Last night, the winners of the inaugural awards were announced, and Sony Hall, New York was full of partnership professionals celebrating their success.

The powerhouse judging panel of industry leaders selected a roster of winners who have succeeded in navigating paths forward through a year which has continuously thrown challenges at them, with energy prices rising and the continued fallout effects of the pandemic.

Who secured an award? 

impact.com secured the gold trophy in three categories – Best Data Innovation, Shiny & New – Most Innovative Technology, and The Hookup – Best Tech for Customer Experience. Both the impact.com platform, as well as its advancement, were commended, along with the teams’ ability to support native affiliate programmes, and content creator campaigns.

Taking home the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Industry Champion award was nate, with its first annual ‘nate True Colors campaign’ to celebrate Pride month. Judges were delighted with the fact that every aspect of the campaign was intentional, and the great care and meticulous planning shown made the messaging that much more attention-grabbing across the board.

MAC, Afterpay, and Rakuten Advertising were awarded the trophy for Best Performance-Based Partnership, for their campaign, which demonstrated well-thought-out opportunities, set goals, and aggressive but doable target metrics.

Finally, taking home the first ever trophy in the USPA One to Watch category is ‘superstar-in-the-making’ Isabella Muggeo, Associate Account Manager at gen.video. The One to Watch judges were especially impressed by her fresh perspective and outside-the-box thinking, awarding her the accolate based on her being a no-fear self-starter.

Check out the full list of winners, and find out more as to why the judges selected them in the Book of the Night.

Save the date for 2023

If you want to showcase your company’s efforts and secure a USPA for yourself, you’ll be pleased to hear that the awards will be returning in 2023.

Taking place in Miami on April 3rd, amidst the excitement of PI LIVE Miami 2023, the US Partnership Awards will take place at the Hyatt Regency.

Downloading the Book of the Night will guide you towards understanding what the future USPA judging panel will be looking for when scoring next year’s entries. It’s not too early to start clearing a space on your shelf for your very own US Partnership Marketing Award!

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After much deliberation, the judges made their decisions as to who should receive the gold, silver, and bronze accolades for their best in class work spanning the affiliate, performance, and influencer industries. We are pleased to announce that the official shortlist is now here for you to explore. 

What did the judges have to say?

The awards judging panel represented an outstanding, well-rounded selection of key players from the performance, affiliate and influencer marketing space, including brands and those with successful partnerships at their core. 

The judges recognised themes and trends amongst the entries, and looked at these alongside the judging criteria in order to make their all important decisions.

As well as innovation, the judges pointed out that the entries showed a huge deal of creativity and an overall desire to not only drive successful activations, but the channel as a whole.

Norman Yuen, VP Accounts at Riddle & Bloom pointed out that the submitted campaigns showed that truly great work can only be achieved when you have the right partners willing to break from the status quo and work together to push creativity, innovation and social change. 

He said, “As marketers, we can often succumb to the safety of predictive results, but the winning campaigns are proof that we can achieve more by taking strategic risks, committing to consumer insights and being unapologetically bold in our beliefs.”

Jade Mayberry, Head of Affiliate and Performance Partnerships at Dentsu International, was thrilled to be sitting on the first USPA judging panel, saying: “I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing and deliberating on each outstanding category entry and now feel reinvigorated by what’s to come in our brilliant industry. I can’t wait to see everyone IRL in NYC this September.”

Have your say

We recognise the importance of awarding individuals who have entered into their industry head first, showing their ability to make change and show resilience. 

The USPAs will award its first ever One to Watch accolade, which recognises an emerging star  in the space, at the ceremony on September 7th – and it’s up to you, alongside a panel of vetted ‘dragons’, to decide who should take home the trophy. 

Voting is now open for the Partnerships – One to Watch, and also the Best Platform for Partnership Recruitment categories, meaning that you, leaders in the partnerships space, can have your say. Voting closes at midnight on August 22nd (local timezone). 

Take your seat at the table

Is your company’s name on the shortlist? Or do you just fancy a night of glitz and glam and supporting your peers? To secure your seat at the ceremony, you can book yours now online, or reach out to the sales team who can provide you with more information. 

We can’t wait to enjoy the celebrations and award the winners on September 7th at Sony Hall, New York.

The post Who’s Making Waves in the Partnerships Space? USPA Shortlist Announced appeared first on PerformanceIN.

It was crucial that the panel of judges was formed to be an outstanding and well rounded representation of the performance, affiliate and influencer marketing industries, including brands utilising the channel and those with successful partnerships at their core.

