Feb 19 2008
Closed Group Brand Name Bidding
This is an issue that’s floated around for a long long time now and I’ve never totally had my mind made up about. I want to stay well clear of the ‘corruption’ discussion this time as it’s not worth debating rumour but I’m struggling to appreciate the business case for a closed brand name bidding group. Here’s some recent background reading on one side of the issue
The interesting issue from the Inkfactory link isn’t about Inkfactory but that Pete from Affiliate Future makes this point
This was 75% of all the affiliate sales were crossing tracking with the brand adverts. The brand adverts were run for some seperate cookies for the test.
In this case yes affiliates would have lost 3 sales for each sale they generated.
So where am I going with all this? I’d like to record a podcast looking at this issue and outlining the business case for closed brand name bidding groups. Is there anyone out there interested in taking part and enlightening me as to the benefits? I’m open to any merchant, affiliate, network or agency that would like to take part. I’m hoping to hold another discussion based podcast with perhaps 3 or 4 participants. If you read this and think I’ve totally missed the point or if you disagree with a lot of what is written in the links above then it’s you I’m hoping to speak to.
Please leave a comment or get in touch.
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Feb 19th, 2008 at 11:15 am | #
It may be worth considering allowing someone to contribute anonymously if they are currently active in the dark side of this issue in order to get a balanced collection of views. I’m not saying black hat is ok and nor am I interested in their top tips but I would be interested in their side of the debate. Just a thought.
Feb 19th, 2008 at 11:28 am | #
I really struggle to see the case for brand bidding for affiliates. Unless the merchant really isn’t capable of running it themselves it’s hard to justify.
I can see how bid groups can provide control and reassurance but personally I’ve not found them necessary to implement if you keep an eye on the search activity.
The is a cross over of sales but it’s a difficult to find a perfect solution but the last referrer rule seems to be the best we have come up with. With multi channel marketing it’s difficult to tell who really delivered the customer. How would the affiliates react if a client decided to cancel half of all sales half an hour after a tv spot?
Feb 19th, 2008 at 11:33 am | #
One of the business cases is quite simple. It’s what has allowed several (not all) networks to thrive & stay in business to to this day.
To gain a deeper insight you literally do have to take the red pill to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
That aside the first sentence is one business case for you.
“It’s what has allowed several (not all) networks to thrive & stay in business to to this day”
Feb 20th, 2008 at 6:35 pm | #
Ive been asking about the inkfactory brand bid for over a week now and still nothing has happened to remove it. Im beginning to smell something fishy and it reminds me of a certain uk holiday affiliate manager I had the misfortune to work with last year. We soon sniffed him out.
Apr 9th, 2008 at 7:25 pm | #
What is closed group marketing?
Apr 15th, 2008 at 12:17 pm | #
A closed group is when only a small number of affiliates are allowed to promote the merchant.
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