An Alternative To Brand Bidding Groups

A while back Books Direct approached my good friend Paul Wheatley & I to ask if we would consider running their brand based paid search activity through Affiliate Window.

We were happy to help but wanted to consider the alternatives to a straight brand bidding group which we didn’t really feel would add any value to the program. Paul had been formulating this idea for a while even before we had found a forward thinking merchant to give it a try so we pitched the idea to Sarah at Books Direct and took it from there.

Basically the idea is that we setup and run the brand campaign at no profit. Merchant, network & affiliate all have access to the various paid search accounts to ensure transparency throughout. Books Direct pay for leads at the normal commission rate and then the profit combined with Affiliate Window adding back their override is shared amongst other affiliates on the program in a grand prize draw at the end of the year.

I think it’s a great example of affiliate, merchant and network working together and the end result is that after two months there is £3,864.35 of revenue in a prize pool to be distributed in a prize draw at the end of the year. This adds obvious value for the merchant and hopefully the end result will be growth on the program as people want to generate sales and get themselves a share of a prize pool which could well be over £10k by the end of the year.

There’s a more detailed explanation on the forum but it’s good to be able to announce what’s been going on for the last couple of months.