Brand Bidder on Inkfactory. Rogue or Closed Group?

[Travel Pixel]

This is an affiliate, anyone is free to dive in if they'd like

You mean anyone can start bidding on the Inkfactory brand?

If so, I can assure you it is protected in Google so the only way it can be done is with approval from the merchant for an affiliate.

[KirstyM]

Hi Hi,

I've had a play with this overnight, and I set up an adgroup that got impressions on brand terms no bother at all. I can't see any trademark protection at play here?

[Travel Pixel]

and i qoute....

Trademarked Term Due to trademark reasons, we do not allow advertisers to use 'Inkfactory' in their Google AdWords ads. This term may be trademarked either for a certain product or service category and may apply only in certain countries.

You must have special powers Kirsty...

[angelabx]

Originally Posted by Travel Pixel and i qoute.... You must have special powers Kirsty...

And the affiliate bidding at the moment obviously also has special powers

[Azam.net]

Not the manner in which we were planning to announce it but Azam Marketing will be managing the InkFactory affiliate program. We haven't made an announcement yet because we are working on the strategy: our aim to make it by far the leading affiliate program in its sector.

I noticed this forum thread last night and have already contacted Ink Factory and Affiliate Future a few times to get to the bottom of it.

Ink Factory say that lots of rivals were advertising on their brand, so they asked Google to put a stop to it. Google did do that.

However, as we can all see, one affiliate has been able to slip through the net. How this affiliate has been able to bid on the brand name does perplex me, as I can't see how they are doing it if the trademark is protected (if anybody knows who this could have happened, please contact me). Anyhow, we will write to Google to ask them what's going on and why this one advertiser has been able to get past the restrictions.

One of the reasons why our agency has been taken on board is because issues like this need to be resolved and communicated to affiliates promptly, and the merchant themselves did not have the inhouse set-up for it. The affiliate program has been doing very well for years, but it has been on autopilot for a while; that will no longer be the case. We have got lots of exciting plans and will let everybody know when they are implemented.

If you wish to discuss anything related to InkFactory's affiliate program, you are welcome to email inkfactory [at] azam.net or call 0800 018 5600 anytime

[Travel Pixel]

email sent ....

[KirstyM]

Originally Posted by Travel Pixel and i qoute.... You must have special powers Kirsty...

Ah, at last my innate Harry Potteresque PPC abilities have been exposed! Next month I'll be launching my new line of Kirsty McCubbin PPC magic wands. One wave and you'll get a away with murder on Google! A bargain at just £999.99p

Seriously, though.. this particular affiliate has been on that term for donkeys years. I wonder if that's got anything to do with it. Oh well, Super Nadeem will sort it out (soon to launch his range of affiliate marketing capes of invisibility).

[Azam.net]

Thank you to everyone for their advice and input. The merchant has decided to adopt the policy that affiliates may not bid on the brand name or any related terms via paid search. This includes the words 'ink factory', 'inkfactory', 'inkfactory.com', 'inkfactory.co.uk' and the words with or without spaces, hyphenated, misspelled or prefixed with the definite article.

The affiliate bidding on the brand name in Google has been emailed and asked to no longer do so. Further action will have to be taken if the request is not adhered to.

[KirstyM]

Ouch, he's not going to be happy. I bet he makes really, really good money just from being on the brand.

On the plus side, it should improve conversions for all the other affiliates!

[Travel Pixel]

Good work Nadeem.

Fair playing field is all we ask for....