Award-winning performance marketing networks Affiliate Window and buy.at have joined forces with Freespee, leaders in Pay-Per-Call advertising solutions. Freespee’s platform allows the network to significantly improve their existing call tracking technology and fully integrate offline conversions with affiliate campaigns, creating new business opportunities for advertisers and publishers. The cross-territory partnership is exclusive to Affiliate Window and buy.at in the UK & US markets.

In many service industries, phone calls stand out as the preferred method for many consumers to connect with advertisers during the purchase process and while solutions existed, they were limited in their sophistication and flexibility. Recent innovations in advertising technology enable Freespee to open up new opportunities for publishers to generate traffic and sales, as the use of phone numbers have proven successful across all channels both on and off line.

“We are extremely proud to become the partner of choice for the Digital Window group”, says Carl Holmquist, Founder and CEO of Freespee, based in Sweden. “This partnership also heralds our sooner-than-anticipated expansion to the U.S. market – as we are seeing very rapidly increasing demand for call monetization solutions in Europe and beyond”. Holmquist continues ”Our partners appreciate our uncomplicated approach to adding phone calls as another key CPA method in order to fully monetize their traffic. It’s also about giving consumers freedom of choice to call the advertiser whenever the product is too complicated to buy just online.”

Paul Inman, Technical Solutions Director for Affiliate Window and buy.at adds: “Working with Freespee has been poetic, our business models and technologies slotted together seamlessly allowing us to quickly take the offering to market. The team at Freespee have been ever present to help us prepare for launch of the service to both our UK and US client bases, and we are all very excited about the potential of this new addition to our portfolio of performance based marketing tools.”

US based Outsourced Program Management Agency, eAccountable offers insight into the proposition of call tracking solutions. Durk Price, CEO and Founder of eAccountable OPM says: “We have had considerable success in the service portion of the affiliate industry with Pay-Per-Call solutions and absolutely think this will continue to grow. We believe that retailers will begin to build more ad types containing these interactive trackable numbers, adding another valuable source of income to the both retailers and the affiliate industry.”

This partnership will further develop the networks’ capabilities to monetize offline conversions for clients. Pay-Per-Call has seen a growing success rate across the finance, telecoms, travel, and insurance verticals where phone calls often prove most lucrative, as a large percentage of consumers prefer a personal telephone service. This solution, with its fast, flexible and simple integration process becomes increasingly more attractive for advertisers whose websites have lower conversion rates and are often overlooked by publishers.

Lisa Chaikin PR Manager – UK & US Digital Window (Affiliate Window & buy.at) e: lisa.chaikin@digitalwindow.com t: 020 7553 0333

For Freespee information, please contact:
Juhani Polkko
VP of Marketing, Freespee
e: juhani.polkko@freespee.com
t: +358 9 8860 2860

British Airways has announced the launch of their first performance marketing program in the US market, appointing global affiliate network buy.at as the sole partner. Working in collaboration with digital media agency, Neo@Ogilvy, the expansion of British Airways’ online offering in the US market echoes their global growth plans, with previous program launches in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific.

The partnership with buy.at in the US was a natural progression of the existing relationship with sister network, Affiliate Window, who has managed the British Airways program in the UK since 2009. Tactical campaigns that have been successful in other markets will be communicated to the US team to ensure parity and buy.at will look to mirror this success by developing an understanding of British Airways’ core strategy. This will include a consultative and measured approach to the performance channel with a focus on steady, incremental and natural program growth without cannibalizing existing marketing activities.

With the transatlantic business venture of British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia nearly a year old, consumers can now gain access to a worldwide network of over 400 destinations, presenting publishers with a wealth of new promotional opportunities. Elizabeth Chung, Manager Global Online Partnerships, said: “The joint venture between British Airways and American Airlines creates great opportunities for the existing program. This combined network provides the perfect time to start our North American Affiliate Program. Following the success of our other regional affiliates, the massive online market in the US will be an essential inclusion to the global program.”

Alex Forsch, Head of Account Management for buy.at US comments: “We are pleased that British Airways has chosen to work with buy.at exclusively in the US. Through close collaboration with the client and agency, our goal is to further build brand awareness for British Airways, as well as to introduce BA Vacations – the airline’s newly launched vacation program including full service offerings around hotel bookings, car rentals and attractions. Our affiliate education and recruitment efforts are centered on identifying key, quality publishers that will drive incremental value to the program on a long term basis. Ideal publishers include strong content sites, price comparison and meta search engines as well as social networking sites with a focus on geo-targeted promotions around major BA gateways in the US.”

