With record delegates, a hefty on-site registration, taking us to over 375 participants – a 25% increase on 2010.

Equally importantly, the industry gave clear signals of a new spirit in Europe, with almost no undesirable business outside the Conference & Trade Expo area. Thanks to the ethical pledge made by most of you, we now have a model which could and should inspire our industry at large on other continents.

I personally felt too the value you gave our contribution to a new era of growth in Europe and elsewhere. You attended, in unprecedented numbers, informative, lively and very interactive business information sessions, covering all aspects of the industry’s global dimension and opportunities, with 47 different countries represented in total!

The audience composition confirmed the recognition by the industry itself, of  ERA EUROPE’s persistent efforts to gather under the Self Regulation model created in 2005, all market leaders in the Live shopping or Infomercial business models. They are now all active in membership and on the ERA EUROPE Board of directors. With already 20 new members in 2011, our membership is back to the 72 members we had before the recession… . Partners and allied organizations from Brussels, and also from Germany, were actively present in Stockholm.

ERA EUROPE has been accepted as an active member of EASA, the European Adverting Standard Alliance and will present our unique model at the October 26, 2011 General Assembly of EASA members in Warsaw.

All these facts and numbers are the result of a remarkable leadership effort, and a Europe-specific model of decision making and action management, closely associating the ERA EUROPE Board and officers with a small Executive staff.

Since you are all members of Social Media groups and communities, such as the many DRTV ones on Linkedin, may I kindly ask you a special “social networks” contribution? Please post as soon as you can a few words of appreciation about your business and personal experience in Stockholm?

The ERA EUROPEAN Conference can look ahead with great optimism to next year’s venue, Berlin 2012.

I wish you pleasant and sunny Summer Holidays.

Very best regards

Marcel Avargues

Please like the following link to view the latest EU Government Affairs update, compiled by ERA Europe Executive Director, Marcel Avargues.

DEC 2010 Govt Affairs Update

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.

Euro RSCG Edge won gold at the recent ERA Moxie Awards in La Vegas for Best International Short-form for their ‘Cash4Christmas’ campaign.

Celebrating the success, GM of Euro RSCG Edge Europe, Ayo Hughes told the ERA Newsshop last week: “We’re really proud of the Cash4Gold campaigns as we took a proven US business model and translated that successfully to the UK, Eire, Holland Spain and Germany, creating a new category over here in the process.

The client established a complete back end process on the ground in Europe but we ran the European campaigns from our London office and reported back directly to their HQ in the US. Cash4Gold were therefore able to access the European market from the US in exactly the same way they do domestically.

This is a key USP for Euro RSCG. We were responsible for the strategy, the creative and the media buying, so it really was a turn-key assignment. Creative, transcreation & production was done in our London and Los Angeles offices.”

Cash4Christmas was one of four awards for Edge, the Direct Response division of Euro RSCG.

(Jack Kirby of Euro RSCG is pictured above accepting the award, flanked by Tim Hawthorne and ERA Chairman, Jeff Tuller)

Click the image for the online viewer at the magazine website or click here for the unabridged version in printable pdf format. You can also see a short video excerpt on the blog here.

By Robert Logie

I was fortunate enough to catch up with ERA Europe Chairman, Alexander Chacon, for a lengthy, wide-ranging and candid interview for Electronic Retailer magazine. The interview will be the cover story in the April edition, marking a European-focus designed to bring international readers’ attention to the Electronic HomeShopping Conference in June.

Make sure you don’t miss it!

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).”

Save €150 on your Electronic HomeShopping Conference 2010 registration NOW!

Valid only through the month of December – so make sure you don’t miss it – sign up now! Here’s how it works…

1. Go to the online registration form on the Electronic HomeShopping Conference website
2. Click the Registration 2010 link
3. Simply follow the instructions, and the €150 discount will be applied as you pay

“Your timing is perfect. You’ve come in the direct response business at the right moment in history.”

NOTE: You can also read a full transcript here