Awin Report 2023

Awin Report 2023

Welcome to the updated edition of the Awin Report Power 100.

Adam Ross

CEO, Awin

Last year, we released our inaugural Power 100 – 100 of the most innovative and interesting affiliate partners available on our global platform across every market and sector. An industry first, the Power 100 proved to be a huge success;

in 2022, they generated $4.9bn in revenue and 55m sales for 8,949 advertisers. And with such impressive results, the industry was understandably eager to see who would be included for 2023.

After some reflection, rather than disbanding the current list and selecting a completely fresh set of partners, we’ve decided to spend more time with our original Power 100 and share how they’ve evolved across

the last 12 months. Ultimately, we felt their journeys weren’t done.

So, what can you expect to find?

New success stories that showcase our Power 100 in action.

This includes hearing how

TopCashback’s pioneering Green Cashback initiative has performed since its launch, and is helping shoppers find more sustainable brands in Enabling ethical ecommerce.

In Redefining affiliate, uncover how influencer management platform gen.video’s partnership with HP took an award-winning approach to creator marketing via the affiliate channel.

Browse Accelerating innovation to see how lingerie retailer Ann Summers leveraged the power of word-of-mouth marketing via Soreto’s social referral solution.

Learn how The Body Shop, one of
the world’s most high-profile beauty retailers, partnered with Student Price Card to drive thousands of additional in-store sales to its brick-and-mortar shops in Tapping into local markets.

And last but not least, visit Going global to understand how Freshly Cosmetics partnered with popular cashback platform iGraal to drive a hugely successful partnership in Spain.

One constant among these successes

is that the Power 100 partnerships, and all partnerships Awin is helping facilitate, are a product of mutual value being created. That is, after all, what a partnership should always be: Something benefitting all parties involved.

This might seem an obvious statement to make, particularly
if you’re reading this as someone with experience in the affiliate and partnership marketing industry.

However, it’s a point worth emphasizing when we’re in the midst of a profound sea of change across the wider economic environment. We can say with some confidence the era of free money is over. The combination

of inflation and reactionary central bank policies that have seen interest rates suddenly jump has brought an end to the culture of venture capital- backed ‘blitzscaling,’ which has helped fuel the last decade of growth in tech.

Daniel Kundt, CFO at German online bulk food retailer KoRo, summed
it up in an article for FT recently, stating, “In the past, as long as you grow, you can burn cash and no one cares how much you burn . . . VCs said we weren’t spending enough.”

And we see this zeitgeist playing out around the world in different ways.

The swift demise of Silicon Valley Bank, an institution focused on providing

banking resources to the venture capital and tech crowd, is one example. The company’s exposure to a niche that experienced a sudden turnaround in fortunes post-pandemic undoubtedly contributed to its collapse. And the enormous rounds of staff layoffs across many of the biggest tech platforms – including Meta, Google and Amazon

Advertisement Block 17

– is another. Thousands of people
that were hired during the heydays of lockdown’s explosive online growth are now cast aside as companies seek to streamline and maintain the status quo.

In that same FT article, Kundt said, “we need to go to profitability.” And profitability is the new watchword for businesses today, signaling

a return to a more grounded, pragmatic corporate philosophy.

So, what are the implications of this new era for affiliate and partner marketing?

Affiliate has arguably always offered a more ‘sensible’ approach to

business growth than the sometimes overhyped valuations that have come out of Silicon Valley. Because of its performance-based model and the value alignment between publishers, consumers and advertisers, growth has continually been reciprocal

or mutual. Affiliate is grounded in the fact you only grow successfully as a publisher if you are providing genuine, tangible value to your audiences and commercial partners.

The purity of this model forces affiliates to focus on delivering quality. If their brand partners don’t thrive, neither will they. If they don’t provide value to their audiences, they won’t monetize successfully.

Historically, this laser focus, combined with the crude measurement models of last-click attribution, meant the most successful affiliate businesses were premised on converting lower- funnel traffic. However, as the industry became more sophisticated in the ways it measures and rewards

partners beyond that lower-funnel space, the myriad of successful affiliate partners has also diversified.

The Power 100 is case in point. They represent a true slice of the industry today, and there are publisher models for every marketing touchpoint

– from brand-building awareness generators to post-sale customer retention experts. Awin’s vision
for framing the value of affiliate marketing in this such way is premised on NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway’s ‘Clock Model’, which we also cover in Accelerating innovation.

For those not familiar, the Clock
Model offers the perfect formula to communicate the expansive nature of today’s affiliate partnerships. Not only do affiliate partners cover all traditional areas of the funnel, from brand awareness to instigating a buying action, they can now reach into enhancing customer experiences on a retailer’s own website – thanks to the growing number of technology and brand partnerships.

These newer growth areas go beyond the confines of the traditional affiliate contribution, which was largely limited to traffic arbitrage. Previously, a publisher acquired

an audience and then sent it to an advertiser’s site to convert. Tech partners can now directly operate
on a retailer’s site and optimize customer experiences. And brand partners are now providing value
to customers after they’ve made a purchase. The Clock Model illustrates this enhanced scope for innovation today, while still being anchored

to the transparent performance mechanic that has characterized affiliate marketing since its inception.

Thanks to this wealth of choice, businesses that embrace affiliate and partner marketing are finding they can build their own partnership ecosystems to reflect precise goals.

At Awin, we’re talking a lot about how our industry can help every business grow their own way. It’s

One constant among these successes is that the Power 100 partnerships are a product of mutual value being created. That is, after all, what a partnership should always be.

a simple statement, but for me, ‘grow your own way’ is one that encapsulates the primary attraction of the channel. It speaks to the diversity of the partners you can work with or the audiences you can reach, and to the increasing levels of sophistication that empower you to create a highly-targeted partnerships program, tailored to your needs.

Today’s affiliate program allows you to track activity across practically every environment, consumer touchpoint and device. With increasingly smart commissioning tools, you can create nuanced rewards that incite the right actions

from your partners. Measurement
is becoming far more sensitive to different affiliate contributions, too, at different touchpoints in the purchase journey so that none are neglected.

So whether you’re a small business
or startup looking to drive sales, or a global enterprise seeking new ways to innovate, the affiliate and partnerships industry ultimately empowers
you to find the right solution.

To find the right partner.
To find the right attribution model. To grow your own way.

Power 100 in numbers

$4.9bn 55m 8,949 14:1

revenue in 2022

Price Comparison

brand partnerships average ROI

Technology Partner Email Loyalty Search Coupon/Cashback User Generated Content CSS Sub Network Influencer Management Mass Media/Editorial

sales last year

Display Blogger/Influencer

Shopping Directory App Tracking Provider Brand-to-Brand

FinTech

Buy Now, Pay Later

additional revenue YoY

traffic to advertiser websites additional sales YoY

For best results, download and view in a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat.

6 • Awin Report 2023

Enabling ethical ecommerce “Blah blah blah” was Greta Thunberg’s response to politicians’ efforts at COP26 in 2021 after failing to phase out coal during climate talks. Some protesting outside could only see hope in outright revolution, but across everyday life, considerate consumption is still an effective means of making an impact. Better understanding who you’re buying from and finding better alternatives are significant steps in the right direction. Of course, it’s not easy. Buying from more ethical retailers is generally pricier and what constitutes ‘ethical’ is highly subjective. Should the retailer be a registered Bcorp? Is it enough to offset carbon footprints by planting trees? Should you only buy local, or is it better you buy from businesses eradicating single-use plastics? These questions are complicated further by accusations of corporate ‘greenwashing.’ Sustainability is one part of a broader discussion on what it means to be ‘ethical’ today. Environmental concerns coexist with other vital social issues: diverse representation, inclusivity, accessibility. It’s within this context discussions around brand purpose have ignited in recent years. There’s no doubting shoppers are more sensitive to the values a retailer purports to associate with. Whether that results in higher sales or improved customer acquisition is still ripe for debate (though Peter Field’s work on this does concur). These subjects and more are resonating across our culture, increasing interest in and demand for guidance, information and inspiration from those with expertise in these spaces. This is where affiliate partners take on such value, because if these issues matter to you, where you spend your money matters too. Loose change can enact big change. More partners now specialize in these topics, curating recommendations of brands with positive values consumers can trust. And they see in the flexible, controllable nature of the affiliate model a chance to monetize traffic with like-minded advertisers while sticking to their principles. Some of the publishers you’ll see here are doing exactly that. But our selection is not limited to just those with explicit moral positions. We recognize there are many meanings to the term ‘ethical ecommerce.’ So, alongside more conventional eco- conscious offerings like the Moral Fibres, Sustainable Jungle and Utopia sites, you’ll find apps incentivizing electric vehicle adoption or encouraging physical activity. Or a browser aimed at giving users control of their personal data and rewarding them for sharing it. And even closed user groups Blue Light Card or ID.me, both of which make it easier to reward society’s invaluable key workers. As you’ll see, the range is wide and encompasses more than you’d expect. But all selected businesses share a desire to have a constructive influence on the world. We’re proud to spotlight them and eager to unearth more that demonstrate how partner marketing can make ad spend a force for positive change. &Charge Blue Light Card BOETIEK Brennan Kai Coker easyfundraising Give as you Live HELPFUL ID.me Moral Fibres Prizle refoorest Sustainable Jungle TopCashback Utopia WeWard Gener8 Success story

The electric vehicle (EV) market is booming. Around 130,000 EV cars were sold in 2012. In 2022, that volume was sold every week according to the International Energy Agency. And thanks to their growing popularity, there were an estimated 20m EVs on the roads worldwide last year.

&Charge is the first loyalty program for electric and sustainable urban mobility. Purchases are rewarded with ‘kilometers’ for free public charging of electric vehicles. Users can also redeem kilometers for car sharing and electric scooters.

Promotional type

Loyalty

Sector

Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment

Market

Global

Year joined

2020

Publisher ID

575023

Of course, the cars themselves are only one part of this
massive transformation to
more sustainable transport. Infrastructure has to change too.

In the US, where Tesla’s high-profile innovation has seen its market cap exceed $1tn (dwarfing the likes of GM and Ford), there are still only around 56,000 public charging stations scattered across the country.

In Germany, things are a little different. It too currently offers a comparable number of charging stations, but across a land mass roughly 30 times smaller than America. And it’s within this context the unique shopping app &Charge was launched at the start of 2020.

Its co-founder Simon Vogt had been involved in the e-mobility space a decade before and quickly recognized how the fragmented nature of German charging stations

and suppliers brought new layers of complexity to the market. “When it comes to public charging, it’s quite different to the refueling which happens at gas stations. EV charging happens everywhere and the charger ecosystem is quite complex. You have lots of new players in this value chain meaning that very often the price
soon adds up for the consumer, which affects the total cost of EV ownership.”