British Airways’ US affiliate proposition currently operates as a private program, in an effort to precisely manage and measure the value of affiliates working across the campaign. British Airways aims to open the program publicly to more affiliates and expand their online offering into other channels to further drive revenue generation.

Lisa Chaikin PR Manager – UK & US Digital Window (Affiliate Window & buy.at) e: lisa.chaikin@digitalwindow.com t: 020 7553 0333

LateRooms.com, the UK’s leading online accommodation specialists, has consolidated their UK performance marketing activity to leading affiliate network, buy.at. Both brands have benefitted from a longstanding, successful relationship – the LateRooms.com programme initially launched on the buy.at platform back in January 2005.

LateRooms.com has made the decision to appoint buy.at as their UK network based on their consistent year-on-year performance growth. The buy.at Account Management team has provided reliable assistance on sector research and market analysis which has aided this high level of growth. The facilitation of partnerships with a top performing affiliate base has seen the programme go from strength to strength.

Leanne Caines, Key Affiliate Manager for LateRooms.com says: “We are consistently impressed with the level of dedication from the buy.at team on the LateRooms.com programme. They have gained an in-depth understanding of our product offering and the core values of the brand. Moving forward, the consolidation will allow for greater breadth of promotional activity while taking advantage of stronger publisher partnerships and incentives.”

Roz Fenwick, Head of Account Management for buy.at says: “The buy.at team has enjoyed a longstanding and fruitful relationship with LateRooms.com, and has been dedicated to growing the programme over the last six years. We are excited about the further opportunities the consolidation will allow, and look forward to working with LateRooms.com on global strategic campaigns as both businesses continue to expand.”

With an average order value of £130 and an average conversion rate of 5%, the LateRooms.com affiliate scheme has great potential for future growth within the performance channel.

Lisa Chaikin PR Manager – UK & US Digital Window (Affiliate Window & buy.at) e: lisa.chaikin@digitalwindow.com t: 020 7553 0333

Performance marketing continues to demonstrate strength as a lucrative industry, with US affiliate marketing spend predicted to reach $4 billion by 2014. As the performance channel continues to serve as the leading direct response outlet for generating sales, the finance vertical within the affiliate space is in a great position to capitalize on the wealth of opportunities the industry offers.

Global affiliate network, buy.at is seeing steady growth among finance advertisers joining the network and integrating affiliate campaigns into their overall digital marketing strategies. These companies are using the channel to grow online results and increase customer acquisition and retention. With a number of new programs launching on the network, buy.at continues to enlist new publishers to promote these brands and develop strong relationships between leading advertisers and new content sites.

An enticing opportunity for both advertisers and publishers, this year has seen interest rates drop to unexpectedly low rates. As such, brands within the finance sector are looking to the performance channel to take advantage of these conditions.

Launching their affiliate program with buy.at in June, Credit.com provides customers with a comprehensive understanding of their credit history, helping them to make smarter financial decisions by taking an active role in credit management. Credit.com is an independently owned and operated business offering expert information on credit scoring, credit reporting and credit card options. The affiliate program offers strong, competitive payouts on a wide range of products addressing needs for a wide range of consumers, from students to veterans.

Montana Thomas, Affiliate Marketing Manager at Credit.com said: “Working with the buy.at team has been an absolute pleasure. They are highly professional and have worked very hard to integrate fully with Credit.com to ensure seamless tracking and reporting for their publishers. We are looking forward to a long and profitable relationship with the folks at buy.at!”

VA Mortgage, a division of 1st Mariner Bank, just launched on the buy.at network this week. A great advertiser for any sites reaching the military community, this company specializes in low-interest rate, mortgage lending for active military personnel and veterans. The program is kicking off with a strong commission payment and an impressive 365 day cookie length.

Beyond these recent launches, buy.at is also partnered with Experian – a global leader in consumer and business credit reporting. This company is renowned for providing consumers with tools and services to help manage the risk of financial decisions while understanding their purchasing habits. Through their affiliate program, Experian aims to drive leads for their Triple Advantage, Triple Alert Credit Monitoring, and ProtectMyID.com products.

