Letter from Executive Director, Marcel Avargues.

9th December, 2011

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Dear ERA Europe Members

After careful evaluation of our current dues model, the Financial and Executive Committees have presented to the Board an evolution of the model for the 2012 membership of ERA Europe. This new model was unanimously approved by the Board and will be presented for validation to the General Assembly of members, January 27, in Ljubljana.

The 2012 dues model has three global objectives:

1. Reflect the actual and current business models in our industry
2. Update smoothly the values of our dues schedules – which have remained unchanged for 7 years – and allowance in the future for optional annual small adjustments, based on a general European price index
3. To be fair to all categories and sizes of members, and consequently foster an honest application of the model by each and every member of ERA Europe.

The 6 key features of the 2012 model are:

1. Clarification of the nature of D2C channels included in the revenue base for retailers and product marketers
2. Inclusion of 50% of Retail revenues on D2C products, in the revenue base for retailers and product marketers
3. Adjustment of the dues level brackets for inflation (limits to reach the next level are 20% higher)
4. 3.3 % adjustment of dues amount at each level, for inflation
5. Creation of a ‘three dues levels’ model for associate members and sole proprietor categories
6. Adjustment of the additional dues model for ERA UK members – only top dues members pay €1000. There is now a decreasing sliding scale for lower dues levels.

ERA Europe members will receive before December 15:

1. The new dues schedule for their category and territory of membership (DUES SCHEDULES 2012 )
2. A proforma invoice reflecting their 2011 dues level
3. If you are a retailer or product marketer,  we have created a DUES DETERMINATION TEMPLATE 2012 which members are encouraged to use to determine their 2012 dues level and amount.  (This is a protected Excel spreadsheet. Entering the values of different sections of your company revenues will automatically display your appropriate dues level and dues amount. We don’t need to receive this template back! It is a tool to help you determine your 2012 dues level, on the basis of your expected 2011 revenues..

You will have to indicate to Marcel Avargues, director of ERA EUROPE, the appropriate dues level for your company. If it does not change in 2012, please simply use the proforma invoice you will have received to make your payment by bank transfer.

Online Payment

This year members can renew their membership and settle their dues payment online. Please connect to the Membership renewal pages, and follow the simple instructions. Members will have the opportunity to provide us with current contact information, pay by Credit Card or Bank Transfer, and have an invoice printed immediately.

Members can, at the same time, register for the 2012 Annual Members Meeting in Ljubljana – January 26-27, making a single transaction for both.

We hope you will find this useful and that it will facilitate and accelerate your membership dues payment and annual meeting registration. Your cooperation and diligent processing are key to streamlining our administrative tasks (I should say MY administrative tasks since I am personally taking care of this process….No unnecessary overheads at ERA EUROPE!). Please minimize in 2012 the number of kind reminders I have to send every year…

Don’ t hesitate to call me: + 33(0)6 70 57 44 10 for any comments or questions you may have.

Looking forward to receiving soon in December, the confirmation of you continuous support of ERA Europe.

Warm personal regards

Marcel Avargues

Executive Director, ERA Europe

tel: +33(0) 9 63 63 94 42  | fax: + 33 (0)1 34 89 22 48

CC: John Mills – Chairman of the Board; Matthias Epp – Treasurer; Julian Oberndoerfer – Chair elect.

Registration is now OPEN!

Click the image to go to find out more! Please note this event is only open to Members of ERA Europe.

Dear ERA EUROPE members,

ERA Europe members will now receive (either from me or the ERA Europe Government Affairs Committee Chairs), a quarterly Government Affairs Update (PDF), plus specific alerts when needed, on the Government Affairs issues which are affecting our industry. This is something which has repeatedly been declared a key membership benefit.

Institutional agendas in Brussels, as well as in your respective countries (whether member states or not), fluctuate regularly and are closely linked to the renewals of governing bodies. At European levels it took almost a year for the new Commission and the newly elected Parliament to get up to speed on the myriad issues they are required deal with.

The legislative agenda is reaching a new intensity now in Brussels, and ERA EUROPE and the Board of directors are stepping-up  the amount of time and the attention allocated to representing our positions and views, as a specific industry, where media access issues converge with consumer protection within the model of Direct-to-Consumer Marketing and transactions created by the Internet and TV convergence.

