Who Would You Vote For As The Next Chairman of The IAB AMC?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Who Would You Vote For As The Next Chairman of The IAB AMC?

The vote is this Thursday & the candidates are:

Duncan Popham - MD of Total Search Solutions & A Moderator on the A4UForum.
Matt Bailey - Head of the affiliate channel at i-level

Note: Please note that votes of who voted who are now NOT made publically viewable. And it's just a bit of fun poll.

[kier]

Duncan you know anarchists are supposed to boycott elections right!?

[hpops]

A quick message, not to canvas, but to calm. Its important that any vote has an opportunity to exist within its own democratic framework. Myself and Matt are both very proud to be standing in what is seen by many as a critical year for the AMC, our co-members of the IAB should be given a free decision based on a presentation that we will be giving to the council on Thursday. No other influence should be bought to bear, by this forum or by any other methods. I'm happy for this poll to exist, but it must exist in the full knowledge that its results should have NO BEARING WHATSOVER in the voting habits of the members. I also think that due to the personal nature of voting (even in the abstract) for an individual, its critical that the poll here (and the vote on Thursday) are anonymous.

And Kier, the number one priority of any anarchist is to avoid anything which they are "supposed" to do.

[kier]

And Kier, the number one priority of any anarchist is to avoid anything which they are "supposed" to do.

O RLY? I must have missed the last policy newsletter

[hpops]

O RLY? I must have missed the last policy newsletter

Yeah, its very badly organised!

[dougs]

You both get my vote

Seriously 2 good contenders.

Doug

[nim-b]

its results should have NO BEARING WHATSOVER in the voting habits of the members.

Damn, I was going to bring along some rotten veg on Thursday just in case

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Probably treading over old ground & discussions but is the IAB for Affiliates?

Or is it for Merchants & Agencies?

One of the first initiatives discussed at the start of Wood's reign was the potential creation of a blacklist of unethical and banned affiliates.

What about more focus on merchants & agencies, & not just affiliates, will there best practices for them this year?

Is the 'affiliate council' by name is flawed?

Hopefully we shall continue to see over the forthcoming year from those that dedicate considerable time & effort towards it.

<Tin Hat On>

[KevinEdwards]

Paul,

If more affiliates turned up there could be wider debate, very rarely are affiliates present.

The only code of conduct issued thus far has addressed voucher code affiliates. I would like to think this actually protects affiliates: those who are trying to promote voucher codes by the book and those who feel their conversions are being damaged by less ethical practices.

Having said that I agree no element of the affiliate relationship should be allowed to become complacent.

[nim-b]

There are some best practice guidelines that have been written by the council that are aimed at merchants running programs.

You can see them on the IAB website here. I think they've kind of got overlooked amongst all the discussion about the voucher code rules.

What still remains to be worked out with merchant best practice is how to encourage and/or enforce it. It would be impossible to stop affiliates promoting a particular merchant if they wanted to- its up to the individual affiliate which programmes they want to promote. At the moment we're working on getting the information on best practice out to merchants, particularly new ones. Often some of the problems can be completely unknown to new merchants, its a question of education.

Personally I'd like to see some kind of 'AMC approved' badge for merchant programmes. This could consist of a checklist of points to conform to, that is periodically checked over to ensure compliance.

[KevinEdwards]

Also, it's worth pointing out this will be the first time a non-network employee will head up the council and (no disrespect to Ben) I think that will help.

Both Matt and Duncan have proved themselves vocal advocates of affiliate marketing and I think whoever wins will have the goodwill and backing of all networks.

[Mogga]

What about more focus on merchants & agencies, & not just affiliates, will there best practices for them this year?

<Tin Hat On>

Guidelines on avoiding leakage to alternative versions of the site, cross-cookie encouragement, removal of telephone numbers and incitement to call not order online etc... are these all laid down in rules for merchants?

[3wdl]

Also, it's worth pointing out this will be the first time a non-network employee will head up the council and (no disrespect to Ben) I think that will help.

To be fair Ben wasn't a network employee when he "won" his seat

[nim-b]

Guidelines on avoiding leakage to alternative versions of the site, cross-cookie encouragement, removal of telephone numbers and incitement to call not order online etc... are these all laid down in rules for merchants?

All points I think are covered by the Commission Leakage Best Practice guidelines. Written by..er...me :blush (with discussion and help from the rest of the council).

[TD-Lee]

In fairness to ben, he was managing partner at Viseum at his time of appointment....