ECRM expands horizons with media deal

SOLON, Ohio — Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing just did an unconventional acquisition to provide the company with a new source of growth by applying its successful model of connecting buyers and sellers to the media world.

 

ECRM acquired PressCamp from Lifeboat Events in a deal that will see Lifeboat founder Lance Camisaca joined ECRM in a new role as vice president of sports. Additionally, Chad Battistone of Lifeboat Events will join the ECRM Sports team as an operations manager. PressCamp events are focused on the cycling industry and are designed to connect product manufacturers with the media in a format similar to the way that ECRM events connect retailers with product manufacturers.

 

“The success PressCamp events have demonstrated in the cycling industry makes it an ideal addition to the existing events platform of ECRM and meets our objective to develop an enhanced events portfolio in vertical markets,” said ECRM CEO Greg Farrar. “This is about growing and serving our customers better. It’s about taking the opportunity to enter into markets that we don’t currently serve.”

 

The deal presents interesting growth possibilities for ECRM because combined with PressCamp ECRM has an opportunity to leverage an already robust event portfolio, in a proven and substantial enthusiast market, with its own proprietary events software and streamlined meeting solutions.

 

"We knew finding a strategic buyer for PressCamp would be paramount in assuring we could continue to create meaningful and strong events going forward,” Camisasca said. “ECRM has the resources and bandwidth to create additional PressCamps for the cycling industry as well as events for other active lifestyle markets. ECRM's vision for any industry needing intimate, high quality media and brand interactions is invigorating.”

 

Camisaca is a veteran of the cycling industry who founded Lifeboat Events in 2008 after leaving the helm of Interbike, the cycling industry’s leading trade show.