The IPMA winners presented inspiring diversity, innovation and experimentation. It seems the industry has developed astounding bravery following the pandemic, and this is shown by the extensive trialling and testing that is now being explored.

Matthew Wood, Founder of the IPMAs, said: “New partnerships and strategies that have emerged from the pandemic I’m confident will continue to evolve into 2022 and beyond. The last 18 months has proven to many outside of the channel how resilient, creative and strong we can be. The backbone being the technical advancements we’ve seen alongside incredible human partnerships that have thrived, in difficult circumstances. There were often just a few points between the winners and highly commended this year and I commend the fresh set of judges who debated and challenged to recognise the ultimate winners.” 

The Book of the Night details all the incredible entries and judges’ comments that may inspire your future strategies and goals. Download now to fully digest the awards winners and recap the outstanding work that they produced.

Taking home the trophies

Amongst this year’s winners was Rakuten Advertising, taking home four awards. These awards were all for different entries, showing the company’s impressive performance across the board. The team won Best Retail and E-Commerce Campaign, Best Integrated Performance Marketing Campaign, Best Incentive Partner Campaign or Strategy and Best Performance Marketing Campaign (APAC). Judges commended the stellar results gained on every entry – a truly successful year for Rakuten Advertising!

This year saw the debut of the new One to Watch Award. Aiming to reward bright, ambitious and exceptional talent and changemakers working in the global performance marketing industry, the award was presented to Gabby Schnaid, Sr. Client Development Manager at CJ. With her consistent record of excellence, one could forget that Gabby only started her affiliate career four years ago – she is not only One to Watch, but one to learn from.

The winners of this year’s industry choice awards were Acceleration Partners, which took home the Best Performance Marketing Agency award, Awin, which was awarded the Best Affiliate Network, and the Best SaaS Platform Award was presented to impact.com‘s Partnership Cloud. These teams all showed impressive dedication to their clients and customers, meaning they continue to be trusted stakeholders within the industry.

Commenting on the entries, Julia Stent, Commercial Director at Genie Ventures and Judge said: “As a judge returning to the IPMAs after several years, I was surprised and impressed by the innovation and diversity shown by this year’s entries. I think it’s important to see international brands from smaller markets scoring so highly alongside the big players.

“The innovation in this year’s entries takes many forms, from pioneering changes in core affiliate technology to the use of new channels like TikTok and Pinterest on a performance model. It’s also admirable to see how the industry has adapted and supported brands through COVID-19, driving low-risk performance at a time when companies need it most. Overall, it feels like a great moment in time for an industry we can be proud of.”

Fellow Judge Roger Lee, Head of Affiliate and CRM at Candlefox said: “Congratulations to the very worthy winners. This year there were strong entries across the board, with successful entrants overcoming the challenges of the pandemic to find the opportunities it presented. Innovation was key as it always is, with some impressive new adaptations to utilising existing technology.

“I also really enjoyed reading about the human contributions to each entry. Without cross company partnerships between advertisers, agencies and/or publishers most of the entries wouldn’t have been possible and most became much greater than the sum of their parts.”

On behalf of the International Performance Marketing Awards, advanced store and PerformanceIN, a huge congratulations to the winners and shortlisted entrants. Thank you to the sponsors and to everyone that attended.

Save the date for the PMAs

PerformanceIN can’t wait to see you next year at the Performance Marketing Awards. 

The ceremony will take place slightly later in the year on 18 May 2022 back at the Grosvenor Hotel in London with categories being announced in just a few weeks time.

Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date.

The post Bravery, Innovation and Experimentation: The Winners of the 2021 International Performance Marketing Awards appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Being a heritage brand, it was important for Victorinox’s high-end image to be protected while a sustainable affiliate programme was delivered. This required a very considered approach to the affiliate mix.

Optimus-pm prides itself on being an extension of its client’s marketing team, and they have developed a strong bond with Victorinox based on trust and transparency between agency and client. They have formed strong established relationships with affiliates and networks to work closely together to get the best results for their clients.

Optimus-pm has become an integral part of Victorinox’s marketing team, sharing best practice across the teams and creating consistent messaging across all territories and ensuring that the affiliate programme complimented the overall strategy.

