Advocacy SupERAchiever - Chris Gassett
For 20 years, ERA has been a steadfast advocate by maintaining productive working relationships with governing legislative bodies and regulatory agencies to effect change for the greater good. HSN is among the many members that regard advocacy as one of ERA’s most valuable attributes. Download Success Story
HSN, a longtime member, sheds light on some of the legal issues that have created the biggest challenge in its day-to-day operations, and discusses how ERA’s involvement with advocacy has made a significant impact on its overall business.
The Challenge
As a leading interactive multichannel retailer and television shopping network, HSN must comply with any legislation and initiatives concerning e-commerce, advertising regulations, privacy, data security and many other issues affecting the direct-to-consumer marketing industry. And because many regulations change so rapidly, it’s often challenging to keep pace with the new laws and regulations as they develop. Just ask Chris Gassett, VP/senior counsel at HSN.
The Objectives
To overcome this obstacle, HSN established three key objectives, according to Gassett. The first objective is to gain as much insight into these evolving areas of the multichannel/e-commerce regulatory and legal framework by attending ERA-sponsored events and discussing them with fellow ERA members. Secondly, HSN relies on ERA’s access to Capitol Hill and federal agencies, where Gassett can meet with decision-makers and express the opinions of our industry. The third objective is to forge relationships with other industry experts—whether they work for other direct response retailers, outside law firms, production companies or service providers.
HSN takes full advantage of all ERA’s government affairs opportunities, such as the regularly scheduled government affairs committee meetings and conference calls, the annual GA Fly-In, visits that ERA organizes to government agencies, insight from ERA’s lobbyists, and access to the many experts in their field who regularly attend ERA meetings and give presentations to the members. “All of these events play a key role in HSN’s government affairs strategy,” says Gassett.
The Result
HSN is able to remain informed of important legislative and governmental updates by leveraging ERA’s resources. He adds, “We are also provided the opportunity to meet with colleagues and industry experts to discuss any common issues we face, as well as discuss how we could potentially react to them. ERA has always been a very productive way for HSN to keep informed, be seen on Capitol Hill and have our opinions heard.”
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