Alex Forsch, Head of Account Management for buy.at US comments: “The finance sector has been a key part of buy.at’s business for years, offering our affiliates partnership opportunities with some of the nation’s most recognized brands. We are excited to continuously grow our portfolio by signing on advertisers such as Credit.com and VA Mortgage in a time that is seasonally relevant. Exceptionally low rates in 2011 and ongoing market volatility not only provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for consumers but also for the publishers promoting these programs. We work closely with our affiliates and merchants to communicate industry updates, offer competitive payouts and provide a wide selection of creative to ensure the success of both our publishers and advertisers.”

Before interest rates begin to rise again, now is the perfect opportunity to promote a range of finance advertisers working in the performance channel. buy.at looks forward to welcoming additional brands to the network and further growing the finance vertical in the affiliate industry.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Lisa Chaikin PR Manager – UK & US Digital Window (Affiliate Window & buy.at) e: lisa.chaikin@digitalwindow.com t: 020 7553 0333

TicketSizzle, the trusted ticket search engine for worldwide events, has officially launched their cost per click affiliate program exclusively with performance marketing network buy.at, working in partnership with Superior Affiliate Management agency.

TicketSizzle provides online ticket buyers with useful information about upcoming events, including consumer-generated reviews, and detailed event and artist information, educating users about live events including concerts, sporting events, and theatre shows. TicketSizzle collaborates with leading ticketing partners, allowing consumers to save time by easily comparing prices from a variety of advertisers and providing a list of preferred ticket partners.

Through a real time event inventory database, customers can search for over 80,000 events worldwide. The program allows affiliate partners to earn commissions when their user base researches and compares prices at popular ticketing sites, regardless of whether a purchase is made. As one of the few CPL ticket advertisers working in the performance channel, Ticketsizzle is in an advantageous position to capitalize on the opportunities available within the industry.

Kim Salvino, Head of Publishers for buy.at US comments: “We’re delighted to strengthen our relationship with Superior Affiliate Management and to welcome TicketSizzle to buy.at – a program that will expand the selection of entertainment and ticketing programs on our network. Our teams will work closely together to recruit new publishers committed to driving the program forward and we anticipate a rewarding, long term partnership.”

Cresta Pillsbury CEO of Superior Affiliate Management says: “The partnership between Superior Affiliate Management and the buy.at team has been a huge success for our agency. The experience and industry know-how of their executive staff coupled with their hard work has shown positive dividends for all of our affiliate management clients. I couldn’t be happier to introduce the TicketSizzle affiliate program to the buy.at affiliate platform.”

For further information regarding the TicketSizzle affiliate program click here.

For press inquiries, please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager – UK & US
buy.at & Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@digitalwindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

Last week saw the 7th annual European A4U expo event, hosted for the 2nd consecutive year at the Hilton Hotel in Munich. This year, 800 delegates from across the globe came together for a jam packed two days consisting of thought-provoking conference sessions covering the latest industry topics, a bustling exhibition hall with a number of brands represented, and for the first time, expert roundtables and speed networking events.

Europe’s leading performance advertising network, zanox was a platinum sponsor of the expo. With their exhibitor stand in a prime location, they displayed a strong brand presence and capitalised on the networking opportunities available.

Michael Hartwig, Chief Marketing Officer for zanox comments: “Attendance at the a4u is ‘mission critical’ for the zanox team as there is still a strong demand for information regarding the performance channel. The need for networking at the Expo is crucial; with a large number of relevant people from within the industry all under one roof, it is the ideal place to start conversations.

For zanox, the event was a huge success. Through five valuable contributions on panels and live talks, we underlined our market knowledge and leading position. The feedback we received from the audience was extremely positive and we are already engaged in discussions with potential business partners as to how we can apply our learning’s to their business.”

Digital Window’s Strategy Director, Kevin Edwards and Client Strategist, Owen Hewitson joined the 69 other guest speakers taking to the stage to present a network perspective on key topics within the channel. Day One kicked off with a joint panel session from Affiliate Window & buy.at, Top10.com, and Debenhams discussing Performance Marketing and the World Beyond.

