Tell us about winning an International Performance Marketing Award?
Alexandra Forsch: It’s wonderful to once again be recognized by the International Performance Marketing Awards. The IPMAs allow our industry to highlight clients and partnerships that strive to elevate the affiliate channel. Securing five wins across Awin in 2018, including Best Full Service Affiliate Network and Best Managed Affiliate Program USA, for the best-in-class services our client-facing teams provide is an honour. It’s also exciting to celebrate these wins with our partners, as we could not do this without their trust and shared commitment to success. Being recognized for our best-in-class efforts among a group of peers and by our peers is something we are very proud of.
Where does the value lie in winning Best Managed Affiliate Program (US)?
AF: Winning Best Managed Affiliate Program USA reiterates our commitment to our clients and underscores our intention to move the affiliate industry forward in a time when digital media has been challenged by widespread ad fraud, new data regulations and ad blocking. By delivering successful affiliate programs in a fully transparent and ethical manner, we’re able to demonstrate the tangible value of the channel by effectively communicating to the C-suite the opportunity affiliate marketing offers outside of Amazon, Google and Facebook through data, innovation and strategy… and of course with elite awards like the IPMAs.
Has anything changed for your company since winning the award?
AF: After the awards, we went right into Q4 mania with Black Friday and Cyber Monday – where, for the first time, Black Friday outpaced Cyber Monday on Awin in North America. This trend suggests consumer spending during this massive discounting period is no longer confined to just one solitary day but is spreading throughout the surrounding week.
Additionally, after a successful 2018, we began 2019 by announcing the unification and centralization of our North American operations to provide our partners with opportunities to expand upon the strategic solutions offered across both platforms. New partnership opportunities for advertisers include service partners like SingleView by ROE.Y.E and Monotote. Elsewhere, retailers like TripAdvisor, SHEIN, and Booking.com are now partnered with Awin on a global scale. Globally, we launched the third edition of The Awin Report that focuses on the diversity of the channel, sharing insights and case studies from a wide range of partners. This channel’s inherent diversity and the opportunity it affords all who wish to engage in performance-focused activity was the key theme at our second annual ThinkTank US, where we highlighted our network innovations and focused on our new service partners who can be easily integrated and adopted by publishers and advertisers via our Awin Mastertag to boost performance.
In your opinion, what kind of attributes stand out in succeeding in such regions including, US, APAC, LATAM, and MENA?
AF: Large collaboration among all industry partners to attract the desired channel investments. Again, this goes back to demonstrating that affiliate marketing is the solution to overcome the challenges currently sweeping the digital ad industry. Now is when we must create a clear narrative about why the channel offers a safe place to invest precious marketing budgets, with the relationship between affiliates, retailers and networks, recognized by the IPMAs, being essential to unlocking this vision. What's your take on the IPMAs as a vital aspect of driving the industry forward on a global scale?
The International Performance Marketing Awards provide an impartial platform to spotlight key players in the industry while inspiring and encouraging all involved to innovate and strive for best-in-class approaches to performance marketing. There are many individuals, teams, and companies moving the channel forward regardless of market, role, business type, etc. The IPMAs bring these stakeholders together for one night to amplify everyone’s efforts, with the ultimate goal of creating greater awareness and stronger collaborations for the betterment of the industry as a whole.