Wanting to find a way of making it simpler to navigate this complex market and to encourage EV adoption by reducing charging costs, Simon and his team sought to develop

a platform that could make the experience of EV ownership more fun while delivering real savings too.

They quickly landed on the idea of developing a loyalty platform, an affiliate business model that was already hugely popular in Germany and gave them easy access to a ready-made audience

of shoppers. “Really, we were creating something completely new but on a well known and effective model,” said Simon. “In effect, we came up with the very first loyalty scheme for free public charging.”

&Charge works by offering its users a way of redeeming points (or ‘kilometers’ as they’re referred to) for shopping with its brand partners that can then be used to pay for charging their EV. Thus, the app’s users are reducing the cost of ownership of their vehicle and extending their vehicle’s range simply by shopping online.

More than just being a shopping platform, the &Charge app also

serves as means of payment for EV charging. Thanks to direct connections with all the major charging service providers, redeemed ‘kilometers’ can be used directly within the app to pay for your charging instead

of using a conventional credit card or bank account.

As EV adoption has surged across the continent, &Charge has grown beyond its own domestic market, expanding to Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. And with additional markets on the horizon, &Charge looks

set to make owning electric vehicles ever easier and more enjoyable for Europe’s drivers.

7 • Awin Report 2023

The app’s users are reducing the cost of ownership of their vehicle and extending their vehicle’s range simply by shopping online.

8 • Awin Report 2023

Blue Light Card is the largest closed discount service that puts the UK’s National Health Service and emergency services first. Using a data-led approach, it can target the right members with the right offers. Blue Light Card is also selective about the brands it works with to not overpopulate the website and allow partners to gain the best ROI possible. Promotional type Loyalty Sector Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2009 Publisher ID 63136 On BOETIEK.NL, users can navigate through different sustainable choices – from organic materials to vegan options – to make it easier to discover sustainable products online. In addition to its comparison site, BOETIEK creates engaging content that delivers high-quality traffic by integrating trends and products into articles and social posts that maximize visibility. Promotional type Search Sector Retail & Fashion Market Netherlands Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 373737 Brennan is a popular TikTok creator providing tips and recommendations to her community of 50k followers – covering everything from climate justice resources, to sustainable brand features and recipes formulated to combat food waste. New to Awin in 2022 and noted as ‘one to watch,’ her motivation lies in seeking sustainable solutions to common problems that always prioritize people and the planet. Promotional type Blogger / Influencer Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Market US Year joined 2022 Publisher ID 925573 easyfundraising is the UK’s largest charity focused loyalty program, having generated over £2 billion in advertiser sales and £45m in donations since 2005. With easyfundraising brands can attract and retain online shoppers driving incremental sales growth, while also delivering a social impact to 1000’s of charities and good causes in the UK. Promotional type Loyalty Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2006 Publisher ID 57434

9 • Awin Report 2023

Give as you Live Online engages shoppers and retains customers by converting a percentage of commissions into free donations on purchases made. Its members are loyal, typically shopping several times a month to support their chosen charities. To date, Give as you Live has raised over $22 million for UK charities, and its member base continues to grow daily. Promotional type Loyalty Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2010 Publisher ID 103381 HELPFUL believes that by empowering sustainable business it can help consumers make responsible choices while offering a seamless experience. Businesses can choose to use HELPFUL’s customer- branded wallets at checkout to get green, secure and fast payments as well as offer rewards, creating a network effect of sustainable growth. Promotional type FinTech Sectors Retail & Fashion Market UK Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 793149 ID.me enables advertisers to offer exclusive promotions to members of the military, first responders, students, teachers, government employees, medical professionals and nurses. And through its proprietary identity technology, ID.me can verify customer eligibility in real- time, offering protection against fraud and abuse. Promotional type Coupon / Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets Canada, US Year joined 2014 Publisher ID 213861

10 • Awin Report 2023

Moral Fibres is a UK eco blog that seeks to make sustainability simple. In 2020, Moral Fibres’ author was named one of Forbes 100 Leading UK Environmentalists and was ranked by Vuelio as the UK’s top green blog. Attracting 100k monthly visitors, the site has become a trusted resource for readers since launching in 2013. Promotional type Blogger / Influencer Sector Retail & Fashion Market UK Year joined 2014 Publisher ID 185557 Prizle’s goal is simple: to allow web stores and online services to easily support associations, foundations and non-government organizations selected by their customers. In doing so, retailers can improve their impact and ecommerce performance. Promotional type Coupon / Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets France, Germany Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 458417 refoorest is a browser extension that uses commissions earned from partnerships to fund tree-planting efforts. Users simply need to add refoorest to their browser to help fight global warming, offset their carbon footprint and plant trees while they shop online. Promotional type Loyalty Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 716289 Sustainable Jungle shares tips, tricks, hacks, brands and products for a more sustainable life, combining SEO-focused content with an environmental lens to drive results for the most sustainable companies. What underpins Sustainable Jungle’s success is the belief we all can positively shape our environment through what we support. Promotional type Blogger / Influencer Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 447821

11 • Awin Report 2023

Green Cashback is creating a “positive future” for ethical brands and our planet Success story Year-to-date in 2023, Wild Deodorant has seen: +108% clicks YoY +29% sales YoY TopCashback is always looking for ways to reduce impact and do better, and now can with ‘Green Cashback.’ This industry-first initiative makes it easier for shoppers to discover brands committed to ethical or sustainable choices in some aspect of their business, while helping them earn cashback too. Promotional type Coupon / Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2006 Publisher ID 57697 Consumers increasingly want to minimize environmental impact and build a more sustainable world by choosing green products. To support, global cashback and coupons partner TopCashback launched its ‘Green Cashback’ initiative. Making this as accessible as possible, Green Cashback is a featured on site so customers can browse offers from eco-conscious, diverse brands. Green Cashback is part of TopCashback’s commitment to “creating a positive future.” This commitment incorporates the Green Cashback initiative and the partner’s investment into organizations that have a genuine intention to generate a tangible, beneficial social or environmental impact. These companies range from solar energy providers to sustainable packaging solutions. Putting ethics first Consumers want proof the green products they buy deliver on sustainability. Green Cashback strives to provide that assurance by ensuring brands meet rigorous standards. To qualify brands, the publisher leverages its own research and a business database developed by nonprofit research company Ethical Consumer. Ethical Consumer publishes unbiased data on the business practices of many companies, with every company listed getting an “Ethiscore” based on five criteria: Environment, People, Politics, Animals, and Product Sustainability. Each participating brand has a profile page on Green Cashback that features the company’s sustainable and conscious commerce credentials. By highlighting the products of these organizations, TopCashback helps grow awareness and sales for brands that share its commitment to a better world. Response has been very strong and continues to grow, with 81% more clicks tracked for the Green Cashback hub in 2022 YoY. Going ‘wild’ for sustainability Wild Deodorant is one of Green Cashback’s most popular brands, seeing significant growth since the initiative’s launch. By cutting out single-use plastics and unstainable materials, Wild is on mission to revolutionize bathroom products without compromising on quality or effectiveness. Wild has a vegan formulation with all-natural ingredients, a reusable aluminum applicator/handle and 10 distinctive fragrances. First-time buyers choose an applicator style and scent and receive three refills of their desired formulation, with on-going subscription options available. To promote Wild and similar brands, TopCashback focused on headlining its eco-credentials across site and in promotional emails – emphasizing key features such as plastic and cruelty-free in listings. Merchants who made the cut also displayed a Green Cashback mark across site and a ‘Green Credentials’ section featured within their profiles, clearly showing their commitments to users. TopCashback also launched social campaigns highlighting the Green Cashback hub and its brands on key dates like Global Recycling Day.

12 • Awin Report 2023

Since 2007, Utopia.de has been informing and inspiring millions of consumers to consciously shape their consumption with recommendations that create ecological, economic and social change. Promotional type Blogger / Influencer Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets Austria, Germany Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 398925 Sustainable consumption has long been a trend and will continue to be increasingly relevant. For affiliate advertisers aware of this, partnering with Utopia is a must. What I appreciate about Utopia is not only the target group relevance and reach, but the high-quality and independently- researched articles. Tina Ramge Senior Digital Marketing Manager DB Vertrieb GmbH WeWard is a free mobile app with over six million users that rewards users for walking down the street and buying quality products. Each step is converted into points, redeemable for offers, donations or cash. The app also recommends wellness products and rewards shoppers for their purchases. Promotional type Loyalty Sector Retail & Fashion Markets Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 723093

13 • Awin Report 2023

Gener8 founder Sam Jones came to national attention in the UK following his appearance on the popular BBC show Dragons’ Den. After impressing the Dragons with a slick pitch for the innovative internet browser that gives users control of their personal data, four out of five vied to finance the company. Gener8 is a browser empowering people to control and earn from their data. It lets users choose a company’s level of access to their data and earn rewards based on preference, including exclusive offers, vouchers, products and donations to charity. Promotional type Display Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 712781 But, as he explained, success was by no means guaranteed. “You never know what’s going to happen when you walk out of those lift doors…I was so relieved when the Dragons instantly got what I was telling them about Gener8, and what we’re doing with our mission.” That mission is to create technology that empowers people to control and earn from their own data, instead of it being opaquely monetized by the world’s biggest tech giants. It says something about the growing awareness of the value of personal data that Gener8 was such a successful pitch. In his previous role as brand manager at Red Bull, where he was responsible for around a third of the company’s global ad budget, Jones recognized a distinct lack of knowledge around how consumers’ online behavior was tracked and monetized without informed consent. That awareness has improved immeasurably today – with local data regulations like GDPR and CCPA gradually seeping into public consciousness – but Jones considers the landscape to still be something of a Wild West. Companies continue to make it incredibly difficult for individuals to control how their data is used. “If you use the world’s largest search engine and you want to stop them from tracking you, it takes 17 clicks.” Publisher sites can be equally guilty in their quest for ad revenue. “Go to the UK’s most popular news site, and it takes just one click to allow them to drop a cookie that then shares your information with 1,436 different companies.” Anticipating growing consumer demand for choice around how personal data is used and who earns from it, Gener8 is well positioned to thrive. Users are given a choice between two modes when using the browser: privacy or rewards. Choosing privacy mode blocks all companies from tracking you online. While rewards mode means you share your data with Gener8 in exchange for points that can be redeemed in the form of products, promotions or even charity donations, all via the Gener8 marketplace. Working with brands via Awin, Gener8 can offer users highly relevant and valuable products and deals – and this is key to making rewards mode so compelling. “If I stop a 25 year old on the street and tell him he can have £7.99 this month,” says Jones, “then he won’t really care. But if I tell him he can have a month of Netflix for free, then all of a sudden he’s really excited. The monetary cost is the same, but the perceived value is very high.” The majority of Gener8’s users opt into rewards mode, so these partnerships are clearly working. And with a newly-launched product called Gener8 Genie providing users with coupon codes as they shop online and the browser witnessing an enormous amount of organic growth and adoption, Gener8 looks well set to continue its mission of empowering individuals to take control of their data. Working with brands via Awin, Gener8 can offer users highly relevant and valuable products and deals – and this is key to making rewards mode so compelling.