When building the judging panel, the USPA team focused their efforts on those within these industries, especially those who are US based or have activity in the US and Canada. 

Natalie Stone, Senior Awards Events Manager at PerformanceIN says: “Our CTA was to find partnership marketing’s brightest, most respected and experienced thought leaders to judge exceptional affiliate and partner, performance and creator marketing work from across North America for our inaugural US Partnership Awards.”

The judges will be reviewing and scoring the campaigns based on their planning, innovation, creativity, execution and the results they achieved. 

As well as many new faces, the panel also welcomes a trusted handful of judges who have previously judged PerformanceIN and Talking Influence’s awards, ensuring that the foundation of the panel is solid.

It’s time to meet some of the judges…

Boaz Ariely, SVP of Performance Marketing at IL MAKIAGE, brings with him great knowledge in growth and performance marketing. He will be able to combine his performance knowledge with his passion for e-commerce to judge campaigns that sit across the influencer, performance, and affiliate spaces, thanks to his experience in the beauty industry.

On the agency side, we have invited players from established agencies including dentsu and Riddle and Bloom. Jade Mayberry is the Growth Marketing and Performance Partnerships Leader at dentsu international. She is an experienced marketer trusted by best-in-class digital marketing agencies, start-ups and direct-to-consumer brands. Jade will bring a well-rounded, multi-dimensional point of view to the judging panel.

Bringing with her tech and app experience is Diana Lysenko, Global Partnerships Manager at LGBTQ+ social network and dating app, Taimi. She has a great knack for communication and strong networking skills, helping her to release huge collabs with the respected projects in the industry like the Ellen Show, Katy Perry, Calum Scott, Todrick Hall. Diana and her team have also successfully secured partnerships in line with the SCR policy aimed at contributing to the LGBTQ+ community.

John Nardolilli has developed relationships in the affiliate marketing industry for over 15 years. He has a passion and love for the industry that has allowed him to develop long term relationships with many top partners. John’s entrepreneurial spirit helps him develop industry partnerships using out-of-the-box thinking; he is always willing to test new ideas or help push them with partners for testing. His enjoyment of developing relationships and connecting with people through his company and industry opportunities mean he makes a strong addition to the panel.

Teresa Thier Grammatke is an experienced manager and marketing growth expert with an entrepreneurial spirit. She has a passion for helping clients meet their sales and marketing objectives, and this means she will serve as an outstanding judge on the panel. With over 20 years of experience, Teresa has led customer acquisition, lead generation and e-commerce growth strategies for both small and fortune 100 businesses, through a variety of digital marketing tactics, meaning she is a true expert in the space.

Make sure to check out our previous judge announcement, in which we showcased a few more members of the prestigious panel. The full panel of judges is available to view on the USPA website, so be sure to take a look and see if you can spot any familiar faces.

It’s time to make some decisions 

With entries now closed, the judging portal will open allowing judges to score entries based on areas such as planning, execution, and results. When the scores have been collated and combined, a virtual judging day will be held allowing judges to challenge one another’s thoughts, moderated by our content team.

Judges will be looking for clear evidence of commercial success and ROI, as this awards programme aims to celebrate the best of the best in outcome-based marketing. When judges have discussed the high and low points of the entries they’re presented with, they will then decide on their Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners.

So, without further ado, it’s time for the judges to put their heads together and start scoring the excellent calibre of entries, ready for the winners to be announced live at Sony Hall, New York, on September, 7th. 

The post Unveiling the Inaugural Partnership Awards Judging Panel appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The channel is dynamic, and offers the perfect opportunity to meet consumer needs whilst delivering the outcomes brands truly desire as the global economy piles on pressure for increased ROAS and performance from marketing budgets.

As an industry, you only need to peruse LinkedIn to see how job titles have shifted from ‘Affiliate Manager’ to ‘Affiliate & Partnerships Manager’ or jumping directly to ‘Partnerships Manager’. These are meaningful changes. Changes that you can also see with some of the terminology used on affiliate network homepages, expo stands, and marketing collateral.

Affiliate marketing certainly isn’t dead. Quite the opposite – it’s rapidly evolving.

Why the Partnership Awards and not the Performance Marketing Awards?

The US Partnership Awards is a truly unique, first-of-its-kind ceremony for the North American market. The categories bridge the affiliate and partnership, performance and influencer marketing industries, giving anybody working within these channels the chance to showcase their agility, creativity and problem solving ability.

