Dan Redfearn & David Hall – IAB Affiliate Marketing Council

Another interesting podcast.

I’m not quite clear whether you have to be a member of the IAB to get onto one of these discussion groups.
It’s an interesting idea of pushing forward an association but it does run the risk of excluding us affiliates I think.

Hi Diane,

You don’t need to be a member to go to the discussion groups

OK, Thanks for clarifying that. What’s the procedure for attending? Do you just turn up or do you have to let someone know in advance?

Thanks

Diane – get in touch with Dan and let him know you are interested

From what I can make out of the Podcast is that if you’re a Network and you don’t pay IAB to be a member then you can never be an IAB Approved Network, sounds like a good money maker for them, wish them all the best. However if it’s truly something for the good of Affiliate Marketing and there Merchant members and not just the Network members then shouldn’t they be involving all Networks?

Clarke – Didn’t Dan say the IAB were a not for profit organisation?

Yes they did but that doesn’t stop them charging stupid fees to join and I have no reason to join the IAB at present so why should our Network and others be excluded from this when the fact of the matter is that Paid On Results and others who are not members have been leading the way in best practice for many years, something a number of the IAB members are aware of and others should be reminded about.

Clarke – many thanks for your comments, and I agree that we’re making real progress in representing affiliate marketers within the industry. As I mentioned in the podcast the “code” is in a very embryonic stage at the moment and were looking for input from both IAB members and non-members on this. A key benefit of IAB membership is the opportunity to attend our councils and taskforces, and of course as a membership organisation we need to ensure that we meet the expectations of our members. If you have any suggestions on what you as a network would like to see from us to justify membership then please get in touch.

Clarke has a valid point and perhaps this question could be raised at the next meeting? No money should be passing hands on this full stop, simply by the nature of the issue.

I realise resources need to be paid for, but there can not be any reason why any affiliate marketing person, organisation should be feeling left out so early on in this process.

Id like to add that I did not elect the IAB to represent me, or my clients, Im from the old school where by I feel the affiliates should have the casting vote to decide who they want to represent their interests, after all, is this not to make their lives a little easier. Many will disagree with that. But I quite like democracy and fair voting.

With regards to the affiliate networks, uniting and working towards best practice, I encourage that 100% and if Clarke feels that they and others maybe or are being excluded, that’s a problem,so there’s a challange ;0)

“from us to justify membership” Get rid of the membership fee, it’s that simple (perhaps you need to make an exception to your rules re this subject, there is too much politics here that wont go away and your fees are a barrier to entry.

What makes a football fan? Is it because they have a season ticket? No

Does a football fan’s opinion on any phone in radio show for example count more or less because they have a season ticket? No

It’s down to financial ability, their location & personal circumstances.

I hope that clarifies that point.

Now, I downloaded the post and listened to it on the way to the Tottenham match yesterday.

It does seems that it’s very much in an embryonic stage though, since the industry moves forward very quickly. The suggested timeline of 12 months between a list of what is deemed “fair & best practise” & an “official code of conduct for networks” does seem quite far apart and maybe should be expedited. Before any “fair & best practise” is published after gathering the information from networks & merchants (which I hope is not members only), perhaps it maybe prudent to present this to the affiliate community to ascertain if it has been correctly communicated & the necessary points included.

I was hoping for more substance in the interview with respect to Dan & Dave giving an indicator of just a few issues they thought would be covered, though this was asked by Fraser and nothing was available yet.

I would gladly lend any objective opinions to the mix along with any other fellow affiliates who are interested, if we have a voice then we have to use it. But, at least it’s a step in the right direction for this industry to be taken seriously. However maybe a roundtable including merchants who are not members should be invited too, they may end up joining the IAB too.

Any dates should be clearly communicated to the wider community of potentially interested parties.

From what I gathered ffrom the interview of current network members, a couple of those I wouldn’t trust, but most of them we are fine with. I would like to see the other networks involved too.

I sincerely wish Dan & Dave good luck with it, and look forward to a rapid progress rather anything protracted, it what is a genuine step forward and perhaps we should give it a fair chance. Though as an affiliate, I always like things done yesterday.

Note Again: Though some of the above points, including my own pertain to the membership scenario, please allow any interested parties to peruse the first stage “fair & best practise” before going ahead & publishing so that if anyone has valid points, these maybe adopted, so that it covers the scope from different perspectives. As the mindset of networks, merchants, affiliates & agencies can be quite different and these may not be always interpreted correctly in any publication.

I’m sure the IAB knows a lot about Affiliate Marketing in the UK. Therefore they can not be unaware of the UK Affiliate Census published by e-Consultancy.com which suggests that 49% of UK affiliates earn less than £500.

Is it too cynical too assume that IAB’s fees are intended to exclude the average affiliate ?

Perhaps our function is merely to be the consumers of the products some IAB members promote.

Just something else to throw into the pot. If I heard correctly the ANC (affiliate NETWORK council) wants to be called AMC (affiliate MARKETING council). The latter suggests it covers a greater part of the universal surface. Therefore I was wondering if the AMC is going to be an Umbrella Organisation, with three sprigs offshooting from it, each being networks, affiliates & merchants?

