[drivetowin]

Tyson mate

You know I think you're one of the best guys in the business and late last night when I read your post I had assumed that you had written it firmly tongue in cheek - though reading it now in the cold light of day I'm a bit concerned the buy.at/AOL corporate machine has got to you and you actually believe it.

While I would acknowledge that you do issue RFPs I have seen three, at most four, in the last 12 months - but I somehow reckon there are more bbg's on buy.at than that - but we don't / can't know as buy.at are one of only two networks (though you both have a suitor in common) who have at best been reticent and at worst been plain obstructive in revealing whether your bbgs even exist, let alone which merchants and how many.

I have had this argument with buy.at people both one to one and at e-consultancy round tables/iAB meetings - there is nothing commercially confidential about acknowledging which merchants have brand bidding groups - I'm not asking which affiliates are members of them, how much business they do compared to other channels (though that would be an interesting statistic to know), just which merchants do they exist for.

If you really believe that information is commercially confidential then perhaps you can explain why?

To see buy.at now spin this into some sort of first mover advantage is incredibly cynical in my view - but given you clearly now see it as a marketing plus - surely that totally removes the reasons for keeping it hidden - so here's the challenge - by close of play tomorrow let's have a full public list of all current buy.at BBG programmes.....

I know I've used this cliche a few times lately, but at the moment Affiliate Window have the transparency of glass while buy.at have all the transparency of a black plastic bag.