Guest Comment: Creativity in Affiliate Marketing

The a4u Awards ceremony, the affiliate marketing industry awards, is being held on the 5^th June 2008 at the Sheraton, Park Lane, London. This year for the first time ever the organisers have introduced a category for, ‘Best Use of Creative’.  

To a digital audience outside of affiliate marketing this new inclusion could raise a few eyebrows. Affiliate marketing is often closely associated with delivery by more traditional formats (banners, text links etc) and not creativity within the marketing mix.  Judges were looking for entries that ‘demonstrated exceptional use of creative within affiliate marketing, with a mix of technology, flair and design to increase conversions and ROI for the publisher’. Short listed nominees are Webgains for Page Peel technology, Prezzybox for a series of eight innovations (including Vidiboxes and Gift Wizard Search Boxes), Net-a-porter.com and Jackpotjoy for their ‘Deal no Deal’ banner creatives. 

"There are good reasons why affiliate marketing should have evolved to the extent where the industry is now considered a hothouse for more creative ad formats and linking methods.  The foundation of affiliate marketing is based on the spirit of entrepeneurialship. Jasper van der Bliek, Affiliate Manager for Jackpotjoy sheds more light on this: "Affiliate Marketers are individuals who are likely to embrace risk more than corporate employees. SMEs often allow for more mistakes, they adapt more quickly to change and individual empowerment is actively encouraged - perfect environmental factors for building an atmosphere of innovation, in particular the creative field."

"Necessity is the mother of all invention,’ Affiliates and merchants livelihoods depend on results, and results often mean working harder and being smarter than the competition.  In an industry as competitive as affiliate marketing, success rides on the margins, and this means developing more interesting and appealing ad formats and visuals," explains Zak Edwards, Managing Director of Prezzybox: "Creativity is important in affiliate marketing for a number of reasons. Primarily it aids your affiliates in driving traffic and sales through to your site and thus generating the affiliate commission.  

"The more creative your marketing tools, the more likely affiliates will use them and consequently the more likely they will be able to drive traffic to your site. It also enables you to differentiate your brand from your competitors, and this is of massive importance in affiliate marketing. An affiliate is more likely to promote a merchant whose creative is regularly updated and promoting the newest and best selling products/services over ones that are neglected. I would argue that good and timely creative is equally as important as commission levels and cookie duration." 

Affiliate networks are often best placed to build creative devices & tools for the sector, as they understand the needs of both the affiliates and the merchants. Jasper van der Blink outlines some of the barriers they face when being creative with their affiliate programmes,  ‘The biggest barriers we face are  limitations such as technological capabilities, trying to please more than one party, time and resources. 

"Affiliate networks have development resource at hand, and responsive networks will make such resource and investment a priority," Edwards outlines. "Design is obviously an issue as is technical expertise. It’s OK having the idea for a new fangled widget or application, but you then have to have access to the technical and design skills to put your vision into reality".

This is where all affiliate networks could be adding real value. Webgains nomination, Page Peel (see examples  http://www.pepperplaza.de/ and http://www.bestdealsuk.net/)  not only has benefits for merchants (inter-active design drives increased response rates) but Page Peel also offers  significant value for affiliates/publishers by enticing consumer interest to the page and by extending available inventory space.  Moreover, Page Peel is quick to set up, and easy to use. Historically good creatives and new creative formats have required significant investment from merchants.  This should not necessarily be the case.  Page Peel is very affordable.   

By definition, good creatives are based on a scintillating user experience and if you examine the short listed nominees you will find that they all meet this requirement. The creative pages are visually appealing, entice user interest and they provide real value and functionality.  Page Peel is non-intrusive and in fact entices users to respond in a smart and interactive fashion. 

How do we see the world of creativity in affiliate marketing evolving? The affiliate industry will continue to embrace more interactive and appealing formats and linking methods.  Moreover the logic for commission based performance marketing is so strong that advertisers/merchants will drive more of their off line marketing spend to take advantage of the tracking technology available via the Internet.  Hence, a convergence between online and offline marketing methods will provide scope for the creative bridging between channels.  Affiliate merchants should seek out opportunities such as product packaging, the use of discount coupons and vouchers, cross channel promotions directed through call centers, radio, TV.  To succeed, advertisers should be asking themselves how they can work more closely with the creative teams and media planners to influence new designs. Zak Edwards sums the potential of this area up perfectly, ‘There may come a time in the near future whereby merchants have to design the same content unit for different applications, such as your mobile phone, blogs, social network sites etc, as well as traditional websites." 

Never ones to fear change, affiliate marketers are well placed to develop innovative solutions to problems not yet defined! 

By Robert Glasgow

Managing Director

Webgains Europe

www.webgains.com