Affiliate Marketing Sector Gets Own Prestigious Awards Ceremony

[Matthew Wood]

Special Announcement!

Affiliate Marketing Awards Announced

[kier]

Interesting development Matt well done, just quick question based on this:

"Judged by a panel of leading Affiliate Marketing experts"

Does this mean the awards won't be based on a vote as previously?

[Matthew Wood]

Hi Kier,

There are 14 awards in total up for grabs. The judging process will be very different to our informal awards last year where all the awards were decided by public vote.

You will need to submit an entry to be in with a chance of winning, this is simply an executive summary of around one page of A4 with supporting evidence as required. Full details can be found on the a4uAwards website.

As entry is Free you are able to enter as many categories as you feel appropriate.

A panel of judges from in and out of the sector will then discuss, short-list and choose a winner and highly commended for each category.

We also have two 'Publishers Choice' awards which will be decided by valued members of the community here at affiliates4u.com, these include the highly coveted 'Publishers Choice of Network' and 'Publishers Choice of Account Manager'

We felt this was a natural progression for the awards, that offered a say to the wider community and we are excited to be launching a much needed formal black tie awards ceremony in London.

Matthew.

[hero]

interesting to see that you have decided to split the awards from the expo and have 2 separate events. I would have thought that the awards need to be tied in with the expo & conference in order to attract as many people from all the 4 areas of the industry to attend and not end up being in attendance of just the nominees and their colleagues, like so many other award shows (I'm thinking ecmod awards here). Sure, twice as much publicity and press exposure and opportunities for more people to hear of the industry, but will they attend?

Cause, at the end of the day, how many affiliates and merchants, who are the driving force of this industry, will attend an awards show if they have to travel & stay overnight in London, when they are not nominated?

And, from my perspective, ditching the community's vote is not the way to resolve the teething problems with the voting.

But, then again, I've been born a moaner

I like the black tie however, gives a bit of glamour to the whole thing

[drivetowin]

Where did Jason's post go? - I'm sure he commented on this thread earlier?

Overall I think the awards are a good idea - I think the black tie gala dinner approach is good but I agree with Hero that it would make more sense imho to hold this during the Expo (nothing to stop it being at a top West End venue btw -it's easy enough for people to get across town, just when the expo is on everyone is in town so you will get better attendance)

As it is (and given the price of a table), the tables will be dominated by the networks and a chosen few who the networks have invited.

[UKOffer]

Very much looking forward to this, now where can I hire a tux?

[hero]

Originally Posted by UKOffer now where can I hire a tux?

you men have it so easy hire a tux and get it over and done with...

[loquax]

Where did Jason's post go? - I'm sure he commented on this thread earlier?

I deleted it after a slightly heated chat with Matt via messenger....

Nuff probably said.

Jason

[Matthew Wood]

Originally Posted by hero And, from my perspective, ditching the community's vote is not the way to resolve the teething problems with the voting. But, then again, I've been born a moaner

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

[hero]

Originally Posted by Matthew Wood 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!

you may choose to call it grubbyness, others call it constructive criticism. We are here to raise our opinions and make questions, while focusing on the things that will take us forward. That does not take away the fact that disagreements will exist and they should exist if we want to continue being a community. It has been the community that has taken the industry the forward steps so far and I believe this is where the power lies. Not in carefully selected commitees. The commitee could sort through the proposed nominations and pick out the best 5 in each category which are then put to public vote. Remove network & agency staff from voting, remove anyone who hasn't posted above certain times and you have a better system.

Personally, I do like the idea of our own industry formal events and it's all good and am looking forward to them all being announced and organised and hopefully participating. But I do have some objections which I do choose to raise, I most probably shouldn't. Like the odd thing that we will be awarding half way through the year

All good, all good, it's a great job you guys are doing, don't get me wrong.