As well as being the perfect chance to celebrate, the US Partnership Awards will serve as a melting pot for inspiration.

The significant growth in the desire for partnership marketing in the US means now is the best time to take inspiration from those who have found success already, and harness these takeaways within your teams.

Whilst the awards do include some traditional performance media categories, our inaugural awards focus mainly on the partnerships that drive success for clients.

The inaugural awards platinum sponsors include  impact.com, Rakuten Advertising and Partnerize – who share our passion and vision.

The entry deadline has today been extended by one week with the entry portal open until midnight on July 8, 2022. You will need to download the entry kit for advice and tips.

The US Partnership Awards will take place September 7, 2022 at Sony Hall, New York.

The post The Remarkable Way Partnership Marketing has Infiltrated the Affiliate Marketing Channel appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Created to reward exceptional partnerships that fuel customer value, creativity and growth, the USPAs will focus on partnership marketing across the board, covering affiliate, influencer and performance-based partnerships.

The team has thoroughly enjoyed putting together the expert panel of judges, who’s expertise will be combined to determine the deserving winners of these brand new accolades.

They are still on the lookout for a few more individuals to join the panel, so if you’re keen to get involved, here are a few of the judges you’ll be joining…

Heidi Rumpf, Senior Manager, Affiliate Marketing at Footlocker:

Heidi is a marketing professional who has worked in the affiliate space for the last six years, and has spent the last three years at Foot Locker. She specialises in affiliate and influencer marketing, and since 2019 she has led the migration and launches for over 15 affiliate programmes.

George “Geo” Yuhba, Head of Partnerships at Carrot:

An industry expert with almost two decades of experience under his belt, George is passionate about sharing his expertise through training, education and mentoring. He has primarily worked on the network side of the industry, building out and evangelising the affiliate side of affiliate marketing.

Alexis Caldwell, Performance Marketing and Partnerships Leader at Forbes:

A 15-year veteran of digital marketing and #startuplife, Alexis works closely with all major affiliate networks, serves on industry advisory boards and has close ties with thousands of online retailers, publishers and tech partners, thus constantly keeping her finger on the pulse of partner marketing. Alexis has also appeared on CNN, ABC, FOX, CBS and a variety of other media outlets as an online shopping expert.

Luca Kim, Director of Affiliate Marketing and Performance Partnerships at Neo Media World:

Luca has nine years of affiliate experience split between the network, agency, and brand side. She has managed global affiliate programmes for premier brands across fashion, consumer electronics, financial services, automotive, luxury, and subscription verticals. Luca prides herself on being a marketer championing technology to enable meaningful data-driven experiences with a people-first authenticity.

Norman Yuen, VP Accounts at Riddle & Bloom:

Norman Yuen is a seasoned marketing and brand strategy professional at Riddle & Bloom. He oversees multiple brand partnerships including Amazon and Comcast while also guiding the agency and his team’s development. His previous work includes time at Johannes Leonardo, Mullen and Modernista where he partnered with Coca-Cola, Grey Goose, Cadillac, Zappos, TripAdvisor and more.

Erin Kerr, Senior Account Manager, Strategic Brand Partnerships at FlipGive:

With a career spanning over a decade, Erin’s no stranger to the affiliate marketing space. Her time working at agencies and now at a publisher has given her a unique set of skills: data analysis and a love of it. Moreover, she’s been nominated on various occasions for her work for the years.She’s had the chance to grow and manage brands in various verticals, including travel, skincare, and B2B.

Zahra Bidar, Affiliate and Partnerships Marketing Manager at The Walt Disney Company:

Zahra is currently leading the affiliate marketing strategy and growth for shopDisney.com. As a performance marketing leader who’s built and optimised marketing campaigns and programmes for global Fortune 100 brands, Zahra has over 15 years’ experience, blending innovative thinking with an analytical approach to attracting, acquiring, and engaging customers.

Jacob Huang, Enterprise Partnerships at Snapcommerce:

Jacob is a passionate performance marketer who has been in the space for over ten years. His previous experience include roles at Savings.com, Slickdeals, and most recently leading partnerships at Snapcommerce. He has been referred to as a great mentor, and will now lend his knowledge to the judging panel for the USPAs.

A huge part of this ensuring the best of the best is recognised is recruiting a judging panel that can judge the industry fairly and provide unbiased feedback. You can still apply to be considered for the panel, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team.

The post Want to Share Your Expertise at the US Partnership Awards? Here’s the Judging Panel You Could be Joining… appeared first on PerformanceIN.