14 • Awin Report 2023

If you’re feeling particularly meta (not the Facebook kind), look up the word ‘definition’ and the dictionary will describe ‘a statement expressing the essential nature of something.’ So, what statement expresses the essential nature of an affiliate partner? As recently as five years ago, that might not have seemed difficult. Essentially, you’re describing a business that will promote your brand to its own audience for a commission. That covers the gamut from blogger to cashback community, comparison site to influencer. But the recent explosion of partner types and technologies in the channel has made that task a whole lot harder. A slew of companies offering completely new ways to connect with audiences, technologies that help coordinate non-traditional marketing campaigns on a CPA model, those that require performance-based incentives beyond the traditional CPA and strategic partners with expertise in unconventional online spaces have altered the perception of what’s possible in the channel. The industry has always prided itself on being a jack-of-all-trades. From its earliest days, an affiliate account manager would be expected to know a little about a lot: PPC, search, incentive, loyalty, display. These were, at the time, all relatively new modes of marketing. An account manager needed to explain each one’s merit to a client and then find a way of making them work in tandem towards a collective brand goal. If anything, this multi-disciplinary expertise is far more complex today. Alongside those established methods, you can now find FinTech apps and Buy Now, Pay Later partners, influencer management platforms, connected commerce solutions, unique code technologies, on-site optimization solutions and much, much more. An effective account manager today is the marketing equivalent of an overworked orchestral conductor. They oversee an array of diversely different instruments and players, guiding them toward some shared harmony but are constantly having to adapt as new players, new instruments suddenly emerge and join their ensemble. One of their primary dilemmas is measuring these disparate melodies. Continuing to track and reward these varied partners using one- dimensional models like last-click isn’t feasible. Today’s affiliate marketer needs a new approach to accommodate added layers of complexity. If you want a diverse, multi-dimensional partner program with an array of different marketing modes, a shift in mindset is needed. The affiliate channel has always been a world full of experimenters and edge cases. That’s part of the industry’s appeal for so many of us. It’s a space where startups first launch, test ideas in the real world and receive real-time feedback. The proximity to consumer demand via the performance model makes it the perfect laboratory for seeing how compelling a business idea really is. Does your company provide enough consumer value that a person will buy through it? It’s the ultimate litmus test for any commercial venture. Our selection of partners here are passing that test every day and, in doing so, expanding the scope of what ‘affiliate’ means. Pendulum Ads (formerly Sellers Alley) Affirm Aspire Banco Inter Bnext Bolt CreatorIQ Dropsy gen.video Success story Giftomatic Klarna Myprotein Peoople Raiz Revolut Shop My Influence SingleView stylink Toro Tocho Reviews tvScientific Uniqodo Ziff Media Group Zilch

15 • Awin Report 2023

TikTok has taken the world by storm, boasting 834 million monthly active users in 2023. With more than an eighth of the world’s population active on the app each month, the potential reach for brands is monumental. Whether through the platform’s ad units or influencer activity via its Creators’ Marketplace, advertisers can tap into an audience of highly-engaged consumers. Pendulum Ads is an official TikTok marketing partner that can deploy ad strategies on behalf of Awin advertisers and at no additional service cost, letting them leverage short- form video and influencer content efficiently within TikTok on an agreed campaign rate. Promotional type Influencer Management Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2022 Publisher ID 933997 Pendulum Ads (formerly Sellers Alley) has positioned itself at the forefront of this marketing space, providing retailers with the tailored strategies needed to excel and the confidence to invest in a new, exciting platform. What started off as a one-man show headed up by Sellers Alley Founder and CEO Lazar Žepinić, has rapidly grown into a 100-plus-strong outfit. A self-professed “online advertising nerd” with over a decade’s worth of experience in the industry, Žepinić expanded Sellers Alley to cover multiple disciplines from PPC to display, earning Google and Amazon partner status along the way in the space of three years. Given its marketing pedigree, it’s no surprise Sellers Alley’s latest endeavors with TikTok have been equally, if not more, successful. For many brands, TikTok may seem like an untried and untested channel compared to other stalwarts. With its unique culture and skew towards Gen Z and millennials, executing a profitable campaign may present some challenges for advertisers seeking to appeal to its younger and potentially unfamiliar demographic. In fact, you’re likely to be marketing to a completely new audience according to Sellers Alley’s own data, as 40% of TikTok’s users aren’t active on Facebook or Instagram at all. Such an untapped pool of potential customers presents a fantastic acquisition opportunity, but also a massively squandered one if your content fails to engage. With almost two thirds of users stating advertising on TikTok feels fresh and unique compared to other platforms, taking a generic approach to marketing in this space could see a brand perceived as out-of-touch or, worse, irrelevant. As a certified TikTok marketing partner, Pendulum Ads has the credentials to tackle these potential hurdles. Its results are vetted by TikTok itself, with expertise across a number of specialities from campaign measurement and management to the creative needed to get the platform’s stamp of approval. Earning this status comes with a number of benefits too. Pendulum Ads and its clients gain privileged access to exclusive features ranging from early previews of new tools and boosted posts based off social listening data, as well as direct integration with TikTok’s marketing API. These relationships also benefit TikTok as its partners’ data and feedback aid in optimizing the tools Its results are vetted by TikTok itself, with expertise across a number of specialities to get the platform’s stamp of approval. and algorithm, creating a two-way dialog that grows the platform in a collaborative way. Now, via a strategic partnership with Awin, Pendulum Ads can further optimize campaigns with affiliate tracking alongside the suite of powerful tools and reporting the Awin interface provides. Although measurable performance is still key, it’s Pendulum Ads’ knowledge and understanding of TikTok’s platform and audience that sets the agency apart. Žepinić and his team have managed to pioneer a winning formula in a market that’s still in its relative infancy, free from the oversaturation of more traditional channels. Through the Awin partnership, it presents a chance for brands to jump on an opportunity that’s quickly scaling and connect with audiences in a completely new way. Please note, Sellers Alley rebranded to Pendulum Ads in Oct 2022, after this article was originally published.

16 • Awin Report 2023

The Affirm Marketplace was built as a powerful discovery and performance marketing tool for brands. Millions of customers visit the Affirm app, and in 2021, it drove billions in revenue for merchants. Advertisers working with Affirm can leverage consumer growth levers, including access to promotions, premium placements and incentives, to enhance customer engagement and meet growth goals. Promotional type Buy Now, Pay Later Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Market US Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 301841 From influencer search and Creator Marketplace to fully customizable relationship workflows, Aspire is an influencer platform that enables brands to build unique influencer programs and campaigns. Promotional type Influencer Management Sectors Retail & Fashion Market Canada, US Year joined 2022 Publisher ID 1127779 As Brazil’s first 100% digital FinTech bank, Banco Inter was launched in 2017 as the digital offshoot of the 25-year- old traditional bank, Banco Intermedium. In that short period, the company has acquired five million customers across Brazil and established itself as an ecommerce innovator in the country. Promotional type FinTech Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets Brazil, US Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 689223

17 • Awin Report 2023

As one of the leading Spanish FinTech partners with more than 200,000 customers and $50 million transacted per month, Bnext offers consumers the opportunity to connect with leading retailers by earning cashback on purchases made via its app. Promotional type FinTech Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Spain Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 702641 Unleash checkout everywhere with Bolt. Easily add native, embedded checkout through QR codes, media partners, email or social, and help customers shop without interrupting their experience. Promotional type Technology Partner Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 693641 CreatorIQ is the engine powering impactful creator marketing for the world’s most innovative and iconic brands. Together with Awin, it raises the bar for what creators can deliver for your business. Promotional type Influencer Management Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 946733 Dropsy is the Gen Z and millennial go-to for everything lifestyle and streetwear. It’s a huge community offering placements across several social media platforms, and its own special app of over 40,000 daily active users. Promotional type Mass Media / Editorial Sector Retail & Fashion Market Eastern Europe Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 642799

18 • Awin Report 2023

Data-driven influencer marketing tactics produce 232% return on ad spend Success story different customer needs. gen.video identified three technology creators on YouTube, knowing their long-form videos would be the right choice. This format allowed the influencers to cover the specifications and unique features of each product and provide a recommendation for consumers. For HP’s OMEN and Victus campaign: +70% clicks compared to target gen.video uses its expertise to accelerate the transition from social content to purchase intent, delivering authentic messaging that helps consumers find the products and services they want from brands. Promotional type Influencer Management Sector Retail & Fashion Market US Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 665149 gen.video’s mission is to build the #1 influencer marketing platform for brands looking to drive ecommerce conversions. The platform partners brands with top influencers who produce content that drives traffic down funnel and generates purchase intent. gen.video also provides features to help retailers manage the entire content pipeline, from influencer collaboration tools to sales tracking and advanced analytics. Since gen.video integrated with Awin in 2019, HP has been one of its key brands. In the highly-competitive, low-margin PC business, standing out is essential. With dozens of brands and third-party retailers, it can be difficult for the average consumer to identify which products are right for them. Using gen.video, HP could tell its story through world-class influencer content, using a variety of formats in an engaging way. Using data to find the perfect creators Identifying the ideal line up of influencers is vital to campaign success. Performance data has been crucial for gen.video and HP in achieving this brand fit, allowing them to find the creators and audiences best placed to connect with HPs. Using data from previous social content on gen.video, in combination with the conversion analytics provided by Awin’s affiliate tracking, HP could identify which influencers were best to promote a specific product range. In one campaign where gen.video was tasked with promoting HP’s new premium OMEN laptops and value- added Victus laptops, analyzing previous campaigns was integral to influencer selection. By analyzing KPIs like AOV and click-to-sale times, different audience profiles became apparent. For example, influencers whose customers took time to consider their purchases but spent big when they did convert, were tapped to create content for OMEN. Content that understands the products While data can assist in finding optimal influencers, HP and gen.video still needed to create content that resonated with audiences. gen. video’s long-term relationships with influencers and expertise within multiple verticals allowed it to handpick partners that could best convey HP’s message and the nuances of its products. This extended to content formats where gen.video could advise on the ideal way these products were promoted. For example, a campaign showcasing HP’s lineup of PCs powered by Intel®’s 10th Gen Core processors needed content that compared the benefits of three distinct products and summarized how they fit Over the 14-month period the Intel campaign ran: 232% ROAS achieved +563% sales MoM between October and November, during Black Friday peak double Organic viewership reached of target

