Affiliate Marketing Sector Gets Own Prestigious Awards Ceremony

[Matthew Wood]

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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.

[KieronD]

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

[Hero]

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]

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]

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.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

It's commendable to see lavish jolly in the pipeline to create that corporate persona with a bit of pomp & ceremony and for those attending will no doubt have an excellent time like previous well organised events. Am extravaganzaa of this sort is I guess a natural progression.

However, the forum roots is based on a community, it's the injection of opinions & discussion on a forum by the "members" which create the forum, by isolating and alienating those affiliate members with similar & contrasting opinions of the industry by denying them a vote will add minimal illustriousness or significance to the awards for the appropriate recipients. Granted there may have been some dodgy voting which had to be weeded out in the last bout, but there are better solutions which could be examined into by looking at those parties which engage on the forum rather than a stance which suggests that organisers are looking down their nose at them. Why call it a4uAwards it certainly won't be a reflection of the a4u "members", it might be appropiate to call them something else.

It's all starting to become too much sitting on the fence, political correctness & pretenciousness in some quarters. All corporate diarrhoea if you ask me. Can we nominate a raspberry award to this process based on the alternative awards cermony suggestion. Perhaps I had better put those rose tinted glasses on to see a contrastingly different realm of everyone holding hands skipping through the daisies & buttercups on a glorious spring morning.

On a side note why London?

[Azam.net]

Firstly, a big pat on the back to Matt and everyone at Existem for coming up with this idea and putting it into action. The website look stunning and these kind of things are not a piece of cake to organise.

Secondly, I would have to say I agree with some of the others who feel the community should have more of an input into who wins the awards. It's the people who are in the trenches on a daily - and nightly - basis, fighting the battles, who are the ones who are truly passionate about the industry and care for its wellbeing. The 9-5 corporates also work hard, but they are more likely to be in it for the money and the perks. Sure they bring some much-needed discipline, structure and finances to the industry, and they are more likely to be able to book tables as their companies will pay for them, but they are not the warriors who live, breathe and die affiliate marketing.

[Elaine]

Congratulatios to Matt for organising what sounds like a brilliant 'do' - oh I do love dressing up and searching out tiara's - I'm already on that diet -again!!

Unfortunately I'm greatly saddened by the furore that has broken out over the voting procedure and sincerely hope it can all be resolved amicably by the 5h June - it would be a crying shame if some of those passionate stalwarts of this industry were not there on the night to celebrate their input and involvement in this new and exciting industry.

Where do I stand on this issue?

My initial reaction was surprise and a tad miffed that the actual Affiliates appeared to be overlooked and that we only get to vote on 2 categories, but hey it's Matt's forum so, just get on with polishing the tiara - that's the shallow view.

But I have given it some serious thought and although an open voting system would be the ideal I think that only a small majority of all A4U members would be bothered to vote and nominate - apathy is one of our greatest foes.

AND having an open voting system is risking abuse, insinuations of vote rigging and simply votes for friends and this thread would then be full of affiliates with the oposing view that the Awards were meaningless and given to those with the most friends or staff!

Yes this could be circumvented by introducing stricter rules and controls over the voting, but everyone knows that 'internet' time is so scarce!!

So, I do hope that those on the panel are a true and fair representation of all facets in this industry and do include 'pure' affiliates who do understand this industry inside out - it will be interesting when we found out who they are.

[3wdl]

The problem with having a community vote is that it can be fixed or scewed too easily. From recollecion the previous awards were heavily geared towards networks with multiple members of staff, each one of them voting legitimately.

It then becomes hard to police - what do you do?

Restrict to one IP address per entry? Make it so that new community members can't vote to stop networks putting it in their footer or even advertising for votes on the NMA website (!) ?

I think it is a good idea to have it voted by for a board, but would be interested to see on how places on the board are opened? Are affiliates, networks and agencies able to apply to be part of the board or has it been dictated in the organisation? Not that it really matters either way I guess but I would say that it would be good if the board consited of more affiliates than anything else; after all affiliates are the ones that make this industry and we'd be nowhere without them.

Good luck with the awards Matt and co - it's great to see the industry have an event like this and a real step forward from the one at the pub at the Expo.

[Shane]

Yup very suprising the a4u awards won't be decided by the an affiliate vote except for a couple of categories.

I suppose the validity depends on just who makes up the "panel of leading Affiliate Marketing experts" as the quality and experience varies greatly at the "expert" level and if the panel is made up of network/agency staff too then really it's not an award system representitive of the affiliate masses either as it'll be skewed to a degree by the ratio of agency/network to affiliate voters !?

I do take on board Matt's point that some people just vote impulsively and click anything rather than giving it some serious thought and that isn't fair and it does devalue the awards if there isn't recipient or voter confidence in it so yes a solution is needed but a small panel may be too insular and not adequately represent the view of the majority.

Instead of a small panel of "experts", why not have a larger panel of selected forum members say 50 to 100 ? of the more active, experienced and responsible members who agree on a date and time and sit down and vote, is this not a more representative panel of experts with a wider view that stands more chance of generating award recipients that most people would agree are worthy ?

As it is currently it sounds a bit like a peoples choice awards being decided by a small panel whilst ignoring the voice of the people in all but two categories.

Shouldn't the emphasis be on affiliates as after all it is the a4u awards isn't it ? and if so then should be decided by affiliates or be called something else ?

I don't want to be negative here as I know Matt and the team have and will continue to work hard for the industry as a whole but it does feel like it's been moved up a tier out of reach as we as a collective can't be trusted not to screw it up anymore.