Ok can some one just clarify the following
As an affiliate it is free to come along to the meetings?
It’s free for anyone to attend the meetings regardless of which side of the fence you sit.

But…
1. If you are an affiliate and want protection and be included in any kind of affiliate best practice you have to be a member of the IABUK?
2. Is this also the case for Merchants?

3.This seems to be the case for Affiliate networks, correct?

I think this is a great coup for awin and they seized the moment, I am how ever a bit concerned that some people are already feeling excluded, could some one please answer these questions.

Also What is the IABUK? What do you stand for? How do you differ from the IMRG.org who already run best practice policies? Im sure lots of people are asking this question.

Nick good point, depending on the answer to No1.

I think a few people are missing the point of what this is about here, from the meeting I went do it was not about protecting the affiliates but more something for merchants that are IAB members.

There were two goals – 1 of which was for a guidebook that educates IAB Members about Affiliate Marketing – this is no different to what E-Consultancy do but is a bit more advanced.

The second thing was an Affiliate Network Council – as far as I was aware all networks (members of IAB or not) could go to this and if that’s not the case then it’s a bad move and won’t work – it’s certainly a point I will raise at the next meeting on the 30th May.

RE: Your questions Jess.

> 1. If you are an affiliate and want protection and be included in any kind of affiliate best practice you have to be a member of the IABUK?

The IAB is not aimed at affiliates – it is aimed at merchants, agencies and networks, though as I have said the later should all be invited even if they are not members of the IAB.

> 2. Is this also the case for Merchants?

The IAB is aimed towards merchants and the handbook they are writing will be for IAB members only – the Network Council is aimed towards networks & helping give a certification to give merchants more trust and benefits – that’s the aim at least – Merchants/Affiliates won’t get any form of protection from this.

As I said – just from my limited view after going along to one of the meetings – it’s nice to see something happening to help develop the industry but only time will tell if it’s this.

Cheers James ;0)

To be fair the IAB is there to represent it’s members first. It mostly has a membership of networks & merchants so it’s simply about promoting good practice affiliate marketing amongst these members. I don’t think they are initially setting out to regulate the whole industry or to do the job that many would like an affiliate association to do.

That’s how I understood things anyway!

Thanks everyone for their comments following on from the podcast. As we were unable to cover everything in the one session it’s great that we’ve been able to open this discussion to the wider affiliate community. However I feel that I need to clarify a few points that don’t seem to have been made clear.

The principle aim of the IAB is one of education and ensuring that advertisers (and in this case merchants) are aware of what’s going on in the industry so that they can better understand online and embrace the medium as a way of engaging with their customers and building their brands.

We run a number of sector councils for our members to help us achieve these aims, including search, email marketing, B2B and advertising technology. All of our councils have been set up and exist in response to member requests that we provide a neutral setting which makes it possible to come together and work towards promoting and educating people on their discipline. There’s been a lot of talk about ‘protection’, when the role of the IAB is to promote the various online marketing tools to marketers with the help of our members, and for our members. A good example of this is the affiliate handbook which the affiliate council is currently working on which will be available for everyone (at no cost). However those with more expertise may not find it as useful because it will be aimed at merchants with an intermediate level of knowledge.

The affiliate “code of conduct” is being discussed by the networks as these members feel that this is something that can help further promote the affiliate marketing industry. This is not something we want, or could, try to roll out to merchants, affiliates or non-IAB member networks, unless there was a desire within the respective communities for us to do so.

Furthermore, we are different to the IMRG in that they solely represent online retail, (online safety, promotion of e-retail, consumer spending research) whereas we are the trade association for online advertising. There is some crossover in that we hold ecommerce related events and help retailers better understand how they can expand and secure their online presence (including their ecommerce site) but that’s about it. The IAB and the IMRG have a good relationship and we liaise on a regular basis.

Attending the affiliate marketing council:

Affiliates can currently attend this council for free. However simply because we only have a finite amount of space around the table I would ask that affiliates contact their relevant network representative and come along as a guest. I want to stress that this is only because we have a limited amount of places (maximum 20) in our meeting room and not because we want to exclude anyone from the meeting.

Networks – I’ve spoken to a number of networks who aren’t currently members of the IAB and there is an invite for them to attend the next council. However in the long term I will have to ask networks to join as a member of the IAB as it is unfair on our existing council members whose fees ultimately pay for the council to go ahead.

Merchants – If merchants want to attend I would ask them to again contact their agency or network contact to attend the meeting.

If as an affiliate or merchant your network or agency is not on the list of council members below please contact me directly and I will try and reserve you a place. However priority has to go to our members and their guests. Similarly if you represent a network and I haven’t spoken to you please contact me directly.

The next meeting is on Wednesday 30th May 15.00 – 16.30 at the IAB offices.

Current members of the council are: Advertising.com, Affilinet, DGM, Digital Window, Eyefall, ipoints, Mvi, buy.at, Pigsback, R.O.EYE, Stream:20, Tradedoubler, Unique Digital, Zed Media, Existem Affiliate Management

Any points raised at the next meeting will be posted online on the IAB site for you all to comment on them which will then be fed into the next meeting. I will post the link on the A4U forum and also if it’s OK with Fraser it would be good to post the link here too.