19 • Awin Report 2023

Around $600bn is spent annually on gift cards worldwide. By offering personalized spending suggestions, Giftomatic helps consumers spend their cards online via redemption partners. And thanks to white- label solutions like a product search engine and product recommendations, Giftomatic matches thousands of potential buyers and purchases. Promotional type User Generated Content Sector Retail & Fashion Markets Global Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 609123 Klarna is a leading global payments provider and shopping publisher. Known for its Buy Now, Pay Later technology, Klarna offers brands an innovative publishing solution and diversified promotional placements across its website and app for increased website traffic, new customer acquisition and more sales. Promotional type Buy Now, Pay Later Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 696205 As a global advertiser operating a traditional affiliate program, Myprotein now utilizes Awin’s brand partnership proposition. Under this unique model, Myprotein partners with non-competing retailers to endorse rewards and offers, driving more sales and revenue without eroding margins. Promotional type Brand-to-Brand Sectors Retail & Fashion Markets Global Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 808375 Peoople makes online purchasing decisions easier. The platform transforms social media content posted by friends and influencers into an accessible, searchable format for consumers. Promotional type User Generated Content Sectors Retail & Fashion Market Spain Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 424279

20 • Awin Report 2023

Raiz is an industry-first rewards provider channeling cashback via in-app shopping and card-linked round ups into investments across stocks, superannuation and cryptocurrency. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market APAC Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 438917 Revolut is a financial super-app with over 13 million customers worldwide, including three million in the UK alone. Revolut Rewards is its acquisition and engagement program, through which partners can push their tailored cashback and discount offers to an ever-growing user base. Promotional type FinTech Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 613701 Shop My Influence is a smartphone app that provides brands and creators alike with the necessary tools to successfully manage and optimize influencer activity. Its platform easily generates affiliate links across a catalog of more than 500 brands and shares performance in real time. Promotional type Sub Network Sector Retail & Fashion Markets Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 513257

21 • Awin Report 2023

Awin’s impartial attribution technology SingleView enables brands to confidently invest and maximize ROI. Gathering data in an unbiased way, it measures each individual consumer interaction in both converting and non- converting journeys, analyzing activity for unique insights that optimize performance. SingleView can be activated via Awin’s MasterTag, requiring no complex integration. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets APAC, UK, US Year joined 2019 stylink is one of the largest end- to-end content monetization platforms, giving followers the possibility to browse partner shops and make product recommendations directly to their community. With its unique revenue model based on a CPA-collaboration between the platform and partner shops, and a CPC- remuneration for users, stylink stands out from competitors. Promotional type Blogger/Influencer Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 444911 Toro Tocho Reviews is one of the most popular hardware- related YouTube channels in Spain – leveraging the reach of Twitch, Instagram and Twitter to help drive traffic to its channel and increase conversions for brand partners. Promotional type Blogger/Influencer Sectors Retail & Fashion Market Spain Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 534797 The most sophisticated performance advertising platform for CTV, tvScientific makes TV advertising accessible and measurable for brands and apps of all sizes. Promotional type Technology Partner Sector Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Canada, US Year joined 2023 Publisher ID 1134907

22 • Awin Report 2023

Uniqodo is the promotion experience platform, delivering the best possible brand experience by combining incentives that motivate with experiences that drive action to supercharge conversion and engagement. The major areas Uniqodo can help advertisers with are: controlling promotions to protect margins, increasing conversions of discount codes, and delivering enhanced cashback experiences. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2014 Publisher ID 211509 Working collaboratively with Uniqodo enabled us to deliver an engaging and unique campaign over a highly- competitive period. The work allowed us to create a custom journey, not only driving an increase in sales but ensuring new customers experienced our very best. Nick White Online Director Ziff Media Group is a leading portfolio of trusted service journalism and shopping content, including RetailMeNot, Mashable.com, PCMag.com, BlackFriday.com and AskMen. com. It super-serves consumers toward action, allowing brands to maximize reach and engage a qualified audience. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets US, UK Year joined 2012 Publisher ID 82717 Zilch is a different kind of Buy Now, Pay Later company – created from the ground up to help customers have, do and be whatever they want, responsibly. Zilch’s MasterCard can be leveraged by and for advertisers online or in-store to drive sales and increase AOVs without any API integration. Additionally, Zilch is one of the first Buy Now, Pay Later providers in the UK to be FCA licensed. Promotional type Buy Now, Pay Later Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets UK, US Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 711069 Samsung 287805 482833 318621 221667 129295

23 • Awin Report 2023

The ‘Clock Model’ is a visual metaphor Pivot podcast host and NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway uses to illustrate how customers interact with brands. But it’s also a powerful illustration of how technology partners are bringing new value to the affiliate channel right now. Think of a clockface. From 12 – 4 is the ‘Pre-Purchase’ phase, when audiences first become aware of your brand, usually via marketing and advertising in all its varied forms. From 4 – 8 is the ‘Purchase’ phase. This is when the customer first comes into direct contact with your brand itself, visiting a physical store or its online equivalent. And finally, 8 – 12 is the ‘Post-Purchase’ phase, which consists of everything after the sale occurs. This might include your customer service, loyalty program, CRM… any post-sale interaction. When we think of the channel’s historic value, it’s primarily centered on the ‘Pre-Purchase’ phase, competing with all forms of advertising. An affiliate partner is generally one that directs its own traffic to an advertiser where, with a bit of luck, it will go on to convert a sale. That fairly simple relationship has served the industry well for over 20 years. It’s the backbone of the flourishing industry we have today. But the slew of technology partners now entering the channel are disrupting that status quo. Thanks to these innovators, the value of affiliate partnerships is extending way beyond that narrow 12 – 4 slot into completely new spaces generating value for businesses outside of ‘simple’ advertising. Instead, we have AI chat bots providing intelligent answers to customer questions on site, deal personalization tech tailoring offers to users based on browsing behavior, automated upselling solutions building dynamic bundles of related products based on a shopper’s existing basket, and social referral technology encouraging converted shoppers to become brand advocates among their own peers. All these solutions enable businesses to further optimize customer experiences across a wider range of touchpoints than traditional partnerships might have previously offered. And the beauty of working with these cutting- edge solutions via the affiliate channel is they’re available to experiment with on a performance basis and without the upfront costs usually associated with accessing them. Many businesses today face the daunting prospect of having to constantly keep up with tech’s warp speed progress and change. To do so normally involves huge investments of capital and time in developing expertise and tech in-house, or acquiring and then assimilating it into your existing stack. The affiliate channel offers the perfect space to experiment with new technologies risk free. And with Awin’s MasterTag, you get immediate access to many of these solutions through our core tracking setup and can switch them on instantly, skipping your internal dev queue to quickly understand whether it works. This chapter highlights just a few of these innovative partners currently available to work with via Awin. But there are many more in the pipeline. So, rest assured that whatever the next tech trend in marketing is likely to be, there’ll be an Awin partner ready to solve it. intent.ly Branch BrandSwap Button Envolve Tech Fidel Geniuslink Increasingly MikMak RevLifter Upsellit Soreto Twenga Success story

24 • Awin Report 2023

intent.ly’s meteoric rise within the channel began as Smarter Click, a name that may already be familiar to veterans of the UK’s affiliate space. Launched in 2013 with just three employees, they oversaw the growth and rebrand of the business into what it is today – experts in converting customers across 20+ international markets with multiple industry awards to its name. intent.ly is a conversion optimization expert, unlocking audiences’ potential through seamless, personalized engagement tools that turn customer journeys into success stories. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2014 Publisher ID 80338 Throughout the past nine years, intent.ly has helped brands leverage the potential of their most-valuable asset: their own customers. On average, a staggering 96% of traffic bounces without converting and 85% abandon purchases despite having items in their baskets. intent.ly re-engages these customers to buy via cutting-edge marketing solutions, ranging from personalized overlays and emails to perfectly timed notifications, all powered by its proprietary behavioral insights and performance data. Recent developments push the envelope further with the implementation of machine learning – essentially allowing automatic personalization to tailor the approach and strategy for each individual customer. In fact, intent.ly’s tech has the ability to look beyond the singular definition of ‘customer.’ By analyzing individual shopping behaviors on a brand’s site – including the pages they browse and the cursor movements they make – intent.ly seeks to define consumers in terms of ‘buyers’ or ‘clickers.’ Or, to put it bluntly, those that know what they want and those that don’t. intent. ly’s solutions aim to reinforce ‘buyer’ behavior in shoppers whose interest may be waning by giving them the nudge to purchase, boosting conversion rates across the board. With over 500 advertisers already live at the start of 2022 (including many of the largest global brands), intent.ly has set its eyes on making its proposition accessible to businesses of every shape and size. In intent.ly’s own words, “The size of a brand should not dictate their access to the best technology in the market.” For many grassroots advertisers, the prospect of implementing specialized marketing tech can be daunting. Whether that’s because of front- ended integration costs or the need for continued investment (both time and money) in optimizing campaigns, the risks are often perceived as outweighing the potential benefits. However, intent.ly has sought to eliminate many of these obstacles, proving to brands that working with industry-leading solutions isn’t an exclusive benefit for big businesses only. intent.ly acknowledges the integration process is often one of the biggest barriers to entry, so this became a core issue to tackle. As a result of Awin’s push to make accelerating innovation as seamless as possible, intent.ly’s tech now sits directly within the Awin MasterTag – with integration a one-click activation solution. Furthermore, intent.ly now provides an entry-level plug-and-play solution that effectively offers little to no initial outlay, opening up the proposition to a greater number and variety of smaller brands. For start ups and micro-SMEs, this presents the perfect opportunity – affordable, low- risk ecommerce innovation that can be easily scaled up to more custom solutions as their business grows. With this strategic pivot it’s clear intent.ly is invested in making its technology as accessible as possible to all, dispelling the myth only established brands should have the privilege of working with cutting- edge marketing technologies. In intent.ly’s own words, “The size of a brand should not dictate their access to the best technology in the market.”