I can only commend here, the remarkable dedication and attention that Mike Wells, Julian Oberndoerfer (Committee Chairs) and Manos Markakis (Board Member) have devoted in helping me map and nurture the government affairs action we need to conduct within our tight budget.

After reading this update, I sincerely hope that you too will decide to devote a small portion of your personal time (or perhaps delegate a member of your Executive Staff or Legal counsel) to join our Government Affairs committee, to receive directly and personally the material we are working on, and to contribute with your national experience and knowledge, to building sound industry positions, when relevant and adequate. (This Committee meets at each key ERA meeting or Conference, next time at our Annual Member Meeting, January 21, in Amsterdam).

You will find the complete report in PDF format HERE, or online viewer HERE, the situation and perspectives on two major areas of current legislative activities:

- Media access for our industry and the evolutions linked to the implementation of the  Audiovisual Media Service directive

- Consumer protection 2.0:   From the Distance Selling Directive Evolution to the multifaceted issues of privacy on the net.

Looking forward to receiving your input and comments as well as welcoming new volunteers for this essential part of the Association mission.

Continuing our series of mini-interviews with leading members of ERA Europe, Manos Markakis, General Manger of Telemarketing SA

Tell us about your company and your role

I am one of the founders and main shareholders, acting as General Manager of the largest multichannel retailer in Greece. The company has airtime in all national TV stations, both spots and infomercials; owns a local 24h TV station; sells (besides DRTV) through catalogs, internet, telephone, retail stores (24 telemarketing retail stores and supermarkets).

How long have you been ERA members?

We are ERA members since 1993.

What are the principal benefits for you in being a part of ERA (and ERA Europe)

Being part of a trade association that has Self Regulation rules and can act as lobby towards the EU and local governments. Of course it is also the best place to meet trading partners.

What was your motivation for joining the board of directors?

This is the continuation of a previous 3 year term, to assist and trade, and to acquire better goals and set new horizons for the future.

What 3 areas of ERA EUROPE/ERA would you like to see improved?

a) better protection of products by all the suppliers, as far as claims and details of products’ features to the consumer, b) continue the excellent lobbying in the EU, c) extend our trade to the new digital technologies

Is there any particular area you are keen to develop or influence during your time on the board

Wherever needed!

Please tell us a little about the market in which you operate. Size, amount of homeshopping channels, multi-channel penetration, explain the market landscape…

Size is really small compared to other countries. Should be around 150 million Euros. Dedicated homeshopping channels are only three, of which we own one. There is a lot of anarchy going on in the market due to the lack of infrastructure and appropriate justice control. The multi channel penetration is really hard to achieve due to the different attitudes of the established retail trade.

How has the economic situation influenced electronic retailing?

Electronic retailing is facing in 2010 its first year of negative growth due to enormous crisis in the country

What is the biggest opportunity in the near to middle future for your business and the industry in your marketplace?

The new digital environment and the new technologies are the largest opportunities – and threats as well!!

What is the biggest threat?

As a threat I would also consider the economic crisis and its results i.e. counterfeiting, money laundry etc.

Finally, the fun question – what has been the best moment for you personally at any ERA event?

I like to participate in all ERA events, so anyway, it is fun all the time!!

Anything else you would like to add?

Good luck to all!!

Before we begin to promote the next conference it would be great to look back and reflect on the past one, where many new business relationships were born, old ones cemented and renewed, and which was widely agreed to be the best conference since 1997. Certainly the attendance, the bustling exhibition floor, and the incredible popularity and success of the Business Club led to a feeling that we were leaving Monte Carlo on a high.

Below you can read our Conference write-up from Electronic Retailer magazine, and beneath that we have a slideshow of photos for you.

(click the image to enlarge)

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

April 8-9 saw the annual General Assembly of the members and leaders of ERA Europe.

To view videos and a summary of the meeting, please visit the bespoke Annual Members Meeting page on this website HERE

A slideshow of photos from Milan:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

ERA Europe Board member and CEO of Canis Media Group, Ed Hall, adds that an additional and extremely important point could also have been added:

“In most countries the regulator would be going after the broadcaster of the claim, and not just the advertiser.  If the FTC was taking action against Time Warner or Direct TV for example then they would quickly stop selling airtime to the hucksters and shysters and the airtime would be available to more reputable advertisers with substantiated claims (like ERA members).”