If there is one thing common to everyone’s childhood, it is the world of make believe. All of us have grown up hearing folk tales, fairy tales and super hero escapades from our grandparents or parents. In these stories we imagined ourselves as the knights in shining armour who could overcome any challenge, kill any demons and emerge victorious using the high levels of bravery, morality and justice. In these stories we imagined ourselves to be the Robin Hood, Cinderella, Tarzan, Alibaba or kings and princes. Personalised story books do precisely that. Your name and pictures replace the pivotal character and it is you who leads the adventure.
It was on this quest and curiosity of the child that Sachin Katira, CEO of Mumbai based Zoomin.com built his new venture of printing and supplying personalised story books. Ofcourse, this was possible only on a digital platform. One could never conceive of such ideas with conventional print so this has also proven to be an extension of the multi-faceted use of digital print and media.
Earlier these books were being imported and very few could afford or access the personalised book. Zommin.com changed the landscape by bringing it to the customer within 48 hours of filling out the relevant details.
The inception of this idea coincided with the onset of lockdown due to the second wave of Covid19. Parents and children alike were looking for new avenues to keep busy, creative and entertained. At the same time the solution had to be financially viable to be within the reach of the middle class client.
Katira brainstormed with his team and capitalised on this new business opportunity. Building on personal experience with his children and professional expertise of making personalised and custom designed merchandise like photo albums, coffee table books etc. he launched Zooboostory.com and within two months was shipping 130 story books per day printed on HP Indigo press.
The visual impact of a story book is perhaps even more important for a child than even the content for that’s what is going to draw him to the reading experience.
The ‘toner based system’ could not provide the right quality and imagery due to its operational and technical limitations. Katira shifted to HP indigo technology as he explains “Tech is at the heart of our initiatives and it was no surprise that HP Indigo Digital Press, the most advanced and cutting-edge printing solution, became the base on which Zooboostory.com was launched”.
“HP Indigo along with the Zooboostory team worked towards ensuring that prints popped with the right amount of colors, print quality, and media selection and brought illustrations to life. With the targeted readership being kids, the vivid blacks and contrasting shades made the vibrant color prints a Sight for sore eyes. “The CMYK set up that is based on special colors will bring every illustration to life” adds Katira.
A critical aspect of the launch was managing scale, which is where the HP Indigo press again surpassed expectations. After the customer enters the required details, the company’s backend system manages to create a print-ready file within minutes. In fact, to manage scale, the efficiency and features of HP Indigo, enabled the Zooboostory team to print about 700 finished books within an hourwithout compromising on the complexity and individual nature of each story.
When asked how HP contributed to the turnaround time at Zooboostory.com, Katira says, “The Indigo Press uptime is fantastic and our relationship with HP has been great. In fact, right after lockdown when we needed HP’s support, though Public transport wasn’t running, we had an HP representative at our doorstep to help. In fact, owing to optimization and scaling of technology deployed, Zooboostory.com today has the capability to ship out finished personalized storybooks within 24 hours”.
So far, in the field of story telling, we are still lagging in content and relating ages old stories which no longer have relevance in the tech-savvy world of today. Children are much more aware and exposed than they ever were. So to satisfy their craving for novelty and to keep in synch with the changing world we need new content. That is where the need for new writers and illustrators become imperative.
Rising to the demand Katira tells us, “We are always on the lookout for great illustrators and storytellers who can craft stories based on various milestones and morality-building tales. There is a whole new world – an opportunity for creators of content to cash in on”.
The next big question is the life of such a venture. Will personalized story books become the norm or is this a passing fad? The answer lies in the popularity of such books and as Katira aptly put it “It’s going to be the norm and it’ll also be the rekindling of the curiosity behind storybooks. When the child reads about him or herself in the story, intrigue is certain.”
The organisation plans to add new titles periodically to add variety to the selection available to the client. This will create a publicity platform as well. The amazing story of Zooboostory.com has come to life with the backend support of HP indigo and their journey together continues with Katira’s aim of creating a personalised library for every child!
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