Author: admin

On one level, this week’s IAB’s Affiliate and Partner Marketing Summit felt like an ’emerging marketing channel is coming of age’ moment. Brands, agencies and publishers touting the benefits of affiliate and partnership marketing as an increasingly viable, full-funnel solution to customer acquisition, building brand awareness, understanding sentiment and consideration that benefits both sides. If only everyone could align on commission schemes, upfront versus post-delivery payments, measures of success, perceived versus realised value – and cut the gamble out, of course. Because the event also signalled another contest is brewing between what a media / publisher / influencer thinks their channel, content and reach is worth, and what brands are willing to pay for it. And just like the battles still present in many of our more mature media channels, there’s a lack of consistency around metrics, immature referral and attribution models, perceived rigidity / flexibility of commissions and payment models, and simple education all inhibiting perceptions of value and alignment.

Customer obsession to attain product market fit, stronger team talent management, fostering singular creative vision that spurs brand growth – they’re all critical for marketers, media executives and agency leaders right now. And they’re all things Giles Pearman has a firm opinion on thanks to a raft of practical experience in the field. The current co-founder of MyBrandTruth and startup coach, who earned his stripes as group marketing chief of Global Radio UK and ice-cream product manager from the school of Unilever brand management, is now a mentor for the Global Mentorship program and is keen to coach others through the challenges they face through his own unique storytelling approach.

A year on from rolling out a brand tracking tool and adopting aided awareness as its business-wide guiding light for measuring improvement, Intrepid’s global GM of brand, Natalie Placko, couldn’t be happier with the significant role the insights have in demonstrating the value of brand investment. From earning more time in front of the board to a significant positioning strategy project as well as differentiation plan, insights are informing decision-making that she’s confident can ensure the travel company meets its ambitious 2030 strategy of $1.3bn in revenue via 600,000 customers in the next six years. Here, the brand chief talks through the dos and don’ts of building data literacy and avoiding “blow ups” around the insights such tools can uncover.