Objectives

In 2020, the objectives for the Victorinox programme were as follows:

• Grow the affiliate base with emphasis on increasing the number of active publishers by 20%
• Increase clicks by 10%
• Increase revenues and sales by 20%

Delivery

The UK, German and French programmes have all seen substantial growth in the affiliate channel and exceeded expectations with:

• Revenue increased by 93% in the UK, 31% in Germany and by 201% in France, all being over the target of 20% revenue in each territory
• Clicks increased Y/Y by 24% in the UK, 87% in Germany and 4% in France, exceeding the 10% target set in UK and Germany and seeing an increase in France
• The number of active publishers on the programme increased by 30% in the UK, 54% in Germany and 56% in France
• The number of sales through the affiliate channel increased by 106% in the UK, 73% in Germany and 193% in France – substantially exceeding the targets set of 20% in each country

Tina Baraga, Global Social Media Manager at Victorinox said: “Optimus has been an integral part of the Victorinox marketing team when it comes to affiliate marketing. They have provided first-class expertise and guidance, are very easy to work with and have simultaneously delivered great results that have exceeded our initial targets.”

Mel Blue, Director of Affiliate Marketing at Optimus-pm said: “Victorinox is a really interesting account to work on, especially as we keep the iconic brand image in mind. The client has really welcomed their affiliate channel into their marketing strategy and Optimus-pm forms a key part of their team.

“Various other channels are liaised with regularly as we find innovative solutions to issues we face, and different teams at Victorinox have their input into new ideas that we run through the affiliate channel. It results in a well-rounded and well-informed approach, as we deliver results in-line with their business objectives.”

See the full case study on the Optimus-pm site to see how they delivered exceptional results.

Optimus-pm is a sponsor for this year’s flagship IPMAs, which will take place on 18th October at the Landmark Hotel, London. There are still tables available, so secure your seat now!

The post Case Study: Growing and Activating Your Publisher Base appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Reporting can be limited for organic social campaigns due to platform restrictions, and Incubeta needed to demonstrate the resounding performance benefits of the influencer campaign. 

Therefore, Incubeta was tasked with running a successful influencer campaign to promote M&S’s AW20 collections and to demonstrate the performance benefits of an influencer campaign previously considered purely as a branding initiative.

The strategy

Incubeta developed an approach that would allow the success of the campaigns to be measured by integrating social amplification. Trackers were applied to available click through links on influencer content and paid campaigns, so that the team could track post-click sales. 

They then integrated their proprietary amplification solution into the core strands of the campaign, with targeting groups based on menswear, womenswear and family segments. 

Contextual targeting was applied to select a relevant post for each placement. An incrementality test was run across the duration of the amplification campaign to enable them to report on soley the number of sales that would not otherwise have occurred. Using the data from the click trackers and from the amplification campaign, they modelled the predicted sales impact of the in-platform campaigns beyond those directly driven by clicks.

The results

The approach allowed Incubeta to credibly measure the success of their campaigns by integrating social amplification. Social amplification is founded on technology they built, which allows them to take organic content directly from platforms and serve across the web, with in-built dynamic targeting to match posts with on-page content.

Overall, Incubeta delivered a profitable incremental ROI, representing great results from a branding led campaign. Additionally, the tracked conversion data indicated that content that performed well organically in terms of engagement was not always the content that drove the most revenue, allowing this to be factored into planning for future campaigns.

See the full case study on the Incubeta site to see how they delivered a 5x increase in reach.

Incubeta is a sponsor for this year’s flagship IPMAs, which will take place on 18th October at the Landmark Hotel, London. There are still tables available, so secure your seat now!

The post Case Study: True Measurement of Influencer Campaigns appeared first on PerformanceIN.

For many website operators, affiliate marketing became a strong lever to counter the competition and thus make themselves less dependent on Google, Facebook, Amazon or Apple. In order to continue to pursue a profitable online strategy in the future, the goal should be to rely on sensible attribution logic.

The different players in affiliate marketing: who’s who?