The presentation examined how online spend continues to grow exponentially on a global scale, with an estimated 42% increase within the next three years. The UK affiliate market alone has seen a significant uplift of over 50% growth in the last three years. The session continued by looking beyond the basic online model to the up-and-coming innovations such as telephone tracking, mobile purchasing, offline voucher redemption and multi-channel promotions. Several case studies were presented which proved the value of these concepts, including Debenhams’ multichannel campaign examining how affiliates can drive offline sales through vouchers. The results were astounding – affiliates accounted for 43% of sales during the duration of the campaign; 57% in-store and 43% online. The full presentation can be found here.

Owen Hewitson’s session, Before, After and Around the Click: Publishers as a Branding Force and a Sales Force, delved into the evolution of the performance channel, where affiliates have become brands in their own right, changing relationships with advertisers to become affinity partnerships which are brand-to-brand. According to the latest Hitwise list of the top 100 retail sites in the UK, many companies listed are publishers as well as advertisers. Additionally, affiliates have achieved brand recognition through multiple specialties which has resulted in the blurring of promotional boundaries, representing and introducing new branding opportunities. Owen’s presentation in its entirety can be found here.

Matt Wood, Founder of Affiliates4U says: “The A4U Expo continues to innovate, push boundaries and create a real international platform to celebrate the success of the performance marketing industry while helping to shape its future. This year saw the largest international audience from across the world ever seen before. It’s events of this nature that introduce fresh ideas, strengthen existing relationships, and create new contacts that will help meet business and personal objectives for attendees.”

On Day Two, the audience was captivated with keynote speaker Rory Sutherland who captured the perfect images of the state of the online industry with his witty and entertaining analogies. Through use of practical examples which were easily relatable, Rory demonstrated how performance marketing can play a key driver in the changing of consumer behaviour. ‘People’s perception of exclusivity affects the understanding of its value, proving that value is entirely subjective.’

To view photos from the Expo please visit the Affiliate Window facebook page. Video recordings of the Digital Window speaker sessions will be available on YouTube and Vimeo by the end of the week.

For press enquiries, please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager – UK & US
Affiliate Window & buy.at
e: lisa.chaikin@digitalwindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

Today is a significant day in the history of buy.at and Affiliate Window as we begin the process of consolidating all UK advertiser programmes onto the Darwin platform. This is an important milestone and allows us to focus all our future technical efforts on the improvement and development of a single, unified solution.

To assist with this process, we announce the launch of our Centralised Tracking Solution (CTS). This allows advertisers to migrate from buy.at to the new Darwin platform with minimal interruption. No integration work is required by advertisers and publishers can rest easy knowing that their buy.at links will work on Affiliate Window, in essence no links need to be changed or reformatted.

Adam Ross, COO, adds: “The acquisition of buy.at has been a huge success for Digital Window. With all UK teams and processes now consolidated and harmonised, the logical next step was to look at systems. Using the new CTS, a migration process that could sometimes take weeks or even months can be achieved in minutes. The best part being, we can do this without diverting the time and attention of our partners from growing their campaigns.”

The first advertiser accounts will begin the migration process in July and all programme related queries can be raised with our Account Managers, or buy.at Account Director, Nick Caulfield.

Publishers can learn more about CTS and the new affiliate Account Mapping tool by reading our A4U update.

For further information, please e-mail questions@digitalwindow.com.

- zanox becomes the market leader in performance advertising in Benelux

- Systematic continuation of the growth strategy

- Future dual leadership of Roger Kenbeek and Thomas Joosten

zanox, Europe’s leading performance advertising network strides consistently onwards with its growth strategy and acquires 100 percent of the Dutch affiliate marketing network, M4N, based in Amsterdam. In doing so, zanox assumes the leading market position in the Benelux countries. Roger Kenbeek, to date Managing Director of zanox Benelux and Thomas Joosten, to date CEO of M4N form the joint operative management.

Merger opens up new opportunities for customers

M4N, founded in the year 1999, has its business focus in classical affiliate marketing and offers additional services for publishers, such as iPhone apps, ad-serving and data-feeds. In 2010, with just 50 employees, as well as approximately 450 advertisers and 2700 publishers in its network, M4N generated revenues of 17.9m Euro. Its two founders, Thomas Joosten (CEO) and Klaas Joosten (CTO) will remain in the company.

