LinkShare Symposium West 2010

Event Wrap Up

LinkShare held its largest event ever in San Francisco when over 350 managers and executives from the world’s leading and emerging e-commerce companies attended LinkShare Symposium West 2010 at the iconic Palace Hotel. A combination of networking and learning, this year’s event enabled Advertisers and Publishers to discover trends and opportunities to drive revenue and strengthen profitable partnerships in 2010 and beyond.

LinkShare University

First, the day prior Symposium West, there was LinkShare University.  Over 25 Advertisers participated in a full day of best practice sessions designed to help affiliate program managers increase revenue while understanding the needs of Publishers. What better way than with hands on training combined with lively panel discussions with Publishers. Based on great reviews, you'll be seeing a lot more LinkShare University learing opportunities at future LinkShare Symposium events.

A welcome reception kicked things off on Wednesday evening in the Gold Ballroom of the historic Palace Hotel. Attendees arrived early and stayed late as they kicked off their networking activities and set the tone for next day’s main event. It was the perfect way to help Advertisers and Publishers kick-start their conversations, meet key contacts, and generate ideas on how to maximize their networking time.

Thursday morning’s events began with opening remarks from Yaz Iida, Chief Executive Officer of LinkShare. Yaz welcomed the audience and spoke about the infinite partnership opportunities that the LinkShare Network provides Advertisers including non-traditional Publishers that have unique business models.  Companies cited included Skava, Permuto, CitizenHawk, PowerReviews, Tell-A-Pal, and ZTail.  Yaz also welcomed the Golden Newbies - those attending Symposium West for the first time.

The audience then heard from Jonathan Levine, Chief Operating Officer of LinkShare who re-capped highlights of 2009 – including new Deep Linking tools, an updated Content Spider, and a new Coupon Web Service – and then roused the crowd further with a shout-out to innovative Publishers that drive new revenue opportunities including examples like Stylefeeder and Skimlinks. A rapt audience also heard from Rakuten CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, as he reviewed the phenomenal success of Rakuten's business in Japan and how that success can translate to opportunity for LinkShare Advertisers with solutions such as Borderless eCommerce.

The first keynote speaker of the day was Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org. Scott covered new twists on existing topics that are forcing online retailers to continually adjust their strategies including social networking, Apple’s iPhone, and how cross-channel marketing strategies are garnering more attention from marketing executives. Scott received numerous questions about these trends as it became clear that growth opportunities abound in the dynamic, competitive marketplace of online retail.

Next up was a keynote session on Open Brands, led by Joey Shepp, founder of Earthsite.net.  In this packed session the audience learned how leading and emerging brands are using Twitter and other social networking applications to spark new conve

rsations directly with consumers and how these tools can be used to achieve a variety of marketing objectives. In a vibrant Q&A session the audience asked questions about best practices, ROI and how the Affiliate Channel can be part of Open Brand strategies.

After lunch Scott Allan, Director of Marketing for LinkShare, lead a panel discussion on Mobile Commerce. The panel included ShopNBC along with three Publishers (Skava, Ping Mobile, and Adlocal) who discussed what they have learned in their efforts develop a Mobile Commerce strategy.  The topics covered included the definition of Mobile Commerce (application vs. Website), technologies and business models, the shopping experience, conversion rates, and the role that Affiliate Marketing and the LinkShare Network can play in Mobile Commerce strategies.  Panelists offered advice on everything from selecting technology partners to getting the user experience right to how the LinkShare Network can help Publishers and Advertisers get their Mobile Commerce strategies started today.

One of the highlights of LinkShare Symposium West is always the DealMaker networking session. DealMaker offers a rare opportunity for Publishers and Advertisers to meet face-to-face, discuss plans and opportunities for 2010 and help strengthen existing business relationships to drive more revenue.  The DealMaker room was packed with more tables then ever as attendees spent three hours meeting new contacts and getting reacquainted with their peers. Advertisers benefit from meeting face-to-face with Publishers to understand the value of their Websites and their business models.  For many Publishers, Dealmaker represents an opportunity to meet Advertisers in person for the first time and convey to them why they can be a valuable asset in helping them reach their online objectives.

A special thanks to all of our sponsors for making LinkShare Symposium West 2010
a great success!

   

DealMakers In Action