Affiliate marketing is about the cooperation of several players in a spirit of partnership and the establishment of a long-term relationship from which all sides benefit. When talking about partnerships, it is worth taking a look at the respective partners. These are, on the one hand, the advertisers, the publishers and, as a third actor, the networks. Advertisers are individuals, for example shops or companies who want to sell a product or service.

Through affiliate marketing, advertisers find new ways and opportunities to advertise their own products, reach new target groups and significantly increase traffic. At the same time, they benefit from the recommendation of the publisher who promotes their own articles or services – which in turn can also have a positive effect on their branding.

The cooperation between advertisers, publishers and the networks

Publishers provide their free advertising space, to promote the product or the service of the advertiser. This can be, among other things, a blog article, a banner on the website, a post on a voucher or cash back page, a listing on a results page of a price comparison company or a link in the description box of a YouTube video. If the advertising leads to a purchase or a referral, for example, the publisher is entitled to a commission from the advertiser. By integrating the advertising material, the publisher can create new opportunities for monetisation and increase his reach and his visitor figures through the advertised products.

The affiliate network is the technical interface between the advertiser and the publisher. It offers a fixed and secure framework for the cooperation, supports the technical implementation and takes care of the respective partners. In addition, it guarantees error-free and secure handling of the data used through its tracking and provides reports on the clicks and sales made as well as the amount of commission. The affiliate network also provides new opportunities for monetisation.

Once the terms and conditions have been agreed between advertiser, publisher and network and the contract has been signed, the process can begin. The advertiser provides the publisher with advertising material in the form of banners or links, which the publisher can place on their page or channel. The tracking of the network in turn provides information, for example how many clicks or sales were generated via the respective advertising material. These are then relevant for the payment or for the settlement of the commission. Depending on the billing model, the publisher earns his money with this. The affiliate network is the contact for both sides – advertiser and publisher – and provides support for the individual campaigns and sets rules for the payment of commissions.

Tracking in affiliate marketing: numbers, numbers, numbers

However, the GDPR and e-privacy regulations heavily regulate the possibilities of tracking. It is also complicated from another side: Google has announced for 2022, that it will do without third-party cookies in Chrome. This measure is just one of many that will significantly restrict tracking possibilities, especially in affiliate marketing. These challenges are offset by a shift in the buying process from offline to online, fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend will continue in the coming years, and with it the willingness to increase online marketing budgets. This increases the significance of making budget decisions even more efficiently. The basis for this is provided by customer-specific attribution models.

The old attribution (last-cookie/last-click wins), i.e. an exclusive remuneration of the last customer touchpoint with e.g. an advertisement, has long since become obsolete and is being replaced by data-driven attribution models. More and more advertisers are using such data-driven attribution models to control their marketing channels. A data-driven attribution, conditioned by a comprehensive multi channel tracking, is the basis for a cause-related payment of the partners. This allows more partners to benefit from a commission and thus ensures diversity in the publisher portfolio.

Data-driven attribution models as a strategy for success

Experts agree that the future of tracking will move away from a single model, towards hybrid tracking. Through a combination of several tracking methods, it will also be possible in the future to work cleanly and securely with reliable data, despite all the regulations and tightening of the law.

Meaningful attribution requires that as many as possible, ideally all touchpoints, are tracked correctly. The prerequisite for this is the use of first party tracking on the browser side. Due to the ever-increasing restrictions on the part of the browser, it is advisable to set up parallel server-to-server tracking. This ensures that the data stock is maintained.

By analysing and evaluating many historical customer journeys, a precise picture of the role and influence of individual channels can be determined. The development of a data-driven attribution is related to the objective of the respective company. For example, if a company focuses on acquiring new customers, these initiating measures should be given special weight. The declared goal remains to evaluate the channels according to their cause and to create a balance between new customer and existing customer measures.

With a post-view consideration, not only clicks, but also views of e.g. advertising material, are relevant for the attribution. To do this, it is necessary to establish a causality between the view and the triggered conversion. For this purpose, a temporal window is used to be able to understand this causal relationship. The time window can vary from a few minutes to several days. This depends on the complexity of the customer journey, the value of the shopping basket and the industry.

An alternative is to establish a causal relationship between a view and the triggering of a Direct Type-in. If a view triggers a Direct Type-in in a timely manner, this should definitely be taken into account in the attribution, regardless of the time lag to the conversion. What still needs to be modelled is the weighting of a view in comparison to a click, which is done on a customer-specific basis.

