Performance Marketers Out and About

November/December 2006 Issue: Page 128

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Warning: Gratuitous Overstock Item Ahead: The boyishly handsome brothers Stephens - J.T. and Clark - have departed the land of Overstock for greener pastures. No word yet on where Clark has landed, but J.T. will continue his work in the affiliate space as director of customer acquisition for SixApart, a San Francisco-based blogging firm. Some say the Stephens brothers departed in disgust at the way the Big O is being operated. And that only super-affiliates (mostly couponers) BHOs, and other point-of-sale attack dogs are rewarded for their efforts - a big oh no! The sibling exodus also follows just months after CEO Patrick Byrne's own father resigned from the Overstock board. That's some happy family.

Speaking of splitsville, industry consultant Jeff Molander and Affiliate Summit cofounder Shawn Collins failed to come to terms about Molander's status as emcee for the January edition of the conference in Las Vegas. Molander, who handled the duties for the Orlando show in July, is out and former CJ senior vice president Lisa Riolo is in. There was some contention between Collins and Molander regarding specific duties and compensation - like too much of one and none of the other. The currently unemployed Riolo is delighted to step up to the podium. Her rider states no green M&Ms in her dressing room and two firefighters must be on hand at all times.

Collins has also parted ways with his client Snapfish. Starting in November Snapfish is no longer working with Collins as its outsourced program manager. The parting was directly on the heels of the HP company winning a CJ's Horizon Award for Greatness for its record-setting growth over the last year, which all happened on Collins' watch. Snapfish is an HP company and will now have its program under the CJ umbrella - just like HP.

I hope that the slip of the tongue at the Horizon Awards ceremony isn't a sign of how SnapFish will be treated by CJ - especially since the award presenter called the winner's name "Snap$hit" - sort of a combination of snapshot and the company's actual moniker. Was it a Freudian slip? An inside joke at CJ? Too many drinks before heading to the podium? Let's hope it was simply nerves. Ironically, one of the nonsnappish SnapFish folks claims it's not the first time someone publicly referred to the company by that very same name.

A slip of the tongue won't necessarily hurt your business, but other slips might. A couple of months ago you couldn't swing a dead cat (sorry PETA) without hitting a new CPA firm (sorry Asmoogle) but some are wondering if there is a slight halt to the ad network activity. In September AzoogleAds let go of 16 employees in its Toronto office, which is considered the company's headquarters. A posting on the WickedFire forum from Azoogle co-founder Alex Zhardanovsky said the layoffs had nothing to do with the CPA industry slowing down. He claimed Azoogle is "growing like a weed." The company has about 140 workers and attributed the reduction to getting rid of redundancies and the lowest performers. Zhardanovsky says, "this round of spring cleaning won't really affect affiliates at all, as the affiliate group is only growing; in fact, it's nearly twice bigger today than it was six months ago." Not sure about you, but I spring clean in spring, not September right before I have to make my year-end numbers or possibly deal with a company acquired in the San Francisco area. Azoogle must really be neat freaks since they just cleaned house in August.

Talk about hedging your bets. When it came to the gambling and casino conference held in, Las Vegas in September, there were plenty of no-shows. The big bust of two top executives at online casino sites put a heap of fear into those attendees flying into the U.S. for the event. Many, instead, decided to stay tucked away on whatever insanely gorgeous island they reside on and count their piles of money. Sin City is only for suckers and bachelorette parties.

Then on September 30, Congress passed the Safe Port Act to shut down online gambling in the United States. That move has scared the begeezus out of a number of online gambling sites including 888.com and PartyPartners.com, which are both reportedly pondering eliminating their U.S.-based affiliate programs.

In an email to its PartyPartners.com affiliates, the company addressed the act's impact on its business and affiliates.

"We no longer recognize U.S. customers as real money players for our gambling services.

This means that with immediate effect, there will be no per-signup plan revenues accrued for new players from the United States. Percentage Plan revenues from U.S. customers will continue until the point those customers are unable to play for real, i.e., until the legislation becomes law.

The company goes on to state, "By remaining a part of PartyPartners, you will continue to enjoy the benefits of PartyGaming's aggressive brand marketing strategy in non-U.S. markets."

Send me some hot industry gossip or juicy information. If I use your tip in the next column, I'll send you a Revenue T-shirt. Email me at TheSpider@RevenueToday.com or call the hotline directly at 415-732-7456.

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