“We are absolutely delighted that M4N is now part of the zanox network. Our advertisers and publishers will benefit equally from the optimum mix of local strength in the Dutch market and international expertise brought in by zanox’s existing structures and offerings. From today, this makes the zanox group the Number One in performance advertising, also in the Benelux countries,” says Philipp Justus, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of zanox.

“We are proud that we are now part of the European market leader in performance advertising. The corporate cultures of both firms fit together perfectly and our customers will benefit in the future from the greater reach of the joint network,” says Thomas Joosten, CEO of M4N.

Following on from our company AGM in Poland, please find below an exciting development from zanox Group.

With effect from 1 July 2011, the Supervisory Board of zanox, the leading European performance advertising network, appoints Joachim Piroth to the Executive Board of the zanox group where, as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), he will be responsible for the fields of Finance and Controlling. In doing so, he will strengthen the executive management team around CEO Philipp Justus.

Joachim Piroth (45) joined zanox in June 2010 as VP Finance & Controlling from BT Germany, the German network and IT service provider of the British Telecommunications Group. At BT Germany, he headed the controlling, accounting, procurement and billing departments as CFO since 2006. A communications engineer by background, Piroth has been active in the telecommunications industry since 1992. After stops at Mannesmann Mobilfunk/D2 (today, Vodafone D2) and Mannesmann Arcor, he was in charge of finance at LambdaNet AG in Germany from 2000 until 2004 as its CFO and, until 2006, headed the finance department of Versatel in the same position.

Philipp Justus, Chief Executive Officer of zanox: “I am delighted about Joachim Piroth’s appointment to the Executive Board. During the past year, he has proven his capabilities as a finance leader and has pressed ahead with significant projects within the framework of our company’s internationalisation.”

“The growth of the zanox group and all organic and geographic expansions are accompanied by substantial demands on the overarching finance team. In this respect, we are glad we can count on Joachim Piroth as a member of the Executive Board of the company,” says Ralph Büchi, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

For now, the appointment of Joachim Piroth represents the final building block in the zanox Executive Board: Philipp Justus (41, Chief Executive Officer), Christian Kleinsorge (47, Chief Sales Officer) and Daniel Keller (39, Chief Technology Officer) have been responsible for the global management of the zanox group since March 2010.

Last night saw the 5th annual A4U Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel, where 700 advertisers, publishers, networks and agencies gathered together for the most glamorous event in the performance marketing calendar. The black tie affair consisted of fine dining, networking and entertainment, with TV celebrity and comedian Rufus Hound adding his own distinct style in the role of host. Combined with live music and plenty of dancing, the evening was the most memorable A4U Awards ceremony to date.

With more than double the number of award submissions than last year, the judging panel, which included industry experts from NMA, Econversions, Yahoo!, and Econsultancy, certainly had their work cut out for them. Matthew Wood, awards founder and judge, said: “With a 75% increase in entrants competition was fierce but it was not just about volume however, the quality surpassed anything we’ve seen before and was an absolute pleasure to judge”, providing a testament to the value and innovation within the performance channel.

Several advertisers from Affiliate Window and buy.at were honoured, including Expedia for Advertiser Innovation, Best Buy for Best New Entrant to Affiliate Marketing and BT for Best Managed Affiliate Programme. The wins continued with vertical specific accolades; RAC for Best Finance Advertiser, Red Letter Days for Best Retail Advertiser, and Sky for the highly competitive Best Technology & Telecoms Advertiser award.

The highly coveted Publishers Choice of Network was awarded to the Affiliate Window team for the fifth year running, alongside their fourth Affiliate Network Innovation Award – this year for Darwin Marketplace. Network Achievement Awards were introduced and AW’s dedicated Technical Support and Product Development team were recognised for their market-leading customer service and development of an unrivalled user interface with the accolade of Best Affiliate Network Technical Team.

Mark Walters, Managing Director for Digital Window comments: “The A4U awards epitomise the dedication, experience, and support that clients have come to expect from their network and agencies. Digital Window is thrilled to work with so many award-winning advertisers and publishers and relishes the opportunities for continued success throughout 2011. Congratulations to all the winners for a fantastic display of exceptional performance marketing.”

Photos from the evening can be found on the Affiliate Window Facebook page.

For press enquiries, please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window & buy.at
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333