Newfoundland publishers launch European marketing strategy in the U.K.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Publishers' Association (NLPA) announced today it will be launching Phase I of a five-year European Marketing Strategy at the International Festival of the Sea to be held in Bristol, England between May 24 and May 27. Association president, Clyde Rose of Breakwater Books Limited, explained that "our strategy is aimed at penetrating the lucrative European book and software market by promoting the province's cultural industries in regions of Europe with strong historic, economic and cultural ties to Newfoundland and Labrador. We are taking advantage of the province's participation at the Bristol Festival to exhibit our products in the Newfoundland and Labrador Pavilion, and we are holding private meetings in Bristol with local book-sellers, distributors and publishers."

The NLPA Strategy was prepared by Connections Research, a local consulting firm specializing in Newfoundland-U.K. relations, and is endorsed by all members of the association: Breakwater Books Ltd. (including Softwaves Educational Software, Inc.), Creative Book Publishing Ltd. (including Killick Press and Tuckamore Press), Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. and Jesperson Publishing Ltd. The association represents virtually the entire commercial book publishing sector in this province. While the local publishing houses between them have considerable international experience, they have no formal presence in the British marketplace.

An eight-person delegation from the NLPA will be travelling to Bristol, along with the two partners of Connections Research, to promote the wide range of publications, graphic illustrations and computer software produced in this province, much of it of direct relevance to Newfoundland and Labrador history, its maritime culture and the English West Country. The NLPA's overall objective is to arrange for Newfoundland books and other cultural products to become available in Europe through established marketing systems and to develop trans- Atlantic partnerships and joint ventures with European firms.

From Bristol, the NLPA team will travel to Poole in Dorset for meetings with publishing industry representatives from the West Country. Poole was pivotal to the development of the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries trade and the ancestors of many people in this province came from the counties of Dorset and Devon. As awareness of Newfoundland and Labrador grows in the West Country, so too does the public's interest in the published materials on West Country-Newfoundland links.

The publishers will then attend a reception in London hosted by the Canadian High Commission prior to leaving for St. John's. Before returning home, the two Connections Research partners and the NLPA president will attend a series of meetings in Dublin, Waterford and Cork organized by the Canadian High Commissioner to Ireland. During this visit, they will set up Phase II of the publishers' strategy which focuses on Ireland.

The provincial Minister of Tourism, Recreation and Culture, Sandra Kelly, will be attending the Bristol Festival on behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. "The main objective for the province's participation in the International Festival of the Sea is to promote tourism and our 1997 celebrations. I am very pleased that an industry partner like the Publishers' Association, whose objectives are not tourism-based but focused on expanding our export trade, can avail of the facilities provided by the province through our pavilion," said Ms Kelly. "As the minister responsible for cultural industries, I shall be taking the opportunity to support the publishers' efforts by participating in meetings they have set up in the U.K. Their initiative is directly complementary to government's strategy for marketing Newfoundland and Labrador industries abroad and promoting the province as a good place in which to do business."

For the Bristol and Dorset phase of the strategy, the NLPA is being assisted by the Canada-Newfoundland Cultural Industries Cooperation Agreement. NLPA president Clyde Rose expressed appreciation over government's support and noted that "the publishing industry is using a combination of Newfoundland's strong historic ties with southern England, the province's participation in the Bristol Festival, the upcoming 1997 Cabot celebrations, funds from a federal-provincial cooperation agreement and considerable financial and human resources of our own to embark on a campaign to promote our products abroad."

Phase II of the publishers' five-year strategy will see the NLPA cement its relations in southern England and developing similar contacts in Ireland. Over the next few years, the NLPA will initiate subsequent phases of its strategy in other regions of the U.K., such as Cornwall, the Channel Islands and Scotland, and in selected regions of continental Europe. The NLPA believes the increased international exposure Newfoundland and Labrador will receive from Cabot celebrations on both sides of the Atlantic in 1996 and 1997 holds tremendous potential for local enterprises to generate new trans-Atlantic business through enhanced markets, new distribution systems, the formation of partnerships and development of commercial joint-ventures.

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