At the glittering a4uAwards ceremony in London this week, 25 companies were celebrated for their achievements in the affiliate marketing channel. Retail brands Debenhams, Best Buy and Red Letter Days were rewarded with an a4uAward. They all showed well-managed and innovative campaign strategies that edged their entries above the impressive shortlist of retailers, including Boots, Matalan, JJB, Tesco, Radley and Argos.
Organisers said that increased investment and scale of adoption by retail brands were clearly evident among entrants and award winners within the Performance Marketing Channel’s annual awards ceremony.
Best Buy’s smart adoption and careful planning resulted in an aggressive launch strategy, one that scooped them the ‘Best New Entrant’ award for 2011.
Department store Debenhams also picked up the highly competitive ‘Best use of Affiliate Marketing as part of a Multi Channel Campaign’ award thanks to their outstanding multi-channel co-ordination, pitching new versus traditional media voucher distribution with impressive ROI.
In front of 700 guests, Red Letter Days picked up the gong for ‘Best Retail Advertiser’ showing a great example of how effective relationship management, communication and awareness of affiliate needs still play a pivotal role in effective retail affiliate programmes. ‘Best Retail Publisher’ went to last year’s four time award winners VoucherCodes.co.uk thanks to their ‘Fashion Focus’ newsletter, delivering incremental value while keeping brand synergy and sensitivity under constant consideration.
Matthew Wood, Founder of the a4uAwards said: “With many other retail brands receiving worthy recognition on our competitive shortlists alongside our winners from the evening, the increase in retailers who have elevated their investment within the Performance Marketing Channel is clear for all to see.
“Smarter execution, transparency and communication were key to the extra marks from the judges, who were very impressed with the overall quality of entries received from older and more recent brands within the sector.”
The a4uAwards have become the ‘oscars’ of the fast-evolving online marketing industry. They were launched in 2007 as part of the a4uexpo Affiliate Marketing conference event. The following year, the awards got their own spotlight and became a separate annual black tie ceremony held at a prestigious London venue. This year’s event, sponsored by 7ThingsMedia was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane on May 17.
www.a4uawards.com