Interdisciplinary into the new era of affiliate marketing

Last but not least, it is necessary for a new era of affiliate marketing to initiate interdisciplinary agreement in the company on the new attribution. All departments must learn to work with the new attribution. A cross-departmental but still department-specific reporting is the necessary prerequisite.  

The introduction of a new attribution means the end of silos and the shotgun approach. This requires a series of measures concerning tracking, data and organisation. Those who have the courage to change will create decisive competitive advantages and experience a boost in efficiency.

The post Look to the Future of Affiliate Marketing With a Smart Attribution Logic appeared first on PerformanceIN.

In this fast paced industry, the International Performance Marketing Awards recognise the importance of awarding those who have their finger on the pulse – performance marketing professionals who are in the early stages of their careers piloting natural talent, strong work ethic, enthusiasm, creativity and innovation. You can see some more examples of this in the full awards shortlist.

Tasked with interviewing the extremely high calibre of entries that have been shortlisted this year are four highly esteemed judges (dragons). The panel will deliberate over the coming weeks to decide on the winner.

“With the ever growing talent within the performance marketing industry, our dragons are faced with the challenging task of choosing this year’s One to Watch. The judges will be looking out for those individuals who continue to break through the barriers of the industry and who are not afraid to take risks.” Gerry Villiers, Awards Manager at PerformanceIN.

Here’s a chance to meet the One to Watch 2021 candidates, along with words from peers on their progression in the performance marketing industry.

We’re thrilled to announce our shortlisted candidates for this year’s IPMAs…

Nicholas Yates, Head of Global Affiliate Partnerships at Silverbean

Nic has been in the affiliate and partnership marketing space since 2013. His role as head of global affiliate partnerships positions him as an ally to today’s extremely busy and ROI-targeted multi-channel marketing manager by raising awareness of affiliate marketing as an untapped growth opportunity for e-commerce brands. 

As well as being a well-rounded digital marketing strategist, Nic always has one eye on the future of the channel supporting clients and Silverbean to grow within the partnership ecosystem. He launched and manages the Silverbean Open Brand to Brand Network, which has facilitated over 200 introductions between brands looking to partner with like-minded businesses. It has also driven the conversation around the publisher mix supporting app install and sign up campaigns and pushing for strategic utilisation of content partners alongside other digital marketing channels. His strategic view has supported Silverbean to expand globally, supporting the likes of Ralph Lauren, Virgin Australia, Revolut, John Lewis & Partners and many more.

Annabel Gray, Associate Director Australia at Silverbean

Annabel (Bella) Gray, Silverbean’s Associate Director, pioneered Silverbean’s entrance to the Australian market. From humble beginnings at Silverbean’s UK office in 2006, she has built her career on crafting results-driven digital strategy and affiliate partner marketing expertise. Her passion is empowering people with information, to help demystify affiliates and partnerships and make informed decisions on how they can better use the channel.

She has a strong belief that education and collaboration will help drive the channel forward. So much so, she founded Affiliate & Partner Marketing (APM) Connect, a cross-industry collaboration with Rakuten, Partnerize, Commission Factory, Impact and AWIN, which hosts bi-monthly events and has a thriving community of over 200 members.

Bella’s continued dedication to raising the profile of partnerships in the Australian space and helping clients to harness emerging partnership channels has led to her becoming a trusted advisor for Silverbean’s brands.

Kristina Nolan, Vice President of Affiliate Marketing at DMi Partners

Kristina has meteorically risen to the position of Vice President of Affiliate Marketing at DMi Partners on the merits of her ability to craft and execute transformational, holistic digital strategies. She understands the intricacies of the affiliate channel and addresses the opportunities and challenges within each programme, while simultaneously maintaining the 10,000 foot view required to ensure the proper strategy.            `

A technological determinist who believes that digital methods of communication allow us to be faster and more versatile, she is responsible for creating connections with key technology & service partners to drive efficiencies for DMi’s brands while also helping to solve for some of the industry’s greatest pain points. Additionally, Kristina leads one of the most ambitious forward-thinking affiliate marketing teams in the industry who have won numerous awards for their unique approach to the industry. Under her leadership, DMi represents some of the largest brands in advertising and has doubled their affiliate business year over year for the last three years.