25 • Awin Report 2023

Branch provides the industry’s leading mobile linking and measurement platforms, offering solutions that unify user experience and attribution across devices and channels. Branch has been selected by over 100,000 apps since 2014, improving experiences for more than three billion monthly users across the globe. Promotional type App Tracking Provider Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2020 BrandSwap is a plug- and-play brand-to-brand partnerships platform that enables retailers to increase sales using advertiser-funded rewards and gain incremental profits as a publisher. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2023 Publisher ID 1174626 Button’s PostTap product suite is the only mobile and app technology built specifically for affiliation and commerce-based outcomes. Its technology is backed by machine learning that routes consumers to the best- converting destination and can be used to improve performance of all paid media traffic. Promotional type App Tracking Provider Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2018

26 • Awin Report 2023

Envolve’s award-winning Virtual Shopping Assistant uses AI to automatically answer consumer questions via a widget on a retailer’s site, providing relevant answers and contextual product recommendations for up to a 17% conversion rate. Envolve typically increases an advertiser’s AOV by 10- 15% and reduces customer service queries by up to 55%. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 531021 Fidel API’s mission is to unlock the full potential of payment cards. Its tools and solutions enable startups through global enterprises to reimagine user experiences, unlock untapped value within payment events and transform the way they interact with customers. Promotional type FinTech Sectors Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 626209 Geniuslink helps seamlessly send consumers to the correct item in their local storefront for improved conversions, sales and commissions. It uses a patented process that quickly and accurately matches across (and between) ecommerce ecosystems to ensure both the ideal shopper journey and your affiliate tracking still works. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 577649 Award-winning AI platform Increasingly was built with one simple goal: increase basket revenue for retailers. Its technology sells product bundles on-site and on Google Shopping, Facebook and Instagram to help customers buy and discover more. With Increasingly’s ‘Frequently Bought Together’ product bundling, retailers achieve those higher AOVs as shopping experiences are powered by convenience and personalization. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 317439

27 • Awin Report 2023

MikMak is an ecommerce marketing analytics and enablement software. It helps consumer product companies – including grocery, alcohol and CPG brands – understand and perfect their consumers’ online journeys, drive online sales and optimize media and marketing spend. Promotional type Technology Partner Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 825961 RevLifter is on a mission to make every ecommerce deal intelligent across the entire customer journey. Its market- leading platform delivers average performance boosts of +20% AOV and +30% CVR by enabling brands to serve real-time, hyper-personalized offers and content that exceed goals for revenue, sales, conversions, acquisition, retention and more. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Global Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 489725 Since partnering with RevLifter, we’ve built an AI algorithm that goes through millions of data points to find a customer’s best deal and better margin for us in real time; a genuine win-win. It’s brought something totally different to our program and website, and I’d encourage other brands to see how personalization can solve their biggest challenges. Jay Karsandas Digital Marketing Manager Carphone Warehouse UpSellit specializes in designing, developing and optimizing personalized conversion experiences that help increase online profitability for clients, building strategies that address specific pain points across the whole conversion funnel. UpSellit’s goal is always to provide the largest possible increase in brand revenue with the smallest possible impact on customer experience. Promotional type Technology Partner Sector Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 743003

28 • Awin Report 2023

Powering 3x revenue growth with incentivized referrals Success story Soreto is a referral marketing and social sharing technology that leverages the power of a retailer’s existing customers to acquire new ones. It enables brands to incentivize customers to recommend their site to friends and family via social media and messaging platforms. Win new customers, drive repeat purchases and increase organic social reach with Soreto. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 427813 Ann Summers is a global lingerie, swimwear and adult products brand with a highly-engaged, loyal customer base. Feedback has always been essential, having been responsible for getting the brand off the ground. The renowned Ann Summers party concept, imagined in 1981 by CEO Jacqueline Gold, allowed it to understand what women wanted through direct customer interaction. Arranged by organizers employed by Ann Summers, these parties encouraged women to get hands-on with products. Harnessing the power of word-of-mouth In 2022, Ann Summers decided to expand its referral marketing efforts, partnering with Soreto to capitalize on the brand’s strong customer engagement. Soreto’s data suggests that adults are 4x more likely to purchase when recommended by a friend and that 50% of all purchasing decisions are influenced by referrals – an incredibly powerful way to gain new audiences through Ann Summers’ loyal customer base. Soreto’s solution fills that gap between social media, messaging platforms and ecommerce. Its model leverages the opportunity for a brand’s customers to share with friends an incentive on their next purchase, thereby also encouraging said customers to share that brand with their social followings. And because Soreto is pre-integrated in the Awin MasterTag, the easy setup made it a no-brainer. The user journey works like this: After a customer completes a purchase, a lightbox powered by Soreto appears, asking them to share an endorsement / discount on social media. As an incentive to the customer itself, they also receive a discount as a ‘thank you’ to apply next time. Once shared, the customer’s followers see Ann Summers post in their feeds and click to browse. The trial discount offer is automatically applied to their Ann Summers’ shopping cart when they begin check out. After the purchase is confirmed, these new buyers also see the Soreto-powered lightbox asking them to share with their circles, keeping the referral chain going. With Soreto’s solution, any friction at critical stages is eliminated – making social sharing easy. Greater conversions through seamless creative From August to December 2022, Soreto, Ann Summers and Awin collaborated on six referral campaigns, each with their own imagery and incentives. The campaigns closely followed the brand’s wider strategy, mirroring on-site activity to create a seamless feel. Beyond the aforementioned benefits of Soreto, the technology let Ann Summers test multiple creative approaches and reward strategies with audiences, keeping incentives fresh for frequent buyers and honing the methods that proved most effective for the brand’s customer base. 15:1 ROI +56% uplift in share rate +100% clickthrough rate +318% conversion rate +303% revenue

29 • Awin Report 2023

In 2017, the EU fined Google $2.6bn (the second biggest it’s ever issued) for antitrust practices on Google’s Shopping Ads space. When that happened, the EU subsequently opened up a completely new avenue for Google competitors. Other comparison partners now had access to the auction-based ad model on a level playing field, giving brands a choice on partners and pricing models. Twenga is a CSS shopping ads provider offering a unique in-market machine learning platform that specializes in long-tail product exposure. Promotional type Technology Partner Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Global Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 624709 As this ecosystem opened, many of these companies quickly recognized the affiliate channel offered a valuable means of coordinating this activity on a performance basis and so a new partner type was born: the CSS affiliate. Twenga is one such company. Founded in 2006 with deep expertise in the comparison search space (CSS), the French company quickly scaled its solution across the globe. Its focus on supplementing advertisers’ existing product search on Google Shopping, Bing and Petal Shopping Ads has seen them partner with nearly 1,500 clients across Europe, the US and Australia. Over 200 of those partnerships are managed via Awin, and for Twenga, the attraction of working with platforms comes in part from access to the tracking and reporting tech, helping to fuel its machine learning platform to better optimize clients’ CSS campaigns. Speaking of Twenga’s tech, the proprietary pixel it’s developed allows Twenga to fine-tune campaigns with data gathered from multiple sources, enhancing both the returns and costs via intelligent and accurate bidding. Compared to campaigns not using the pixel, Twenga boasts a potential two-fold increase in performance. And thanks to its integration within the Awin MasterTag, access to this improved solution is incredibly simple to set up. Of course, one of the common dilemmas that frequently crops up in the CSS affiliate space is how this activity works in tandem with existing CSS activity, either in- house or with other partners. Brand anxieties around bid cannibalization are common but misplaced. As Twenga’s Head of Business Development Jose Lorenzo explained, its algorithm focuses bids on a brand’s long-tail inventory, promoting products that aren’t covered by existing bids. “A brand might be focused more on promoting a set of products that are strategically important for them, and we supplement this primary campaign by ensuring the rest of their catalog is covered too.” Twenga’s algorithm is smartly designed to identify undiscovered products in the auction and provide wider coverage on terms that may have untapped value. With the most important products already part of a client’s paid strategy, Twenga can generate returns from areas retailers may have deemed less profitable or not worth considering. This intelligent use of affiliate expertise in a new marketing field is another example of how the channel can help accelerate innovation. Brands taking their first foray into CSS can experiment using experts like Twenga to find out what does and doesn’t work without risking capital up front. And for those already running such activity, supplementing it with the enhanced coverage a partner like Twenga offers provides a completely new source of incremental sales. [Twenga’s] focus on supplementing advertisers’ existing product search on Google Shopping, Bing and Petal Shopping Ads has seen them partner with nearly 1,500 clients across Europe, the US and Australia.

30 • Awin Report 2023

In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less, psychologist Barry Schwartz crystalized a challenge we face as consumers today: “Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard.” Whether it’s a broadband package, city break or vacuum cleaner, we need help navigating the plethora of choices online. Affiliates have known this for years and it explains why their growth mirrored that of ecommerce. You might not realize, but in choosing one product over another, you’ve probably interacted with affiliate content (possibly at every stage of your purchasing journey). This epitomizes the partners you’ll discover in this section – industry stalwarts, specialists and content heavyweights, empowering consumers with their content and business models. Their laser focus on guiding and advising helped build fiercely loyal local audiences and shape offerings to reflect changing consumer habits. In an age of declining brand loyalty, many retailers are attaching themselves to the stickiness of affiliate content and business models. This is exemplified by some of the niches publishers now represent amid nuances in local markets. Brands recognize affiliates like Sole Supplier are a trusted go-to for someone choosing their next footwear. Likewise, Humbird for the great annual health insurance switch in the Netherlands, or Mecenat to tap into a Nordic student audience. Several featured partners can be broadly categorized as incentive sites. These are the mainstays of the affiliate channel, be it established cashback portals like Germany’s Shoop or new entrant Capital One in the US. In taking a marketing cost and turning it into a consumer incentive, they share customer loyalty with the brands they partner with. But the publishers featured here are more complex. MoneySupermarket Group makes our shortlist, and with its acquisition of UK cashback site Quidco, now offers a glimpse of affiliate marketing’s future. By merging different models – product discovery and price comparison alongside the conversion tactics of coupons or cash rewards – the group can help consumers make sense of the myriad options available. The recent trend of local media houses embracing affiliate is also well represented. Whether it’s Forbes, The New York Times’ Wirecutter or EL PAÍS, affiliate ecommerce has become a credible and fully- fledged income source in place of traditional display placements. Critically, these businesses shifted measurement from page views to content creation and conversion, meaning they are better served by advertising while building longer- term loyalty with readers. Regardless of size, all selected partners here are regional powerhouses in their subject authority and excel at what they do in its purest form: affiliate and partner marketing. They epitomize that holy grail of quality content allied to high conversions, often with the bonus of an incentive. As such, they represent the bedrock of affiliate programs across the world. Wirecutter a360media Affiliate Port Black Friday Nederland Bravokupony Capital One Shopping Cashrewards CFC Services Cuponomia Discoup EL PAÍS Forbes Grupo NZN Humbird Ideel Knasta Mecenat Méliuz Moneysupermarket Group Nettavisen Qual Notebook Comprar Schibsted Shareight Shoop ShopBack Slickdeals The Sole Supplier Student Price Card Tiscali Tom’s Hardware Viking Deals Urlaubstracker Success story

