We’re pleased to announce Piggy is a Platinum Sponsor of this year’s Performance Marketing Awards.
Karl Wood, MD EMEA at Piggy, spoke to PerformanceIN journalist Niamh Butler-Walton about the upcoming awards, what Piggy are most looking forward to, and some exciting projects going on behind the scenes…
It’s great to have Piggy involved as a sponsor for this year’s Performance Marketing Awards. What are you most looking forward to about the virtual event?
Not having to worry about how I am going to fit into my tux with the new found lockdown weight. In all seriousness, I think virtual events have come a long way in the last 12-18 months and I expect this format to suit the PMAs the same as it has some of the larger trade shows of late. Whereas we may lose some of the social networking that happens around the tables and at the bar after, attendees are likely to give their attention to the presenter and award announcements more than ever!
The PMAs celebrate the achievements of the best minds in the industry. Which particular categories and talking points are of interest to you this year?
I am always a big fan of the Rising Star category as I think it is always such a strong field of competition and really helps put new talent on the map. We are very proud to be sponsoring the category this year, which was a personal choice of mine.
After that, I am very keen to see what sort of entries make the cut when it comes to “Best Use of Data” – with e-commerce being pretty much the ONLY outlet for shopping in the last year, data collection has no doubt surged. Who has made the most of it, we shall see!
At Piggy, what are the main goals you work towards when working with advertisers?
Not too dissimilar to other affiliates in the incentive space, we look to draw attention to specific advertisers at the right time, based on their promotional offers and help entice conversions through consumers who love a deal!
The balance is always to help our users find new brands who they may not have shopped with before, but also to keep tabs on sales/offers from some household names that they are well aware of but maybe do not shop with regularly.
With over 6,000 partners globally, there are always plenty of strong incentives to promote on a daily basis and our users are attuned to the way in which we present them, giving us a very strong environment to focus on generating cold hard revenue!
How does your work benefit advertisers?
Top level, it helps to drive revenue through the affiliate channel. On a more targeted level, it can be a superb tool for helping to shift certain stock/categories that have maybe dropped off or even to widen their brand awareness to an audience that are highly engaged in the e-commerce space.
We have worked meticulously to ensure that, although our model is that of a browser extension, we operate in a way that only looks to add value and not cannibalise or impede on other partners adding value to the programme already, through things such as standing down on other affiliates and in some cases, only rewarding entirely new customers.
What performance marketing trends have you seen shift over the past year of the pandemic, and where do you now see the opportunities coming from?
There was certainly some key shifts in priorities when it came to the types of products that our users were purchasing. Initially, as you’d expect, it was all about the home delivery groceries and the essentials. We moved on from that to children’s education products and home health and fitness. Then, we saw a pivot towards entertainment when we got to about two to three months into lockdown, with users willing to splurge a little cash on things such as wine tasting deliveries or maybe joining up for a language learning platform.
I think we all knew that affiliate marketing was one of the most effective channels for pivoting to support brands pushing certain product categories/verticals, but this pandemic really saw a switch towards more “vertical led promotion” type campaigns. It’s quite rare nowadays to see “10% off everything”, and I think as we move forward, it is going to become even rarer. So, the obvious opportunity here for brands is to ensure their programme is set up to pull those different vertical levels (do you commission per category, for example) and for publishers – are you ready to promote those types of offerings?
Finally, are there any exciting projects that Piggy is working on at the moment? Please share with our readers so we all know what to look out for throughout the remainder of 2021.
At Piggy, We are certainly doing a lot this year in terms of developing our offering. We are launching into new European markets including Austria, Italy and Spain. We launched a mobile app to allow our users to get cashback and deals whilst shopping on iOS and Android devices. We also continue to enhance our Amazon and travel price comparison tools and last, but absolutely not least, we continue to hire new talent to grow our amazing team!
Don’t forget to check out the PMA website for more information about the upcoming awards, and stay tuned for more exciting news as we approach the ceremony by signing up to our newsletter.