Madison Trampleasure, Senior Customer Success Manager at RevLifter

Madison has had a wealth of experience within the performance marketing industry, working at AWIN, M&S, intu, and RevLifter. In her previous roles, she has worked with some of the UK’s top brands to deliver a diverse mix of campaigns within the affiliate channel. Whilst working full-time she completed a second MSc in Marketing, focusing her dissertation on the potential negative impact affiliate discounting can have on brand equity.

At RevLifter Madison works with global brands across three continents to hyper-personalise their deal offering using behavioural data. Clients can now control where, when, and to whom they display their promotional messaging on a granular level. Using RevLifters technology, Madison helps her clients to maximise their ROI whilst protecting that ever-important brand perception.

Gabby Schnaid, Sr. Client Development Manager at CJ

Despite only starting her affiliate career five years ago, Gabby has been able to rise through the ranks to become a Senior Client Development Manager through her passion and dedication to excellence. She has serviced and led advertiser programmes across numerous client verticals throughout her career, but recently she has developed an expertise in the travel vertical.

In late 2020 she was chosen to lead a key travel client through an unprecedented migration while delivering combined programme growth, even amidst a global pandemic that dramatically impacted the travel vertical overall. In managing this migration, she has built a team with an entirely new structure ensuring expertise not only in publisher verticals but also in technical, compliance, and strategic disciplines to best support the needs of her clients.

Not only does she deliver strategic recommendations to drive growth for her clients, she also advocates for them across multiple departments across the network (Product, Data Science, Publisher Development, Finance, etc.) to ensure their success in the channel. Gabby constantly pushes herself to think outside the box, be a mentor to her team, and deliver high quality results for clients in an ever-changing industry. She is looking forward to seeing what the next five years have in store!

Meghan Hogan, Enterprise Account Director at CJ

Meghan is an integral member of the Publisher Development Team at CJ, where she started her career in affiliate marketing seven years ago. Initially joining the team as a Publisher Development Representative, she advanced through multiple roles with expanding responsibilities while continuing to deliver exceptional guidance and advocacy for publishers. Her recent promotion to Enterprise Account Director recognises her passion and dedication to the success of her publishers and the affiliate channel. As an Enterprise Account Director, Meghan is responsible for the strategic growth of some of the most well-known and innovative publisher clients in the industry.

Meghan collaborates closely with multiple CJ teams, leveraging her knowledge and expertise cultivated over the years by a thirst to learn and develop a strong understanding of her clients and the affiliate channel. As a result, she has been instrumental in the development and launch of key solutions, tools, and resources for publishers that support and drive further growth for their business.

Who do you think should be crowned 2021’s One to Watch at the IPMAs? Vote now for your winner. Voting closes on Thursday September 23 at 5pm in your local timezone.

The post It’s Time to Vote: Meet the Candidates for the One to Watch at the International Performance Marketing Awards appeared first on PerformanceIN.

This year, shortlisted entrants demonstrated smart collaborations, the increasing usage of social commerce and confirmed the channel’s agility with fast-paced thinking on approaches to combat the effects of the pandemic.

Judges once again reiterated the importance of the human touch, with a good number of winning campaigns and partnerships successfully portraying to judges how people and not just technology made a difference.

We’re also experiencing the impending loss of third-party data across the globe, so it has been very interesting to see the ways that the different regions are tackling the challenge.

Neguin Farhangmehr, Head of Affiliate and Partnerships at GrowthOps, and one of our esteemed judges said: “Seeing first hand the performance marketing industry reaching new highs has been truly inspiring, especially knowing that this year’s achievements have a unique meaning considering the world’s circumstances.

“I am really grateful to have been part of an excellent and carefully thought out process and to have collaborated with a fantastic panel of judges.”

Matthew Wood, founder of the awards added: “Judges debated fiercely this year during our judging day, with many categories almost too close to call.

“Our new categories including Best Social Commerce and Best Brand Performance Campaign were well-received as performance marketing strategies continue to evolve”.

