Affiliate Programmes often stagnate over time - this session will reveal a typical programme lifecycle and offer strategies for merchants who want to reinvigorate their offer or who have inherited an existing and potentially mediocre programme. Get practical advice on surviving the mid stage of a programme by innovating, employing effective programme management strategy and what you should be doing to analyse the value of your affiliates internally. Ewan will finish the session with questions from the audience for this merchant driven session.

1. The Affiliate Programme Lifecycle Ewan Darby Business Director, Affiliates Neo@Ogilvy Eve Ireland Head of Acquisition British Airways

2. Lifecycle of an affiliate programme This infers that there is a limit to a programme’s life BA example Launched 2005 and seen much evolution How decisions are reached Affiliates CPA De-duping Why clients and agencies need to find efficiencies How this affects networks and affiliates

3. The Lifecycle of an affiliate programme Launch Expand Growth Efficiencies

4. The tale of a mythical merchant The merchant decides affiliate marketing is the right next stage for them A network is appointed and all the prospects look good Projections are made and the numbers stack up The merchant is learning as they go...

5. Pre-launch and set-up Technical set up and integration can take longer than expected Tech team at the merchant Specific programme requirements Tracking and reporting fluidity Recruitment of affiliates When the programme goes live No immediate sales volume Unimpressive growth

6. Launch First Quarter Slow sales growth Affiliates taking time to sign up Programme understanding Second quarter Sales dramatically improve Hundreds of affiliates now recruited Impression and click volumes impressive

7. Learning Merchants begin to understand how to incentivise affiliates Promotions, additional commission etc Merchants engage with increasing affiliate types – voucher, cashback, incentive, email, ppc etc Some merchants will begin to analyse performance in greater detail

8. Analysis How can affiliates produce greater sales volumes? How is the merchant’s paid search being affected? Why do some affiliates have high impressions, but low CTR or CTS? Is the programme delivering the right ROI? Is the ROI being calculated in the right way?

9. Understanding Not all affiliate types are right for my programme Some affiliates need greater support and materials to get a good EPC meaning they will send greater traffic volumes Conversion is King!

10. Reaching a tipping point Understanding channel value Value of verticals within the channel Deciding how a CPA or incentives can legislate The implications around programme amendments

11. The British Airways affiliate programme launched in 2005 and now operates in 12 markets globally Eve Ireland, Head of Acquisition (Global) for British Airways, is responsible for the affiliate channel as well as search marketing, display media and four agencies; creative and media Neo is BA’s media agency for their global affiliate work as well as regional search and display Our work also encompasses a large attribution project where individual media performance undergoes interrogation for effectiveness and cost efficiency

12. The British Airways Affiliate Programme Programme launch October 2005 Major milestones: Launch Change of commission x3 Removal of incentive traffic Removal of email No paid search APAC launch Europe launch Cross border sales De-duplication

13. Understanding BA’s digital marketing How the team is shaped How many Where What How is affiliate marketing perceived within BA, both in London and in the regions? How has the channel developed since launch and what have the key considerations been? What would you like to see changed in the channel ?

14. Questions We have a few questions for you.... What would get you to sign up to a long-running programme? What raises your interest levels about a programme? What sort of things annoy you about programme changes? What have merchants done well for you?

15. Questions We hope you have a few questions for us.... Has de-duping turned any affiliates off? Are you closed minded about certain affiliate types? What further development plans do you have for the affiliate channel? What are the most significant changes you have made?

16. Further questions and comments