Let me preface this post by stating that I do not have direct experience in brand marketing nor do I have an MBA in marketing...
OK, now that that is off my chest, I wanted to share a couple thoughts I experienced while preparing for Affiliate Summit West, talking with people at Affiliate Summit, and just walking around the exhibit hall for the better half of 48 hours.
*The greatest thing that www.affiliatesummit.com has done (at least for the past 2 shows in Las Vegas) is show a listing of the companies that will be attending, or have at least registered for the show. They do not break out which companies purchased full conference passes or just exhibit hall passes, but it's safe to say that most likely the pure affiliates and the direct merchants made up a higher percentage of full conference users. Now we all wish we could get more information about the specific people from these companies were going to attend, maybe even throwing out teasers of their titles, but I realize that if their site just listed names, emails and/or phone numbers, that A.F.W. would not have gotten to 2,079 attendees.
*I wish I could have walked up to each and every person from the conference, and stared at their badge (to get their name, company, and whether they were flagged as a merchant, affiliate, network, or whatever the 4th and 5th categories were). Implementing that strategy may have been used by several people at the show, but I can only imagine the look on many peoples' faces if someone is constantly looking around the stomach area searching for a name and company name. If you are attractive co-ed and some hungover sales guy from ad network X, Y, or Z is not looking above the neck-line, isn't that a little more than plain ol' awkward?
*The social networking component to the AffiliateSummit.com website is a great start, but I realized after logging on for the first time, there were 2 or 3 users who seemed to take advantage of that by trying to be "friends" with everyone that was going to attend. I do not recall the company that did this, but I think I only ended up being connected to Shawn Collins and my co-workers who were also in attendance at the event.
*The greatest compliment (I think) that I received is when I would walk by a booth in the exhibit hall and in talking with ad network X, Y or merchant B, C, or D and the man or woman "manning" the booth would say..."oh, you're from motive? There's a lot of people here from Motive and I've already talked with others from your company." The reality is that there were only 3 of us at the show, but we made a point to talk with anyone where we saw an opportunity with working together, whether as an advertiser or a publisher.
*Does anyone remember the name of the company that sponsored the white notepads placed on all the chairs for the keynote address and the -- what did Shawn and Missy call them...Affiliate Classrooms? First one to respond to me with the correct answer wins a lift ticket to Heavenly or Kirkwood, provided you come to our office and meet with us in person. We are located right across from the Edgewood golf course in Tahoe, so I have to assume it won't be too difficult to twist your respective arms and getting up to see us.
*Back to my initial comment about not being a marketer and not coming up with corporate names, but it would be really nice if one could somewhat determine what you do instead of making me try www.yourcompanydoeswhat.com in addition to doing a google search for "yourcompany". I definitely know what LowerMyBills does but the same cannot be said for at least half of the companies that registered for the conference.
*For next year's AFW 2008, can the conference please please start on a Monday or Tuesday and not on a Sunday? I looked on Expedia and there are several rooms available at the Hard Rock Hotel, Hooter's, and other venues that - let's be honest - are easy on the eyes. Or how about a non-smoking venue, but that probably wouldn't appease all the folks from New York and other smoker-friendly towns.
In closing, I cannot wait to attend Miami in July, but if some minor changes could be implemented to make it easier to get in front of the die-hard affiliates, they are the true cult icons and the reason for conferences like Affiliate Summit.
Well, I have to get back to writing TPS reports with cover sheets and attending meetings with The Bobs.
Scott Pannier - Director of Media - Motive Interactive - www.motiveinteractive.com - http://degrees.educationsearch.net