One to Watch Award

The Industry One to Watch Award is here to highlight the next generation of performance marketers ready to take the industry by storm. This shortlist is also now available and judging opens today. You do not need to register to vote for the One to Watch award, so go ahead and vote now!

To find out more about our shortlisted candidates, stay tuned for an upcoming article on PerformanceIN.

Industry choice voting opens today

Registration to vote for The International Performance Marketing Awards is now open – as in previous years, voting will be used to determine the winners with a one-vote-per-company rule in place.

This year, however, voters will need to be pre-approved and fully identifiable, so make sure you register to make your vote count. 

If deemed eligible, you will be notified with the categories that you have been approved for and will receive a link to the form when voting opens on Thursday September 16. Please note that your eligibility email may take up to 24 hours to receive after registering. You will be able to register until 5pm on Thursday September 23.

Voted categories:

• Best Performance Marketing Agency
• Best SaaS Platform
• Best Affiliate Network

Secure your table

Tables are selling fast, with only around 150 seats remaining. You can book your seat or table online with a debit or credit card, or speak to Drew Cameron for more information.

Stay tuned by signing up for our newsletter – you don’t want to miss out on finding out the winners!

The post International Performance Marketing Awards 2021 Shortlist Announced appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The team is currently on the search for the industry’s brightest, most respected and experienced members to judge entries from across the globe.

The awards have been recognising exceptional campaigns and partnerships for over 15 years, and each year  they evolve based on industry feedback and understanding of where our incredible industry is heading.

The Global edition of the Performance Marketing Awards was launched five years ago. The esteemed panel of over 30 judges recognises and rewards activity that goes above and beyond, pushing the boundaries of results driven and performance marketing whilst encouraging creativity, innovation and partnerships.

This year, the team is launching new categories including Best Social Commerce Campaign and Best Use of Performance during the pandemic, as well as bringing back Best Lead Generation Campaign, and have evolved Best Use of Programmatic Advertising.

The Rising Star Award has also been introduced and rebadged as the One to Watch category.

How does it work?

The carefully selected members of the panel are vetted to avoid any conflicts of interest. They will use the same set criteria for individual scoring, and once all scores have been collated, a virtual judging day will take place to discuss, dispute and decide upon the winners. 

In certain cases, the judges may award highly commended entrants for exceptional work which may have narrowly missed out on the main prize.

What does it take to be a part of the panel?

As a judge, your duties will include scoring the campaigns based on planning, innovation, creativity, execution and the results they achieved. This means you must have a strong knowledge of the industry and what it means to be all of these things.

A passion for the performance marketing industry is absolutely key – the team are looking for people who are eager to champion the industry’s talent.

Restrictions

Members of the panel are eligible to submit entries for their company, however, they will be excluded from judging these categories.

The team does not accept applications or nominations from individuals working for affiliate networks or SaaS tracking providers.

If you think you or someone you know has what it takes, you must be free to review submissions between 9-16 August 2021, as well as the virtual judging day on September 1. Nominate yourself or a nominate a peer to be considered for the panel.

The post Could You Be a Part of the Esteemed International Performance Marketing Awards Judging Panel? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

With a varied panel of over 40 judges from across the globe, the awards give you an opportunity to benchmark your work, encourage focus and bring your team and clients together. It will be a fantastic chance to get in some much-needed networking – something that has been hugely missed since the start of the pandemic.

What else is new this year?

This year, the organisers have introduced five brand new categories:

• Best Social Commerce Campaign 
• Best Lead Generation Campaign 
• Best Use of Performance During COVID 
• Best Brand Performance Campaign
• One to Watch!
• With region specific categories, alongside our ‘best of the best’ categories; whether you are active in APAC, USA, MENA, Europe or LATAM there will be something you can get your teeth into.

Brands, publishers, agencies, affiliate networks, SaaS and technology providers can all enter the awards.

All you have to do is download the entry kit, which contains details of all of the categories, provides you with must-read guidance and walks you through the full submission process. The deadline for final entries is 22 July.

