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

European Markets as a growth territory for North American DR product marketers

As Executive Director of ERA EUROPE (the European affiliate of ERA), I am asked about the following two issues almost daily:

1. US marketers of successful DR products, are eager to expand into the major markets of Europe, but don’t know where to go, whom to deal with, or what the legislative issues are.
2. New European manufacturers and product owners want to expand through DRTV, in Europe and in the US, but have heard that the best infomercials are produced in the US, and that it will cost them a fortune. They want to know what other options there are.

At ERA EUROPE our mission is to bridge this knowledge, understanding and networking gap, and to facilitate education and networking between DRTV professionals around the world.

My personal opinion, supported by the privileged observational position I have at ERA EUROPE, is that this industry may be only scratching the surface of trans-Atlantic cooperation…

View Complete Article

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.

By Marcel Avargues

– With only a month to go until ERA Europe’s Annual Conference, Executive Director Marcel Avargues invites you to sample the full delights of this most International of conferences.

In less than a month we will welcome you again to Monte Carlo, to enjoy the unique setting and atmosphere of the Riviera in June, before a new era for the ERA EUROPEAN Conference begins next year in 2011 in beautiful Stockholm.

To celebrate this “farewell to Monaco”, we have made special efforts to make it even more memorable: more networking opportunities; a quiet, protected and efficient business environment; many new first-time guests; plus vendors and industry representatives from attractive emerging markets across the world. I hope our first-time attendees, and the enthusiastic group of new ERA EUROPE members will feel at home amongst the many delegates who discovered and enjoyed the previous Electronic HomeShopping Conference & Expos in 2007-09.

We have continued to monitor the most advanced players in the RETAILING 2.0 sphere, ERA members and external pioneers in the new audiovisual retailing technologies. The Electronic HomeShopping Conference and Expo is the showcase of these new approaches and marketing technologies that will become part of your everyday business sooner or later.

We have organized for you a total of 2880 minutes of Business Networking time for your deal making and “star product” hunting over the 3 days of the Conference and our Business Club and Exhibit Hall will be the usual marketplace you can’t miss (or find anywhere else)…

But I urge you too, to mark in your calendars a small fraction of time out of your busy schedules, to attend the very selective 270 minutes of Business Development content of the 2010 programme – on Monday and Tuesday morning.
Please take advantage of the highly relevant and brand new concepts and case studies our distinguished group of speakers will share with you…

Once again, I look forward to sharing successful business and good fun together with you this year, thanks to our many exhibitors, sponsors and delegates…..

Kind regards

Marcel Avargues
Executive Director, ERA EUROPE

The Electronic HomeShopping Conference 2010