PerformanceIN is delighted to have advanced store as our headline sponsor of the 2019 International Performance Marketing Awards (IPMAs) which takes place on Monday, October 21, at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London, a day before the annual two-day performance marketing conference PI LIVE.
With the awards introducing 27 categories, including new ones in Native Advertising and Sports Betting & Gaming, companies are carefully preparing their award-winning entries as the early bird deadline looms on July 10 as the IPMAs aims to reward and recognise the very best of international performance marketing.
As the excitement builds, we spoke to advanced store head of marketing international Izabela Zięba on the company’s involvement at this year’s IPMAs, thoughts on the new categories and how the channel has developed internationally in the last 12 months.
Great to have you guys as the headline sponsor for the International Performance Marketing Awards. How does it feel to be backing the awards once again?
Izabela Zięba: Being part of the IPMAs in 2018 was a tremendous success for our company. There is simply no other event like it in Europe. It offers the opportunity to meet and network with performance marketing key players and features dynamic companies from all over the world. It’s no wonder we’re looking forward to the 2019 show.
Since the awards last year, how do you think the performance marketing industry has shaped globally in the last 12 months?
IZ: Online marketing, in general, is in a constant state of flux. However, performance marketing providers, in particular, need to learn and adapt quickly, due to challenges such as the GDPR and ITP updates. Programmatic keeps growing strongly and is moving towards first-price auction models. We are also seeing strong growth in the native advertising sector as well as a high acceptance for CPO-driven advertising models.
We’ve introduced new categories for 2019 including Best Native Advertising Campaign and Best Sports Betting & Gaming Campaign. What are thoughts on these new trends? Do they reflect the impressive international growth of the industry?
IZ: Native Advertising has shown strong growth in recent months and continues to prove its advantages over traditional display advertising so it’s definitely time to introduce this category.
Since sports betting is already strongly represented in a number of European markets, we personally wouldn’t call it a trend. It’s established but was subject to regulations in some European markets, so we’re happy to see it getting more recognition. Last but not least, gaming is a fascinating and innovative industry with so many impressive companies like Epic Games and EA. It’s definitely a big challenge to attract users to these massive games. It’s the right time to start honouring the creators of the best game campaigns.
In your opinion, what kind of attributes stand out in succeeding in such regions including, APAC, LATAM, and MENA?
IZ: First and foremost they are vast regions. Each of them consists of countries with different languages and consumer characteristics, as well as different levels of development and differing compliance regulations. Therefore, a certain degree of flexibility and open-mindedness are essential for entering these markets. Nevertheless, there is one thing they all have in common: the hunger for new technologies. They are already able to quickly adapt to new business models and make use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to reach their technically savvy consumers. Finally, the focus on targeting the right audience remains a key factor for success no matter what region you’re in.
What’s your take on the IPMAs as a vital aspect of driving the industry forward on a global scale?
IZ: The IPMAs is a unique place for worldwide active industry players to spread their knowledge, educate each other and celebrate success together. The event perfectly reflects the global expansion of our industry. To embrace the global character, even more, we think that bringing a broader audience to the IPMAs would be beneficial for everyone in performance marketing.
And finally, are there any additional announcements from advanced store that you’re keen to share with us?
We are currently working at full speed on our advanced ads, which will simplify the monetizing of advertising space for affiliate publishers. This solution is based on fully-automated native and display banners including retargeting and post view tracking. On the other hand, advertisers have the opportunity to cover display and native advertising on high-quality inventories on a pure CPA basis. At the same time, we are pressing ahead with our mycashbacks project, a cashback portal with which we want to firmly anchor the topic of economising in online and offline trading and make it accessible to everyone in Europe.