Heather Peebles, Head of Affiliate Partnerships at Reward Gateway and IPMA 2020 judge said: “It’s easy to get swept up when writing an entry and forget some of the basics (we’ve seen it happen!), but hopefully a reminder of these, along with some tips to make your entry stand out from the masses will see you dusting off the mantelpiece in no time!”

Want to get your judging hat on?

If you would like to be in with the chance of being a part of the prestigious judging panel, nominate yourself or a colleague here. Please note the team does not currently take applications/nominations from individuals working for affiliate networks or SaaS tracking providers.

Sign up to the PerformanceIN newsletter to stay up to date with the awards, and contact events@performancein.com with any questions.

The post Submit Your Entries for the International Performance Marketing Awards appeared first on PerformanceIN.

“Each year we look to add to our roster of judges with fresh faces and opinions. This year we are especially seeking brands and retailers from outside of the UK and non-affiliate-first Performance Media specialists.”

Matthew Wood, Founder of PerformanceIN and the International Performance Marketing Awards

Unlike other award programmes, IPMA judges do not need to have heaps of experience. Those working in the trenches with relevant experience have as much right to judge as those with 20 years in the industry. Each category is assigned a minimum of six judges, therefore the awards team would love to hear from as many brands and publishers as possible to share their expertise and help determine the winners.

Nominate Your Hero

As per previous years, the PerformanceIN team are now accepting applications and nominations for the judging panel.

Judges must be determined to champion the latest success stories, be an advocate of upcoming talent, and look to reward the most exceptional, best in class work and strategy in the industry.

The two-stage judging process means that judges will be scoring campaigns on the planning, innovation, creativity, execution and results they achieved using a comprehensive criteria, followed by an online judging day with your peers. 

Judging any awards is an incredibly valuable experience and you’re thoroughly encouraged you to apply. Unfortunately, applications won’t be accepted from networks and SaaS platforms.

The deadline for submissions is July 22 and prospective judges must be able to review submissions between 9-16 August as well as attending the online judging day on September 1.

The post Can You Determine a Best in Class Performance Marketing Campaign? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

With the world increasingly shifting to the online space, it’s become apparent that for eCommerce, the borders we once relied on no longer exist. Having a global affiliate programme is now integral, but how can brands go about implementing this?

Problems can be caused when there is a lack of partners spread across different regions, which is something that Swarovski experienced first-hand when it noticed slow growth across the APAC region, due to a lack of partners in this area. The team decided to work with Acceleration Partners to help improve performance across this region. After focusing on localising their strategy, which in turn increased market share and revenue, the team were able to increase their performance. This programme did, in fact, win them the best managed affiliate programme (APAC) award at the International Performance Marketing Awards 2020.

Having a single marketing strategy that is implemented across all regions will not work as well as creating localised strategies. Assuming that all countries/cultures/markets have the same characteristics would be silly. Each of these regions is different, meaning it really is of utmost importance that this is considered.

Making the most of local holidays and events is a key part of making sure a marketing strategy is successful. Grupo Xcaret took this into consideration when developing a programme surrounding Buen Fin, a national Mexican campaign which lasts across three days of sales

and discounts in various stores and services, both online and offline. The team developed joint strategies to improve reach, sales and conversion rate. Their focus on a local event and the effects this would have on their performance meant they were able to harness the correct opportunity to run their programme.

Another impressive effort to tackle the effects of 2020 was a programme by All Inclusive Marketing for Extended Stay America. In a year that turned the travel industry upside down, this programme weathered the COVID-19 storm. By considering changing consumer needs and market trends, staying flexible and having open conversations with partners, this US-based hotel chain was able to sustain 85% of last year’s revenue. The efforts won them the Best Travel, Leisure & Lifestyle Campaign award at the IPMAs 2021 – proving that even during a global pandemic, a solid strategy can deliver great results.

Staying fluid and innovative is what can ensure success even in difficult times, and having a good team of people who are aware of a clear strategy will really work in your favour.

The International Performance Marketing Awards 2021 are taking place on October 18 2021. If you and your team would like to be in with the chance of being awarded for your efforts over the past year, don’t forget to download our 2021 Entry Kit for more insights and tips.

The post Stay Connected and Drive Performance by Establishing a Solid Affiliate Programme appeared first on PerformanceIN.