IDEA takes on larger role

JUNE 23 | HOME MEDIA EXPO: The Independent Dealers of Entertainment Assn. (aka IDEA) comes to Las Vegas this week as the programmer not only of Indie Expo, a half-day of seminars and workshops tailored to smaller retailers, adjacent to Home Media Expo, but also of a slate of seminars and town hall-style meetings throughout the Expo itself.

It’s a far cry from 2004, when the group was born to keep indie retailers from fleeing the Entertainment Merchants Assn. (then called VSDA) altogether. Its mission: to act independently of the main organization, which many small-business owners saw as compromised by its representation of large competitors, and to help independent retailers grow their businesses through networking, communication, education and business tools.

IDEA chair James Loperfido of Emerald City Video in Auburn, N.Y., is proud of what the organization has accomplished in its formative years. “We concentrated on increased communications to members, primarily through the Internet, more business tools for members, more networking opportunities for members and a better-working, chattier relationship with the other players in the industry,” he said. “We developed a fairly good business plan, addressing member needs from a day-to-day practical approach.”

IDEA currently numbers close to 2,000 member storefronts, roughly similar to when it began, but Loperfido expects the number to increase when the group begins campaigning in Canada in July. “The more members participating, the better,” he said.

Specifically, he referred to the following IDEA programs as the organization’s most important accomplishments:

• Project Mercury: IDEA’s answer to Internet retailing, this program, targeted for launch later this year, will allow independent video retailers to rent and sell titles from the Web. The system is expected to include such features as title-matched movie information, trailers and reservations. The program will give members “a leg up on the soothsaying non-packaged media distribution of the future,” Loperfido said.
• Indie Expo and Indie Fest: Indie Expo has been held annually at EMA’s Home Media Expo and takes place in the form of a cruise, featuring social events, workshops, brainstorming sessions, a tradeshow and competitions. Initiated this year, Indie Fest consists of regional events for independent retailers, including receptions, a table-top tradeshow, meetings with studio representatives, seminars and presentations. The first Indie Fest was held at the headquarters of VPD in Folsom, Calif.
• Hidden Gems and VR.com: Each month, an anonymous team of experienced video retailers reviews studio submissions to IDEA’s Rental Profits Program and identifies recommended new release “Hidden Gems” beyond the major box-office hits, based on profit potential. The recommended titles are noted at VideoRetailer.com, the organization’s system of buying tools. The programs “give our members more real information on product,” Loperfido said.

In the future, Loperfido said he would like to see IDEA get more programs out to the membership. A half-dozen or so are in the “pre-production” phase, he said. The programs are mostly about product and are “all geared to make our members better retailers,” he said.

IDEA is run by two staffers, and the rest of the officers in addition to Loperfido are Alan Millican, Marquee Movie, Chattanooga, Tenn., vice chair; Tom Paine, Video Factory, Redmond, Wash., treasurer; and Adrian Hickman, TLA Video, Philadelphia, secretary.

More information about IDEA and its programs can be found at IDEALink.org.