Advertise Purple Attends Rakuten Advertising’s Deal Maker Conference and Golden Link Awards

This past week our team had the opportunity to attend Deal Maker USA and the Golden Link Awards, hosted by our trusted partner Rakuten Advertising. The summit brought together the best in affiliate advertisers, publishers, and agencies to connect and learn from peers and leaders in the industry, and to celebrate each other’s accomplishments this past year. 

The week started off with the Golden Link Awards which doled out dozens of awards to publishers and advertisers with outstanding work in affiliate marketing, highlighting the best strategy, collaborations, and performance across the board. The advertiser and publisher of the year awards are voted on by the Rakuten Affiliate Network community. Candidates for other awards go through a rigorous review process by a committee of dedicated and adept marketing professionals. This year we were nominated for OPM of the year, a distinction celebrating prominent affiliate management agencies using technology and strategy to deliver incredible results to their clients.

After a great night celebrating with industry peers, we were ready to get back into work mode and absorb everything the keynote speakers had to offer. These sessions kicked off with a panel from Google on how to incorporate AI in your business to drive performance and develop marketing strategy. On the last day, the content ramped up, with discussions on cross-channel targeting, targeting without cookies, affiliate trends, the influencer funnel, creating successful partnerships, and how to take your company global.

Each session we were on the edge of our seats, but what we found most valuable were all the opportunities to connect with other members of the Rakuten Affiliate Network, to foster new relationships and rekindle old flames. In the words of our GM, Carlos Chilin, “Deal Maker is always one of the most anticipated network events of the year for us – and again it did not disappoint. This year we were able to meet with dozens of affiliate/publisher partners and talk about strategies to grow our clients’ programs. It is always great to see enthusiasm in the industry for e-commerce and the new technologies and strategies to help drive growth.”

Rakuten has done an incredible job at creating a community of elite affiliates and advertisers. The attendees represented nearly half of the revenue for affiliate advertising and publishers boasted an average revenue growth over 4.3% (Rakuten). Jonathan Moisan, Advertise Purple CFO, remarked on the importance of attending industry conferences like Deal Maker, “Having all the top publishers from around the globe in one place and being able to continue to expand our relationships with them is invaluable. Rakuten continues to be an extremely important partner of ours and it is an honor to have once again been named finalist for OPM of the year and to be on their short list of Platinum Agency Partners.”

As we pack our bags and head back to the office, we’re coming back motivated to push boundaries and make strides in the industry. We have newfound inspiration and strategies to drive growth for our partners in today’s marketplace. Our goal as an agency is to build success through creating successful partnerships and helping our clients see incomparable returns through the affiliate channels. And after this past week’s full immersion in the industry and sharing of ideas, we can’t wait to incorporate our takeaways into top-tier campaigns for our clients.