Never Mind the Bullocks

November/December 2007 Issue: Page 104

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Affiliate anarchy in the U.K.? Denton departing? Who got schooled at CJU? So many questions, so little time.

The fall was a blur of conferences, events, parties, meetings and more damn meetings. Work be damned. I just want to have fun. Too bad that attitude doesn't pay the bills or support my lavish tastes.

I may need some serious help with my addiction to online marketing events. For those that need help with their online business (or maybe just a history lesson), super-affiliates Jeremy Palmer and Vinny Lingham are teaming up to write a book (with the help of the community via a wiki) focusing on the evolution of the online marketing industry. Called Clicks to Customers, the book is due out next year. Interesting that Lingham's company is called Clicks2Customers. Coincidence? Lingham says no. I say, come on.

Seriously though, I hope the book makes a huge splash. Maybe they'll launch with a pool party? I hear Jeremy Palmer is a fan of late-night swimming and that he was among the throng of 25 or so folks to jump into the Fess Parker hotel pool wearing their skivvies during CJU. This aquatic frolicking occurred well past the posted hours of pool politeness. The group had just returned from a late night of carousing at Santa Barbara hot spots before deciding to take a dip. Everyone fled when security showed up for the second – or maybe the third – time, and started snapping pictures.

The paparazzi were out in full force in Santa Barbara during CJU. I'm sorry I missed all the fun due to family festivities. But my sources say CJU was, as always, a classy and schmooztastic event. The only complaint – downtown SB, most of the fancier hotels and the Santa Barbara airport were all lousy with celebs and politicos attending Oprah's fund-raiser bash for Barack Obama over the weekend.

The Queen of Daytime TV reportedly tried to get all of her VIP guests booked into the Fess Parker, but a procession of planned nuptials and the capacity CJU event put the kibosh on O's plans. As America's richest woman, Oprah could have bought the hotel and CJ, and maybe even ValueClick for that matter. Now that's an idea, since ValueClick is reportedly a good acquisition target. After all, who's more of a marketing machine than Oprah?

While we're on the subject of queens, London was teaming with affiliates this fall as two conferences took place. I only made it to Affiliate Summit in late September and not A4Uexpo in October. It was an enlightening event, but there are only so many pints, greasy (yet yummy) orders of fish and chips, and bangers that I can handle before my doc has to start traveling as part of a growing entourage.

Jess Luthi, who runs AffiliateProgram- Advice.com, partnered with Affiliate Summit co-founders Shawn Collins and Missy Ward, to help organize the London show, but she refused to participate as a speaker or moderator at the event, citing an overwhelming fear of public speaking. Understandable, since many people, including yours truly, have the same phobia/ fear/panic-inducing problem – whatever. However, it was slightly shocking to find out that Luthi is listed as a speaker at rival affiliate show A4Uexpo, where she wasn't even a partner.

Is LinkShare head honcho Steve Denton also dissing Affiliate Summit? He bowed out of speaking in January for family reasons and didn't come to the Affiliate Summit in the U.K. However, he also spoke at A4Uexpo.

Perhaps El Denton was elsewhere during the Summit. Like house hunting in Boston. Over the last several months the rumors have been flying fast and furious that Denton is departing the Big Apple for Beantown. Admittedly, most of these reports are vague and nobody claims that he's leaving LinkShare. In fact, Rakuten, LinkShare's parent company, along with Rakuten USA President John Kim, are headquartered in Boston.

Melissa Salas, the director of marketing at Buy.com, knows a little something about moving. Over a year ago, she took Buy.com's very successful affiliate program to Commission Junction from LinkShare. But recently Melissa wasn't pleased that she needed to deal with third-party company ToldYa to set up her video widget (so that affiliates could plug in their CJ publishers IDs). None of the big networks have done much to help merchants and affiliates get into video. The race is on and the first network to do so might just move to the top.

Some top dogs at KowaBunga are leaving. Rachel Honoway, VP of sales and marketing, went to Affiliate Classroom. Theresa Farmer, sales director and KowaBunga co-owner (with hubby Todd Farmer), took a job with UnsubCentral. All this, immediately following the Farmers' move from Ohio to Florida, so the KowaBunga operation could be closer to the ThinkPartnership mother ship.

Okay, now let's talk about the good ship OverStock. In a delightful twist of irony, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, whom you may recall is being investigated by the SEC for "irregular actions," has been called out regularly in a blog written by Sam Antar. You also may remember that Antar, the former CFO of Crazy Eddie, is a convicted felon. Hello Pot, meet Kettle.

In October, Antar started his blog that examines white-collar fraud. While I'm no Antar fan, he and I are on the same page about some things. Here's a quote from one of his blog entries: "Throughout its entire operating history, Overstock.com has continually raised capital, burned cash, and continued to lose money while Patrick Byrne sells people hope. We need to ask: Is Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, delusional, deceitful, or just plain dumb?"

Now don't you play dumb with me. Send me some news or maybe some top-secret information or just a juicy helping of gossip. If you do, I'll send you a Revenue T-shirt for your tidbit. Email me at TheSpider@RevenueToday.com, or call the hotline directly at 415-732-7456.

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Tags: Jeremy Palmer, Vinny Lingham, CJU, Valueclick, Clicks2Customers, Jess Luthi, AffiliateProgramAdvice.com, Steve Denton, LinkShare, Melissa Salas, Buy.com, Rachel Honoway, KowaBunga, Affiliate Classroom, Overstock, Patrick Byrne, Sam Antar,

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