Affiliate Marketing Sector Gets Own Prestigious Awards Ceremony

[hpops]

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Hey Matt, just a quick one, would being a judge preclude one from being an entrant?

[Matthew Wood]

Good question, In my mind I don't think it should preclude one from being an entrant, however naturally your vote would be void for your entry.

That sound fair?

[simonb]

We've not ditched the communities vote, we have 2 very prestigious awards up for grabs that are voted for by the community, 'Publishers Choice of Network' and 'Account Manager of the Year' these are two of the biggest awards for the night.

I think whatever structure we choose there will be down and upsides. We've gone with what 99% of other industry award ceremonies do, but kept the communities voting power with two highly regarded awards as mentioned above.

The complexity of many affiliate campaigns and the number of submissions we expect would not suite an open vote that may not reflect the truth. In addition whilst the majority of people will cast their votes with great thought and understanding a proportion will vote on the fly without appreciating the purpose and complexity of each award and what it represents.

On the events side we have a number to announce this year including regional roadshows, we understand that not every event is for everyone, that is why we hope to offer a choice.

In terms of cost we are due to announce that members of affiliates4u who are affiliates can purchase a ticket for the awards for £95, that is infact subsidised by us (yes it is that expensive in London!) we will group people together where we can.

we've taken a huge punt with the awards, it may work, it may not but at least we can say we tried! and that we tried for the overall benfit of the sector and our members here on affiliates4u.

We are all passionate about this industry that we work in, so why don't we shout more about how great it is? How un-grubby we infact are? the positive elements? other industries do!

Matthew

I think that's a great Idea Matt. I can imagine exactly who the finance vertical award would go to if it was voted on by the community but it wouldn't seem to be very fair.

[nim-b]

Quick question about one of the categories. Is the 'Publishers Choice of Account Manager' meant for network account managers, agency account managers, merchant affiliate managers, or all three? I liked the way that at the last awards this was split into different awards, which rightly recognised the different skills and responsibilities these roles require.

I think making the awards separate from the expo is a great idea though- means everyone can relax without worrying about making it to a seminar the next day

[hpops]

I agree with Naomi regarding three different categories of account managers, we're fortunate enough to have a lot of good people in the industry nowadays, a nomination for an award like this would be rightly worn as a badge of pride.