There are so many loose ends to tie up before taking for Commission Junction University. I’m driving down toward Santa Barbara tomorrow and we are planning lots of stops along the way so I expect to arrive on Saturday. That should be when the affiliate fun starts.

Over the course of three days there are all kinds of events planned but the ones I’m looking forward to the most include a bowling party sponsored by Yahoo, the Affiliate Dinner cocktail get together, CJ’s Horizon Awards and of course, the sessions on Monday and Tuesday.

Overall, I’m hoping to come away with a much deeper look at CJ’s plans over the next 12 months and how that jives with the what’s happening in the I – especially relative to what the other networks are doing. I’m also hoping to get more perspective on the pending litigation against CJ, ValueClick and BeFree by both affiliates and merchants. However, that certainly will not be part of any formal CJ talks or sessions.

Meanwhile, CJ and its parent company, ValueClick, sent out a release on Thursday about their partnership for the 2007 holiday season and using behavioral targeting to drive more sales.

Here’s the text from the release:

ValueClick Behavioral Targeting Gives Online Retailers a Unique Way to Ring in More Holiday Sales

ValueClick Media and Commission Junction Partner for 2007 Holiday User Re-targeting Promotion

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – September 6, 2007 – ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) today launched a behavioral targeting program to help retailers increase online sales from campaigns run on the ValueClick Media display advertising network during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Both ValueClick Media and Commission Junction are making the “Ring in More Holiday Sales” user re-targeting promotion available to their advertiser clients. Advertisers who place a holiday user re-targeting campaign by October 15 are eligible to receive one million run-of-network bonus impressions.

“User re-targeting is the single most effective form of behavioral targeting because it presents your message to individuals who have already expressed interest in your brand,” said David A. Yovanno, general manager of ValueClick Media. “Our extensive network reach and experience serving online retailers provide a unique advantage for any advertiser focused on sales performance, especially during the competitive holiday shopping season.”

User re-targeting allows advertisers to reserve inventory targeted exclusively to consumers who have visited their sites or interacted with their online ad creative. Advertisers simply place ValueClick Media pixel tags on the pages where they want to identify visitor behavior. When those users are identified again on any of the 13,500 sites in the ValueClick Media network, they are served highly customized ads increasing the likelihood of response and conversion.

Campaigns for Commission Junction clients can be optimized across the ValueClick Media network using existing Commission Junction conversion tracking pixels, eliminating the need for additional tracking tags to be placed. Affiliate marketing clients should contact their Commission Junction program manager for more details.

ValueClick Media is one of the few online advertising media properties capable of delivering a behavioral targeting solution on such a massive scale. According to comScore Media Metrix, ValueClick reaches 131 million unique users per month, or 73 percent of the U.S. Internet audience.
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Let me know if you’ll be at CJU. I’d love to say hello or have a drink.