In a nutshell the bill would allow the US Department of Justice and copyright holders to seek court orders against websites accused of facilitating copyright infringement. This could bar online advertising networks from doing business with the websites in question. Supporters of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and industries; whilst opponents, such as Wikipedia, claim it’s a violation of the first amendment and freedom of speech.

So what does this mean for sites such as Wikipedia? Well if we take the site under the label of internet search engine, it could be forced under the new legislation to remove links to hundreds of sites deemed “infringing” of the new laws. Then it would mean trawling through thousands of links every time one site is deemed an infringement of the new law. Smaller, free knowledge sites may not have the resources to undertake such a task and could be forced to shut down entirely. 

 The structure of the internet is fantastic and revered because of these smaller sites and because everyone has a voice – and don’t forget, some of the larger sites with teams that can handle this were once small teams.  The internet could be a very different place if this becomes legal. It will be interesting to see if today’s events have any bearing on the legislation being passed, whether Wikipedia will get their message across will remain to be seen.

I think that this law could have huge, detrimental impact.  Whereby piracy is a huge issue within the online world, I don’t see how this is the answer.  There’s a huge lack of knowledge behind the legislation and it’s our job, those of us who are employed in the online world I mean, to ensure people are educated and understand the inner workings of one of the largest sectors of society.  I’m sure there are similar concerns within UK government and discussions on how to attack online piracy, and if this is passed in the US it may only be a matter of time until we’re hearing similar murmurs.

CJ: Where are you from?
KH: I’m from Durban, born and bred.

CJ: What did you do before CJ?
KH: I worked in finance for a company called VATit. I enjoyed my time there and made good contacts but I felt it was time for a change.

CJ: What are your impressions of CJ so far?
KH: Great! I already feel like I fit in and I’ve learnt a lot in the few days I have been here.

CJ: What do you think about affiliate marketing?
KH: I think it’s a great industry to be in, lots of exciting developments, I’m looking forward to it.

CJ: Where was your most recent holiday?
KH: That was to ‘The Berg’ (CJ: We are guessing Johannesburg Kegan?) for a family golf weekend. What made it even sweeter was winning and having the bragging rights for next year (it’s a pretty big thing in our family).

CJ: What did you want to be when you grew up?
KH: As far back as I can remember I wanted to be a professional cricket player.

Who is your hero/heroine?
KH: My mom! (CJ: Oh Kegan, really?)

CJ: Give us two interesting facts about yourself?
KH: I like to try everything at least once – I’ve been sky diving, so now I can say I’ve been there, got the DVD and WILL NEVER do that again. I am also an only child.

CJ: Very insightful stuff Kegan, good luck trying ‘everything’ at least once and welcome to the CJ team.

The recent CJ Affiliate Summit revealed that consumers are becoming savvier, highlighting a 90% increase in searches for coupons since last year.  Consumer perception is changing as well; gone are the days when you’d be considered the cheap friend for using discount codes or presenting a voucher after dinner.  Brands have recognised this shift and understand the importance of using promotional vouchers.  Sure, some may argue it devalues the brand, but everything is relative.  We know that a luxury brand would not want to use voucher codes, I can’t imagine Ferrari ever taking part in the government scrappage scheme!

A few days ago I read an article in the ‘Telegraph’ about discount vouchers causing marital strife….yes read it again! I shared this with my colleagues and the next thing I know Allanah leaned over and said “Oh my God, it’s true. I shouted at Dane last week for not using loyalty cards for his online purchases”.  It really took me by surprise!

We know how beneficial vouchers and discount codes are and it’s now ingrained in the consumer mind-set.  I certainly have voucher code sites on my radar more than ever before.  It’s become second nature and from the savings I have made over the course of this year I’m definitely a smarter shopper.

All this goes to show that consumer behaviour is changing.  Here at CJ we’re always aware of the latest and greatest technology and developments to ensure we stay ahead of the pack.  We’re fulfilling our publishers’ needs as much as possible and making sure we’re knowledgeable and can answer any questions on all new developments.  I still wonder what’s coming next…

The same goes for publishers.  The more in tune they are with how a brand works, the more they can tailor their site to that brand’s target audience.  Building anything bespoke is going to have more of an impact – you would pay much more for a tailored suit because it looks so much better than an off-the-shelf model.

That’s why we hold publisher days at Commission Junction – it allows publishers and merchants to meet face-to-face and build relationships.  This is beneficial for both parties: publishers can explain how new technologies can be built into merchants affiliate programmes; while merchants have the opportunity to meet smaller publishers who add incremental value to affiliate programmes and could expand and grow, offering increased ROI.

Our CJ management teams ensure our clients know exactly what’s going on in the affiliate space.  We’re always on hand to answer questions from both publishers and merchants.  Communication is vital to us as it helps us build bespoke programmes, tailoring each merchants programme to their target audience and helping deliver increased ROI year on year.  That’s why some of our clients have been with us for over ten years.

We run frequent publisher days for different sectors; we also run bespoke publisher days for merchants.

If you are a merchant and would like to arrange a ‘get to know me day’ then please contact your CJ account manager

Several member of our team took the train down to Plymouth on Friday 20th August for a lovely summer BBQ on the English coast for Existem’s Annual Affiliate BBQ. The event provided plenty of networking with a mix of people from the affiliate industry and proved to be a success for Existem through the amount of attendees who turned up and the money raised for charity. The event went well into the early hours and I’m sure the CJ members who went were glad it was the start of the weekend the next day, to nurse their heads.