31 • Awin Report 2023

Founded in 2011 by Brian Lam, the product review and recommendation site Wirecutter has since grown to become one of the most-trusted consumer review sites in the US. So trusted, in fact, that the so-called ‘Wirecutter effect’ describes the sudden surge in sales retailers face when one of their products is spotlighted by the team’s editors as a Wirecutter Pick. Wirecutter has set the standard for unparalleled and unbiased product reviews and recommendations for over a decade. As a New York Times company, it puts readers first, building trust before driving valuable customers to partners. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sector Retail & Fashion Market US Year joined 2015 Publisher ID 256015 That kind of influence over such a huge audience of shoppers doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s something earned over years of rigorous product testing by an impartial team of experts focused on finding and vetting the very best across more than 1,000 products and sharing that information as transparently as possible. As Leilani Han, Wirecutter’s executive director of commerce, explained, “Our founder really instilled from the very beginning that, if you were doing right by the reader and putting them at the center of everything, then the rest will follow.” For Han, the monetization of the site via affiliate was therefore a completely natural strategy. “It’s so perfectly matched up from the perspective of being compensated for performance – performance is such a strong indicator of the reader’s trust.” Of course, balancing that commercial aspect with the editorial integrity of its reviewers was crucial for establishing this trust. So, Han’s team operates completely independently from editorial, with the journalists unaware of any commercial agreements in place. While affiliate has been a cornerstone source of revenue for Wirecutter since its inception, the site’s acquisition by the New York Times in 2016 for more than $30m subsequently saw the erection of a paywall on its content for the first time last year. This aligned Wirecutter with the subscription model its parent has successfully pioneered for years now, and though Han acknowledges the concerns around how this might impact its reach were not surprising, the shift to a subscription model really signified to Wirecutter’s audience that proper journalism is worth paying for. This isn’t to suggest the business is abandoning its affiliate roots though. Partnerships with brands remain incredibly important to Wirecutter, not just as a commercial concern but as a means of gauging the quality of its output. “It’s this huge indicator of whether or not our readers are actually taking our advice and trusting us – that feedback loop is never going to go away for us in terms of its importance.” And thanks to the comprehensive nature of its reviews, Wirecutter’s status as a trusted resource is likely to remain that way for years to come. It’s not just about taking into account the quality of the individual product itself and how a person uses it in their daily life, but considering the entire customer experience associated with it. Everything from how easy it is to buy on site, the quality of the customer service, the warranties offered and the inventory levels available, along with a host of other factors that could impact the buying experience. Looking to the future, Han suggests there are new aspects becoming increasingly important for consumers to be aware of that Wirecutter is factoring in more and more. “We’ve been expanding the scope of our advice so that it’s not just about a product we recommend, but other helpful advice like ‘how do you make sure it lasts?’, ‘how do you take care of it?’ and a variety of other considerations which might be important to you, such as topics around sustainability and accessibility.” With today’s shoppers increasingly overwhelmed by information when researching a new product, sites like Wirecutter are playing a uniquely important role for them and one that will inevitably contribute to their continued growth and success.

32 • Awin Report 2023

a360media owns and operates the leading celebrity and health & fitness media brands in the country, reaching a total of 60+ million unique visitors and 762+ million page views every month. Its sites – including leading publications US Weekly and Men’s Journal – cut through the noise to help brands reach a highly-coveted audience of consumers. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market US Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 139772 Affiliate Port is one of the largest sub-networks in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, offering professional services and high return on investment for both advertisers and publishers. Promotional type Sub Network Sector Retail & Fashion Market Eastern Europe Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 550503 Since 2015, Black Friday Nederland has been maximizing site visitor conversion rates during the Black Friday and Cyber Week period. In total, its websites reach more than five million visitors each November – helping it to become one of the largest Black Friday publishers in Europe. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Netherlands Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 324895 Since launching in 2020, Bravokupony has become one of the top five discount partners in Eastern Europe, thanks to a dedicated team of local experts. As part of the wider Bravo Savings Network its goal is to elevate the online shopping experience and become a consumer’s main point of reference for saving online, thereby providing great ROI for its advertisers. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sector Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Eastern Europe Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 678237

Capital One Shopping uses best-in-class technology to help users in finding the best deals online. The technology works by looking for better offers, instantly searching
for and applying available coupon codes at checkout and letting the consumer know when prices drop on products they’ve viewed and purchased, alongside sharing any special cardholder offers.

Promotional type

Coupon/Cashback

Sectors

Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment

Market

US

Year joined

2017

Publisher ID

301377

Australian-owned and operated Cashrewards is the leading Australian cashback ecosystem. Its unique platform unites 1.1 million Australian members and 1,800+ of
the world’s top retailers to turn wasted advertising
spend into compelling discounts and cashback.

Promotional type

Coupon/Cashback

Sectors

Retail & Fashion

Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment

Market

Australia

Year joined

2014

Publisher ID

211491

CFC Services’ Le Cashback Société Générale lets members earn cashback on online purchases with more than 1,000 partner brands. Users can also earn rewards on in- store and in-app purchases when using their Société Générale card.

Promotional type

Coupon/Cashback

Sector

Retail & Fashion

Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment

Markets

France, Germany

Year joined

2015

Publisher ID

268933

As the largest coupon partner in Brazil, Cuponomia’s unique model of mixing discount code and cashback strategies allows it to deliver maximum results for retailers without sacrificing any consumer benefits.

Promotional type

Coupon/Cashback

Sectors

Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment

Markets

Brazil, LATAM

Year joined

2013

Publisher ID

402367

Thanks to its years in the industry and extensive expertise in discount promotions, Discoup’s network represents both a reference point for shoppers looking to save money and a means for advertisers to drive new customer acquisition, sales and revenue.

Promotional type

Coupon/Cashback

Sectors

Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment

Markets

Global

Year joined

2013

Publisher ID

331853

33 • Awin Report 2023

34 • Awin Report 2023

EL PAÍS is the world’s leading Spanish-language newspaper. As the ecommerce section of elpais.com, Escaparate offers consumers access to experts’ and journalists’ analyses and recommendations of the best products online. Main topics of interest include beauty, home, technology, lifestyle and deals. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Retail & Fashion Market Spain Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 415635 Forbes is the premier destination for definitive shopping content, powered by the reach and scale of the world’s largest business media brand. Forbes’ product and service recommendations are the result of careful, thorough research by its team of writers, experienced consumer advocates and subject matter experts. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Market US Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 467079 With over 20 years’ experience, Grupo NZN is a leading provider of advertising solutions and digital content production in Brazil. Its portfolio of websites – including TecMundo, Voxel, Minha Série, The Brief, Mega Curioso, Baixaki and Click Jogos – generates more than 22 million unique views every month and are accessed by one in five Brazilian internet users. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Brazil Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 666229 Humbird’s comparison tool helps users find the most suitable and affordable healthcare plan from the top providers in the Netherlands. Promotional type Price Comparison Sector Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Market Netherlands Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 329509

35 • Awin Report 2023

Ideel is a website and smartphone app that allows individuals to manage all invoices and subscriptions in a few clicks. Launched in 2018, the platform already has more than 100,000 users and a satisfaction level of 4.9/5. Promotional type Price Comparison Sectors Telco & Services Market France Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 641711 Knasta is a Chilean-born price comparison interface that enables users to examine products and view historical price trends so they’re confident they’re making the smartest purchase possible. Promotional type Price Comparison Sectors Retail & Fashion Market LATAM Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 729799 Mecenat is the market-leading student portal in the Nordics with over 1.3 million users, which represents 13% of the Swedish population. It’s an ideal partner for advertisers wanting to target this niche demographic of young consumers, establish early brand loyalty and develop a lifelong customer base. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Nordics Year joined 2012 Publisher ID 323797 Méliuz is a cashback pioneer in Brazil known for its ‘win- win-win’ model. On Méliuz, shoppers can find and activate discounts and cashback at hundreds of online stores with one click using its Chrome extension. And for advertisers, they can partner with Méliuz to leverage its userbase of 10 million customers to drive sales. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Brazil Year joined 2011 Publisher ID 197989

36 • Awin Report 2023

Moneysupermarket.com operates leading UK price comparison sites for insurance, money, home services and other products. The group’s purpose is to help households save money on bills by giving them access to free online buying and switching tools. In 2020 alone, Moneysupermarket.com helped users save an estimated $2.6 billion on their household bills. Promotional type Price Comparison Sectors Finance & Insurance Telco & Services Market UK Year joined 2006 Publisher IDs 54840 75150 As one of the first editorial sites to monetize its content in the Nordics, Nettavisen is a pioneer media house. And now 10 years later, Nettavisen’s affiliate activity continues to drive value for brands by attracting new customers and inspiring them to make a purchase. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Market Nordics Year joined 2012 Publisher ID 322671 Qual Notebook Comprar began as a small blog in Brazil helping consumers understand the types, configurations and costs of laptops. Today through its website, YouTube channel, and social media, Qual Notebook Comprar is a leading reference point for Brazilians seeking laptop tips and a valuable resource for retailers hoping to reach these consumers. Promotional type Blogger/Influencer Sector Retail & Fashion Market Brazil Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 691801 Schibsted is a Nordics- based publishing house with a wide-reaching consumer base. Having acquired the Kickback Group, it can now offer Kickback’s pioneering white-label integrations like Aftonbladet alongside access to the biggest digital news outlets in the region. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets Germany, Nordics Year joined 2016 Publisher IDs 324449 329391 558405 786027 Shareight specializes in the often-overlooked middle segment of the customer journey, attracting and engaging customers during the consideration phase. With the help of high- quality content, Shareight’s premium CSS, shopping portal and content solutions consistently deliver traffic, revenue and new customer acquisition for advertisers. Promotional type Shopping Directory Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market UK Year joined 2014 Publisher ID 863943

37 • Awin Report 2023

Shoop started as a small player on the cashback scene in 2010, but has since grown into a market leader in Germany with 1.6 million registered users and more than 2,200 active advertisers. Driving substantial value for both its community and business partners, Shoop believes in going the extra mile to help customers save big. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Germany Year joined 2011 Publisher ID 320119 ShopBack is the largest rewards and discovery platform in the Asia-Pacific region, with over 33 million users transacting over 30 times per second. It’s the first stop of a consumer’s journey, helping them make better purchasing decisions ‘The Smarter Way.’ ShopBack delivers cashback to its users and performance- based marketing with high, measurable ROI to its retailers. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market APAC Year joined 2016 Publisher ID 228811 Shopback has gone from strength to strength since arriving in Australia. Its flash cashback events create real customer urgency and drive serious volume for advertiser programs. Angus Waters Publisher Development Team Leader Awin APAC Slickdeals is the original social shopping partner, where over 12 million monthly shoppers chat, browse and buy with its browser extension, website and app. Slickdeals’ highly-engaged community relies on the platform at every stage of their shopping journey, which means higher conversion rates and enhanced data and attribution. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market US Year joined 2013 Publisher ID 166580 The Sole Supplier is one of the UK’s most influential sneaker and streetwear publishers, driving more than 52,000 orders monthly for key partners through highly captivating and unique content. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sector Retail & Fashion Market UK Year joined 2012 Publisher ID 125701

