platforms using multi-media marketing.
An Indian theme by an Indian pub- lisher burst several myths on the way to becoming a global success. It showed how print publishers must use the digi- tal platforms to enhance discovery and reach.
The step-by-step marketing plans and development of Amish Tripathi’s runaway success of mythological fiction of the Vayuputras running into lakhs of print copies is the result of a well devel- oped strategy. A huge media campaign at no cost to the publisher was achieved
with the help of 16 front page inserts in the Times of India through a cross media music video marketing deal with Times Music.
600 dating sessions in 6 hours
The post lunch session on both days saw the publisher interaction sessions. GBOs first success was in bringing a large number of international particinam Shrivastava and GBO’s six-member team handled the event with clinical ef- ficiency and finesse. Rastogi reports that the two-day matchmaking session yield- ed an amazing 600 meetings.
The matchmaking sessions were speed dating events where a publisher had ten minutes to meet another group from a different region or platform — either digital or print publishing to pants including those from other parts of Asia where the Roman script is not being used, to the 54 matchmaking tables at this year’s GlobaLocal.
Seeing over 200 publishing industry profes- sionals interact with focus and purpose in a short-time frame was exciting. While Katherine Ewald of the FBF mon- itored and moved the participants on the spreadsheet to maximize the num- ber of meetings, Prashasti Rastogi, Shabget a first-hand look at potential collab- orators or partners.
The idea was to maximize potential opportunities in the minimum time period with face-to-face encounters, the exchange of catalogues and preliminaries in one session. Clau- dia Kaiser deputy director said that the FBF had first tried this method with great success in China where the GBO began its activities in 1998.