Last week we sponsored the A4U Roadshow in Dublin and are sponsoring the Roadshow in Bristol tomorrow, where A4U will be teaming up with IAB. Dipa Shah (Account Director) and Sam Richards (Sales Director) are attending this and Sam Richards will be speaking at the IAB speaker panel.

On the A4U front, we have also just signed a sponsor for the A4U Expo in London on the 12th and 13th of October, which will be our 4th year running of sponsoring them. Dan Powel our Solutions and Operations Director will also be speaking twice at the event and Valueclick’s European CEO Carl White is hosting a panel on the future of online marketing. This will be an event not worth missing!

So follow the link above to be in with a chance of getting your hands on these highly sought after prizes, thanks to the generous people at PriceRunner.

Click here to be re-directed to the PriceRunner Facebook Page.

They are looking for a Marketing Manager with experience in multiple channels to look after all online marketing communications, manage acquisition and retention and develop marketing strategies.

If you know anyone or are interested in hearing more then please email hr.uk@valueclick.com

For starters (and the sake of clarity), it is against our network rules for publishers to drop click cookies without a user initiated action; in short, force clicks.  In many cases, forced clicks can cause a poor user experience.  In my opinion, it almost always leads to the overwriting of other affiliate’s cookies.  With that in mind, how is PI/PV different?

PI/PV, if done right, does not force a click cookie.  But a cookie is dropped on the impression.  The impression cookie can help reward action that might not be otherwise credited.  This could be of particular concern to content sites or other models at the top of the click stream funnel.

That might sound ok at face value, but what happens when the impression cookie runs into the click cookie from another publisher?  For CJ, its simple, the click cookie would win.  The impression cookie is there to make sure the merchant is taking advantage of all the gaps that normal click based transaction correlation might miss, not create duplication of payouts or overwritten click cookies.

Why would merchants want to do this?  As many PI/PV publishers buy on large portal sites and other tier one websites, the merchant gets access to spare inventory without having to pay tenancy or CPM rates; they only have to pay if a sale happens (and that sale happens in the absence of competing click cookies).  Also, in many cases the PI/PV publishers will accept a lower payout to run a campaign in this manner, although that depends on the agreed commercials for each party.

The debate around the value of PI/PV will not go away overnight and could become more controversial if approached inappropriately.   If done right, it provides advertisers with additional inventory at a new payment metric.  It also provides publishers with opportunity to monetise unsold inventory.

Finally, as a network we’ve developed the technology to do this fairly and with scale.  If you are interested in how it could work, please drop us a line.

Daniel Powel.
dpowel@cj.com

The role is newly-created and so presents lots of opportunity to take ownership, get creative and take responsibility for driving SEM to a new level. It’s a senior role so we are looking for someone with significant SEM experience, with an eye for detail. Initially it will be fairly hands-on but in time you will be building a team to support you.

You (or if it isn’t you then maybe someone you know) would be based in the ValueClick offices in Putney.

There is a lot more detail about the role on this linkedin page.  If you are interested or know someone who would be suitable then please pass this on. For more information email hr.uk@valueclick.com

From the start Munich promised to be an excellent venue for the event and was very convenient for CJ as this is the home of our German operations. With the turnout expected to exceed last year’s event in Amsterdam, it was with high expectations that the CJ team headed for the airport.

From the CJ UK team Florian, Sam, Ross, Tom and myself were set to attend however Eyjafjallajokull got going again, wreaking minor havoc on some travels and one traveller, Sam Richards our Sales Director, couldn’t make it.

The rest of us got there in one piece though – Ross and Tom were there to lend a hand with the Argos stand and Florian and I were going to be doing the normal networking and meeting preparation.

Munich, of course, didn’t disappoint but even better the venue was excellent. The Hilton Park was centrally-located, had all the amenities and provided excellent conferencing and breakout facilities (by breakout I mean the bar). The food and drink provided were excellent and kept the delegates fuelled for the long days of networking and presentations. Sadly the weather was not very good; so long business walks in the English Gardens were not on the agenda for most.

Volcanoes and weather aside there was a cracking agenda of 35 seminars to attend and 700 delegates to meet.

Of the sessions I attended, the session on the pending EU cookie legislation was particularly interesting. Simon Zorbas, VP of IAB Europe, was obviously very knowledgeable on the subject and made it very clear what is needed by everyone in the room to make sure it isn’t ratified by the national govenments. Some markets are in a much better position in terms of interpretation, but the net result will still be detrimental for all of us.

Another popular seminar was ‘Analysing and Increasing Organic Search’ by David Naylor. I attended David’s talk in London and once again this one was jam packed, followed by a robust question and answer session. With the way the natural search landscape changes, I have a feeling that David could do this for twice a year for years to come.

The exhibition hall was alternatively very busy or like a ghost town during sessions. For that reason the guys from CJ and Argos tag-teamed the stand to allow for session attendance.

Although our CJ stand was great as usual I have to say that neo@ogilvy had the winner with their Guitar Hero competition which was certainly a popular choice with many sore heads on day two of the Expo. Personally I found the free guitar picks worthy of note!

Instead of the Breakout Party (which from all reports sounded like a massive raucous party!) the CJ UK team and some of our clients went for a wander round Munich where we found plenty of good times. Ross Carder in particular made a new friend:

After we all had our fill of pork knuckle and beer it was time to sadly head on home. Hopefully the A4U guys will manage to top this next year as Munich was a great host city, the venue was fantastic and the sessions were excellent. Until next year……