38 • Awin Report 2023

Online-to-offline promotions generate $70,000+ incremental brick-and-mortar sales Success story Student Price Card is Canada’s most popular student discount card. It has 1 million-plus members, 120 retail partners and 15,000 points of use. Promotional type Loyalty Sector Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Market Canada Year joined 2016 Publisher ID 279733 The Body Shop is a leading player in Beauty & Personal Care, selling 1,000+ items across 3,000+ brick- and-mortar stores. While the brand has seen substantial success driving online sales through the affiliate channel, increasing foot traffic to its retail locations is an ongoing objective globally. To test how effective an affiliate partnership could be in driving in-store revenue, The Body Shop decided to trial an online-to-offline campaign for a set demographic (students) across its Canadian affiliate program. Finding the right partner Students are a key audience for The Body Shop as they are generally more engaged consumers with beliefs aligned to the brand’s core values. For younger customers, The Body Shop often acts as a familiar starting point for skincare and cosmetics through its strong brand equity and name value. This provided The Body Shop with a perfect opportunity to trial the in-store campaign in a controlled sample from a core customer base, and help create long-term loyalty within younger demographics. Student Price Card (SPC), a Canadian student loyalty platform, was selected as the ideal partner for this in-store campaign due to its presence in Canada and by having partnerships with high schools, colleges and universities to garner a userbase of over 1.3m students. SPC is also partnered with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a popular provider of student banking products that offers free SPC membership to clients, giving The Body Shop an additional group of students to target who are likely to be financially savvy and deal sensitive. SPC offers users discounts and deals on fashion, food, shoes, travel and more. Students show their SPC cards at participating brick- and-mortar retailers and receive instant savings on purchases of up to 30% for over 450 brands. Additionally, SPC has a popular mobile app that alerts members about the various offers available to them alongside access to special giveaways, cash prizes and more. Planning the perfect test The Body Shop created an offer code and made it available exclusively to SPC users through the SPC app. No other communication for the offer was produced either in store or through any digital channel like the brand’s socials. To ensure the code couldn’t be leaked to unintended audiences, SPC users were required to present and activate the code within the app at the point of purchase. The code also included a date and time stamp, preventing users from screenshotting and sharing the offer publicly. By creating this ideal test environment, The Body Shop could isolate any resulting performance and attribute it to the SPC users incentivized to shop in-store at a retail location. In turn, the brand could confidently and accurately measure the foot traffic generated by the affiliate campaign. The results for this effort exceeded targets. Across the campaign, SPC drove: $70k+ incremental retail sales +4.9k items sold +2.6k transactions $21 AOV for these incremental sales

39 • Awin Report 2023

With an audience of 10 million unique browsers, Tiscali works with content marketing specialists to develop brand projects that drive value. Tiscali’s online magazine portfolio – together with its shopping section shopping.tiscali.it – involves millions of readers on topics including women, technology, sport, lifestyle, video games and food. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Italy Year joined 2020 Publisher ID 707125 Published by 3labs s.r.l., Tom’s Hardware specializes in content creation and project management in IT and entertainment. Its ability to influence makes Tom’s Hardware a different and unique platform compared to other agencies or publishers operating in this sector. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sector Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Italy Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 334259 Viking Deals is a loyalty platform and marketplace offering customers free mobile phone bills in exchange for making purchases with retail partners. Its growing customer base of 300,000+ Vikings offers brands access to an engaged community of young, loyal value seekers that frequently shop online. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Market Belgium Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 324845

Urlaubstracker entered the travel blogging scene in 2013, with founder Jonas Schulze Dieckhoff at its helm. As an avid budget traveler himself, Dieckhoff wanted to bring affordable, action-packed travel to the masses. It’s safe to say he’s succeeded. Urlaubstracker (in
English: ‘holiday tracker’) is now one of the largest travel blogs in Germany and Austria, boasting pre-pandemic audiences of up to 3.5 million site visitors a month in 2022.

40 • Awin Report 2023

Urlaubstracker’s mission is to make it possible for everyone to travel the world. Its authentic community of bloggers

finds readers the best deals, ensuring they remain loyal and engaged with all content and brand partnerships.

Promotional type

Blogger/Influencer

Sector

Travel & Entertainment

Markets

Austria, Germany

Year joined

2013

Publisher ID

321967

With the goal of making travel cost-effective and accessible, Urlaubstracker’s deal team hunts down the best travel offers available. It then shares the information in blog format and distributes its best blogs via social media, allowing users to easily view dates, hotel details, and all relevant trip information in one place.

Since Urlaubstracker’s humble beginnings, the blog has grown
to cover travel tips, inspiration,
and news. It’s also mindful of the changing nature of its audience, shifting to accommodate emerging travel trends and expanding its social media outreach to encompass platforms like TikTok and Instagram, in addition to Facebook.

Affiliate marketing has also played a big role in Urlaubstracker’s success. With the help of affiliate partnerships, the company can turn a profit while staying authentic to its core values.

After all, Urlaubstracker is a travel blog at heart and always has been.

Without its own booking engine or products, the site relies on these affiliate partnerships to continue finding deals and producing valuable content. The company’s Senior Key Account Manager Anke Mesloh explained that, “[having]

a wide range of partners helps us to stay flexible and offer the best quality offers to our community.”

An emphasis on affiliate marketing has allowed Urlaubstracker to better adapt to COVID-19, an event that hit the travel industry particularly hard. “The biggest lesson from the pandemic has been that even the best plans can be completely turned upside down,” said Mesloh. “The most important thing is to stay flexible, innovative, and open-minded and not miss

any of the emerging trends.”

Urlaubstracker has done just that, finding the silver lining in otherwise trying times. The site took advantage of travel disruptions to work

on new verticals, developing its mobile application and improving its overall user experience.

Urlaubstracker’s quick adaptation to pandemic-related trends has meant catering to a new kind of audience, one with an increased demand

for exotic travel destinations, last-minute bookings, and local travel. These trends go hand- in-hand with innovation and
timing, two of the hallmarks of Urlaubstracker’s business philosophy.

The pivot has proved fruitful for the company. Creative solutions like stay- at-home cooking guides allowed it to continue growing and working with affiliate platforms, while the rest of the travel industry remained at a standstill. And “now that travel is picking up

again, we’re much stronger than we ever were before,” said Mesloh.

Looking ahead, the team hopes to

expand its offerings to include virtual reality and eventually even hyperloop travel — the travel of the future. But it doesn’t plan to walk this road alone. Urlaubstracker values its advertiser relationships, which are built on a foundation of trust, honesty and good communication. “To ensure we can offer the best value we need to know what the partner provides and what its unique selling propositions are so we can create the best possible content.”

Together with its advertisers, Urlaubstracker is poised to take the German-speaking travel market by storm as the industry seeks to reestablish
itself. With a focus on versatility and strategic timing, Urlaubstracker is staying true to its mission to make
travel affordable and accessible to all, no matter what the future of travel holds.

41 • Awin Report 2023

From small acorns grow mighty oaks. One common theme in many of the tech sector’s biggest success stories is that of humble beginnings. HP’s game-changing contributions to the computing industry started with a coin flip in a Palo Alto garage. Google began life as a Stanford dorm room research project called Backrub, eventually launching on a server made of Legos. And anyone who’s seen The Social Network knows the similarly modest foundations of Facebook. Bedrooms, dorms and garages all feature widely in these origin stories, and for affiliate marketing it’s a familiar pattern. Over 20 years ago – with the industry in its infancy – many of its pioneers were internet hobbyists, applying the performance-based model to a variety of business ideas and grassroot advertising ventures. As the model flourished, some of these forerunners saw their own companies take off too. Their success fed the success of the broader industry, and vice versa. And over the course of two decades, many of these affiliate businesses have not simply spearheaded innovation in the channel, but their growing profile and stature helped legitimize the C-suite perception of the wider industry. Some of the business models and online services we now take for granted as consumers were first created and popularized by these companies via affiliate partnerships. Comparison sites, employee reward platforms, coupon, cashback and loyalty programs. Content aggregators, browser plugins, micro-influencer brand partnerships, CSS and content commerce. In 2022, there were over 35 partners that generated more than $100m in revenue for brands via the Awin platform. Many of these partners feature in this chapter; longstanding industry veterans that have evolved and grown with it and are now global powerhouses with access to audiences across every continent on the planet. For advertisers seeking scale, these partners are a vital component of that marketing machine. Not simply because of their reach, but because many offer such varied solutions at scale. Their expertise and success in one area of digital marketing has, through investment or strategic acquisition, established similar expertise in other areas. Many global publisher businesses act as multi- disciplinary, multi-region specialists, aiding brands in their desire to reach international audiences across a spectrum of digital touchpoints. But our focus here isn’t solely on these established giants. We also make room for newer entrants to the affiliate scene; those with credentials that further enhance the stature of affiliate marketing and publishers everywhere. The likes of Yahoo! and Microsoft Bing Shopping recently launching into the channel to monetize their enormous global traffic sends a clear signal. These massive publishers don’t just signify the industry’s increased professionalization, or simply speak to the heightened prominence our ad model plays in the fortunes of some of the biggest businesses in the world. Their entrance further expands the scope of what affiliate and partner marketing constitutes – giving brands access to truly global platforms and their vast audiences. LTK BuzzFeed Future Genie Ventures Global Savings Group Honey Idealo Love Savings Group Microsoft Bing Shopping PAYBACK PriceRunner Redbrain Reward Gateway Savings United Stylight Yahoo! Success story