We are thrilled to be partnering with industry renowned names, impact.com, Rakuten Advertising and Partnerize for the inaugural USPAs, who are just as passionate about our brand new award ceremony as we are. 

Cristy Ebert Garcia, CMO at impact.com says: “I could not be more excited to see this new PerformanceIN awards ceremony here in the United States. It’s so important to take a minute to recognise and celebrate all of the great work taking place in the partnerships ecosystem – and there’s never been a better time than now. 

“For years, we’ve watched our EMEA colleagues (in envy!) attending awards shows multiple times a year and now we get our chance to shine; I couldn’t be more pleased to be a part of it. Thank you PerformanceIN for putting together the first inaugural US partnership marketing awards show, and thank you for asking impact.com to be involved.” 

Maura Smith, CMO/SVP of Marketing at Partnerize, believes that the USPAs will fill a gap in the US that will heighten both awareness and consideration for the marketing channel that will serve to benefit all. She says, “Demonstrating the value of the category through award-winning examples is important validation for those that have yet to leverage the power of partnerships. Continued education is necessary to generate awareness and eliminate long-held misconceptions, which can be done effectively through award entries that tell data-driven stories about how leading brands and partners utilised partnerships to drive scalable, profitable outcomes.”

Anthony Capano, Managing Director, North America at Rakuten: “We are very excited to announce that Rakuten Advertising will be partnering with PerformanceIN for their first US awards show. As a global company, we support the worldwide growth of recognition for performance marketing efforts. We look forward to showcasing the successful work our clients are doing in affiliate, influencer and multi-channel performance marketing, and we hope to celebrate many other innovative marketers with these awards.”

Download the entry kit now!

You are now able to explore the full list of categories that will be awarded at the USPAs in September, and if you would like to see your efforts recognised within these, the entry kit is also now available for you to download. 

If you would like to join impact.com, Rakuten Advertising and Partnerize as USPA partners, please reach out to Drew Cameron who can provide you with more details on how you can get involved. 

The post “It’s Important to Take a Minute to Celebrate the Great Work Taking Place in the Partnerships Ecosystem…” – The US Partnership Awards appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The brand new awards ceremony, coming to America in Autumn 2022, will reward the absolute best-in-class in partnership marketing. With categories bridging affiliate and partnership, performance and influencer marketing industries, the unique ceremony is the perfect opportunity for you to showcase your achievements.

We’ve got everything covered

The team has ensured that the categories cover everything the industry wants to see. There are more traditional affiliate marketing categories, such as Best Loyalty Partnership, as well as the ever-important Best Data Innovation and Best Omnichannel Performance Marketing Campaign for all you performance marketing professionals.

Partnership marketing is becoming more of an umbrella term for the different areas of the industry, but partner marketing itself is also reflected in more niche categories such as Best Brand to Brand Partnership and Best Content Partnership.

The awards will also recognise winners in brand new influencer partnership categories that have not previously been celebrated at Talking Influence’s Influencer Marketing Awards. Keeping up with the rapid pace of the marketing sphere, we will be awarding excellence for the Best Use of Micro Influencers, Best Use of Celebrity Influencers and of course, Best Use of the Metaverse.    

Make sure to head to the US Partnership Award website to see the full list of categories.

If you would like to see your efforts recognised within these, the entry kit is also now available for you to download. Within this, the team behind the awards has provided you with details of the categories, some tips from the judges, entry deadlines and the all important judging criteria.

Matthew Wood, Founder of the awards commented: “Rewarding incredible partnerships and the teams and technologies that make them so successful will be our mission with our new awards. They are being co-hosted by PerformanceIN and Talking Influence, who for the first time will be joining forces to recognise all that falls under the partnerships umbrella, especially as influencer marketing continues to solidify its spot in the partnerships space.

“With the help of an industry advisory board these past couple of months, we’ve rostered what we believe are a broad set of categories embracing everything from Live Selling (an industry set to be worth $35bn by 2024) to always-on influencer partnerships. 

“The breadth of both the affiliate and influencer industries will make them even more critical for e-commerce brands to recognise and adopt successfully as part of their joined-up marketing and partnership efforts.

“With the entry deadline just a few months away, now is the time to download the entry kit and sit back with your team and clients to put forward your work and pitch up against your peers in the industry this fall.”

The awards ceremony will take place in Q3 in the USA; make sure to sign up to receive the newsletter which will keep you posted with any more updates.

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