Foreword to the ERA Europe News, Winter Edition 2016
Dear ERA Europe Members,
Welcome to 2016!
I am optimistic that this year will be an outstanding year for ERA Europe. We are working diligently to make absolutely certain that this year is even more successful than last year.
I would like to provide you with a brief glimpse back at the past year and to look to the future for ERA Europe in 2016.
The year 2015 was an exciting year of positive change. It started with our Membership Meeting in Athens when we decided to implement new statutes. This was done with a 75% participation by our members and had an almost 100% majority agreeing on how we should proceed in the future. These statute changes will allow ERA Europe to continue to grow and will provide even more financial stability. In June, we had an excellent conference in Barcelona where we introduced the new MCMS educational format. We were extremely pleased with this first event and will continue with an enhanced MCMS version in June 2016.
At the conference in Barcelona last year, we utilized the pool area of the hotel as a brilliant location for our opening reception, using the catwalk to entertain all the guests with a fashion show. At our Barcelona conference, it was already forecast that 2015 would be a very solid financial year and at that time, the board made the decision to invest in professional communication and PR activities to enhance the ERA Europe brand. In Autumn 2015, we finalised the new branding for the Association´s website, the Association's brand identity and created an introductory brochure to attract new members and attendees to our conference in 2016. In addition, the newsletter was re-designed into a more modern format linked to the organisation's website allowing for a friendlier user style and enabling an archive. We concluded 2015 with a concept and planning meeting in London for our 2016 €lectronic Home Shopping Conference.
Those members who will attend our meeting in Lisbon will see our plans for 2016. After our financial consolidation, and the end of the administrative transition, we intend to invest in the future of our association and to provide member benefits that will enhance the membership and attract new members. One of our targeted areas will be Public Affairs. After re-designing the identity and brand of our communication methods, we are convinced that we should provide members with market intelligence, that we should be ahead of all relevant issues that face our industry every day, and that we should deliver important statements that outline our position as an industry.
Our second major investment in 2016, will be the €lectronic Home Shopping Conference. After having introduced our educational seminar, MCMS “Multi-Channel Money Streams” in Barcelona last year, we believe it is time to honour outstanding achievements in our industry and within the European Home Shopping industry itself. This year, for the first time, the “EMMA” Awards (ERA Europe Multi-Channel Multi Screen Awards) will be presented to the outstanding achievers in our industry.
A further primary goal this year will be to continue to improve member benefits, for example with a 'Member’s Only' section of our website where the newsletters will be archived, as well as other benefits such as the newly announced cooperation with DRTV-Lab.
Enjoy the latest edition of our newsletter and we wish you a tremendously successful 2016.
Best regards,
Dr. Julian Oberndörfer
Executive Director
Electronic Retailing Association Europe