42 • Awin Report 2023

Born in a small Dallas, Texas, apartment in 2011, LTK (formerly known as rewardStyle and LIKEtoKNOW.it) is one of the largest global influencer marketing platforms today in the world. LTK currently drives over $3.6 billion annually for its brand partners, working with over 200,000 diverse creators and over one million retailers from all four corners of the globe. LTK drives billions in annual brand sales from the largest curated community of 200,000+ creators in 140+ countries. It’s a pioneer of the creator economy and founder of the first full-service influencer marketing platform, including a creator-powered shopping app that reaches millions of shoppers. Promotional type Sub Network Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2012 Publisher ID 136348 After over a decade in the business, co-founders Amber Venz Box and Baxter Box remain true to their original mission: empowering lifestyle creators to achieve economic success. That’s no easy feat in today’s constantly changing economic landscape. But backed by a distributed global salesforce and a high-value consumer platform, LTK has taken advantage of the ongoing shift toward a more personable, partner-driven economy. According to Head of European Sales Robin Ward, “We exist to find the right creators that convert for our brands.” LTK also “helps brands rationalize their investment, rationalize what they’re doing in the creator marketplace with influencer collaborations, and provide that end-to-end opportunity to work with creators.” LTK’s digital shopping application is a prime example of how the company has capitalized on the shift away from traditional consumer- brand touchpoints. Its app boasts a conversion rate four times that of the largest social media platforms. In part, LTK’s success is due to its global reach, its holistic approach to shopping and its ability to deliver measurable sales metrics down to each individual transaction. But that’s not the full picture. “Brands today very much recognize that content creators have got loyal, long-term followers who connect with every aspect of their life; these include audiences difficult to reach via other channels,” Ward explained. Working with niche, branded creators of all kinds, LTK places a high value on humanizing products and maintaining the trusting relationships creators have cultivated with their audiences. The company sees the future of shopping as collaborative, which is where affiliate partnerships come into play. “The affiliate channel is important for our long-term strategy,” said Ward. “It helps drive high-intent shoppers down the funnel, strengthens LTK’s offering and helps build successful next-generation campaigns.” LTK has always been a forward- thinking company, but in response to a pandemic-driven uptick in creator- guided shopping the company has kicked into high gear. One of the main challenges of creator-guided shopping, also known as Creative Commerce 2.0, is centralizing it — where is the virtual creative storefront that hosts this new economy? That’s where LTK comes in, as a platform that focuses on making creators’ lives shoppable in context. In addition, LTK is bridging the gap between in-person retail and fully-fledged online shopping. Recently, the company even took over a vacant storefront in London, creating a 100% shoppable conceptual installation “to highlight the paradigm shift in how people are now shopping through creatives.” A recent $300 million investment by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 has also spurred the company onward, helping LTK fully flesh out its three- pronged approach to creative commerce. Fueled by the investment, LTK plans to focus on scaling its team, building its international presence and enhancing the shopping experience for consumers worldwide. As LTK’s resources and reach grow, its revenue and value proposition will also snowball. The perfect marriage between brands, creators and shoppers, LTK is spearheading a global movement toward a creative economy that is mutually beneficial for all.

43 • Awin Report 2023

BuzzFeed, Inc. is home to the best of the Internet. Across food, news, pop culture and commerce, BuzzFeed brands drive conversation and inspire what audiences watch, read, buy and obsess over next. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sector Retail & Fashion Market Global Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 304459 Future is the name behind some of the world’s market-leading brands and most popular titles. Its content reaches one-in- three people in the UK and US through category-leading brands and events that span specialist interests across B2C and B2B, connecting consumers worldwide with their passions and giving them a place that meets their needs. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Telco & Services Market Global Year joined 2010 Publisher ID 103504 Genie Ventures is a fast- growing digital marketing and publishing company that owns and operates successful affiliate partners Broadband Genie and Genie Shopping. Established in 2004, Broadband Genie is the first dedicated UK broadband comparison website. Genie Shopping is one of the world’s leading shopping ad technology innovators, working with over 1,300 advertisers to drive incremental sales and revenue. Promotional type Price Comparison Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Market Global Year joined 2010 Publisher IDs 48973 259955

44 • Awin Report 2023

Founded in 2012, Global Savings Group is Europe’s largest shopping rewards company with an international footprint in 20+ markets. It provides access to the best savings, cashback, deals, product inspiration and reviews – offering the opportunity to save money while enjoying usual shopping experiences. GSG’s platform is free and easy-to-use, helping millions shop with confidence. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 335499 Freshly Cosmetics was founded in April 2015, the result of three chemical engineers with a passion for natural cosmetics backed by scientific knowledge. Using their previous experience, Joan, Miquel and Mireia set out to create a sustainable and cruelty- free business. Together they built Freshly Cosmetics – a brand that uses ingredients that detoxify and protect the skin from pollution, harmful additives and the stresses of everyday life. iGraal has been an established cashback publisher in Europe since its founding in 2006. In 2020, Global Savings Group acquired iGraal, marking one of the largest acquisitions within the industry in recent years. iGraal’s expertise and long-standing relationships across multiple regions helped GSG expand into new European markets like Spain, significantly increasing its reach across the continent. Maximizing growth via cashback Freshly Cosmetics quickly realized how important cashback would be to the growth of its affiliate program. With a strong commission structure for both new and existing customers at 9% and 8% respectively, cashback partners became a key sales driver. Freshly Cosmetics wanted to push the growth potential of this vertical even further by aiming to offer the most competitive CPAs and strongest cashback amounts in the market. After careful planning and forecasting, Freshly Cosmetics decided to boost its standard commission rates to 20% across a three-month time period, more than doubling already strong CPAs for that quarter. Throughout this time, the rate was also supported by sitewide flash sales of up to 25% off Freshly Cosmetic’s entire website. This level of incentive was unmatched by its competitors, firmly placing the retailer at the forefront of the market. Freshly Cosmetics partnered with iGraal to offer customers an additional 5% CPA during these flash sales, on top of the standard 20%. With equally ambitious targets for growth across new users and revenue, iGraal was the perfect partner for Freshly Cosmetics’ strategy – supporting with premium exposure and its own campaigns like iGraal Days, an influencer-led initiative that coincided with one of Freshly Cosmetics’ flash sales. Within a month of the commission rate boost in April, Freshly Cosmetics saw the following results: +$31.2k revenue generated in May (+47% MoM) Performance also peaked during the coinciding iGraal Days campaign that ran across May 24 – 26: +675% order value WoW +502% transactions WoW +1,006% traffic Tiered cashback strategy drives 47% revenue increase Success story +1,000 sales in May (+12% MoM) $31.93 AOV (+23% MoM)

45 • Awin Report 2023

Honey is here to help consumers find the best savings, perks and all around value online. They simply need to download its free Chrome extension to start earning cashback and use coupon codes across 30,000+ advertiser partner sites. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 214459 Born in Germany and currently expanding throughout Europe, idealo takes shopping comparison platforms to the next level for over 50,000 retailers. With 20+ years of ecommerce experience under its belt, Idealo offers price range, price data, reports and more for over 30 million monthly users. Promotional type Price Comparison Sectors Retail & Fashion Travel & Entertainment Markets Austria, Germany, France, Nordics Year joined 2006 Publisher ID 331661 Love Savings Group helps advertisers drive new sales and consumers save money through its global portfolio of coupon websites and exclusive white-label partnerships. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2019 Publisher ID 96290 Love Savings Group is a key coupon partner for Awin. Its partnerships with leading local media publications, including 7 News, provides wide exposure and reach to a local audience. Angus Waters Publisher Development Team Leader Awin APAC

46 • Awin Report 2023

Microsoft Bing Shopping’s intelligent search helps users make the best online shopping decisions, letting them find their favorite shops in one place alongside deals and comparing prices. It saves customers time and money while offering a vast product selection that includes shoes, clothing, homeware, phones, laptops, tablets and cameras. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2021 Publisher ID 881403 PAYBACK is a leading multi- partner loyalty program and multichannel marketing platform, providing brands with an enhanced combination of coverage and personalization for integrated affiliate campaigns. Campaigns are supported by communications on PAYBACK’s proprietary channels like email, in- app and on its website. Promotional type Loyalty Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Markets France, Italy Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 331887 PriceRunner is one of the top comparison shopping services in Europe, with more than 22k retailers taking advantage of its high-converting, quality traffic. At PriceRunner, users can compare and search more than 3.5 million products and read tests and guides to be sure they’re finding the best deals. Promotional type Price Comparison Sectors Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Markets UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordics, US Year joined 2012 Publisher ID 161810 Redbrain is a strategic online shopping partner that uses cutting-edge technology and creative people to deliver incremental sales for retailers, helping them hit their goals without impacting in-house efforts. Promotional type Search Sector Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2013 Publisher ID 176013

47 • Awin Report 2023

Reward Gateway is a top- performing loyalty and employee benefits platform that is culture- and client- driven. It’s obsessed with putting the ‘human’ in HR, and since 2007 has been right by the side of the world’s most innovative HR leaders to give them the beautiful products and tools needed to attract, engage and retain their people. Promotional type Loyalty Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global, UK, Germany, France, US, Australia Year joined 2004 Publisher ID 46407 A leading couponing partner of premium media companies, Savings United connects brands with savvy shoppers in 13 territories. Its trustworthy content and couponing solutions help advertisers meet their objectives and increase brand awareness. Promotional type Coupon/Cashback Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2017 Publisher ID 413377 Stylight is one of the world’s leading aggregation platforms for the fashion and lifestyle industry. Its mission is to bring users the widest array of fashion and home & living products from over 1,000 brands around the globe. Promotional type Price Comparison Sector Retail & Fashion Market UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Nordics, Australia Year joined 2014 Publisher ID 197535 Yahoo! offers partnerships across Yahoo! Lifestyle and Yahoo! Mail. This combination of editorial content and personalized mail advertisements provides a unique opportunity to advertisers to engage with a diverse group of consumers, supplying commercial value and brand awareness throughout multiple consumer touchpoints. Promotional type Mass Media/Editorial Sectors Finance & Insurance Retail & Fashion Telco & Services Travel & Entertainment Market Global Year joined 2018 Publisher ID 580847

Meet the Awin publisher experts that spearheaded our inaugural Power 100 list

Alex Perry

Head of Publisher Development

Awin UK

Angelo Lattuca

Account Director, Publisher Development

Awin UK

María García Perojil

Head of Publishers & Business Development

Awin Spain

Christopher Floccare

Team Lead, Publisher Success

Awin US + ShareASale

Marvin Dubiel

Senior Publisher Expert

Awin DACH

Denise Rijff

Team Manager Account & Publisher Development, Publisher Management

Awin Netherlands

Natalia Krolikowska

Head of Publishers Development

Awin Poland

Francine Ma

Head of Account Management and Publisher

Awin France

Nick Stoop

Publisher Development Manager

Awin Netherlands

Giada Furiato

Publisher Development Manager

Awin Italy

Jasper Mulder

Global Publisher Director

Awin Global

Jelle Ploeg

Global Strategic Partnerships Manager

Awin Global

Sophie Metcalfe

Revenue Operations Director

Commission Factory

Joris Cretien

Partner Growth Director

Awin US + ShareASale

Marcos Souza

Head of Publisher Development

Awin Brazil

Norma Greco

Team Leader Publisher Development

Awin Italy

Richard Leake

Global Head of Publisher Development

Awin Global

Tasso Melzer

Team Leader Publisher Development

Awin DACH

Grow your own way.