Awin has invested in Scandinavian-founded influencer platform Tailify, a strategic move geared at capitalising on the overlap between affiliate and influencer marketing, and developing its existing success with the channel.
While terms of the investment haven’t been revealed, influencer marketing is an area Awin has made some serious progress into in recent years; its work with LookFantastic.com alongside The Hut Group saw it win Best Influencer Campaign at the 2017 Performance Marketing Awards.
In partnering, the network will now have access to Tailify’s automated self-service solution which enables brands to create and manage campaigns, approach influencers and track results. As part of the collaboration, the network will also offer Tailify access to over 6000 advertisers globally.
Starcom MediaVest has called Tailify the “startup most likely to revolutionise the media industry”, and advertisers such as Coca-Cola, L’Oréal and Disney and just some brands making use of its platform.
“Powerful publishers”
Awin’s COO, Adam Ross, called the move to further combine affiliate and influencer marketing “a natural step forward” for the network.
“The team at Tailify are ambitious, knowledgeable and driven so we are excited at the prospect of working closely with them to harness the power of influencers for all our clients.”
Meanwhile, Tailify’s CEO, Fredrik Segerby, commented on a “great strategic fit” and the potential for the two companies to explore a number of “synergies” between their two fields of expertise, calling influencers “some of the most powerful publishers in the world”.
Making new ground
Although the affiliate marketing industry has only recently made headway with the influencer channel, the two have been connected long before the arrival of voucher and cashback incentive sites on the market, and before the term “influencer marketing” was coined.
What’s dramatically changed in recent years, however, is merchants’ understanding of how and when influencers positively affect customers’ purchase behaviour, drawing away from previous associations of influencer marketing as simply a brand awareness exercise.
Furthermore, while affiliate networks have on occasion been criticised for “missing a trick” with the influencer marketing boom witnessed within the last several years, Awin’s investment in the channel demonstrates a growing confidence in realising the potential of combining the two channels – and harnessing the potential in the collaboration with platforms like Tailify.