and European PI live broadcast Just around the corner I had the chance to talk to Nick FletcherSenior Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Rakuten Advertising.
I wanted to learn more about the network’s Affiliate Intelligence program and what Fletcher is most looking forward to at PI LIVE this year.
You can read our conversation below, or just scroll down to watch.
Saul Wilkinson: First of all, I would like to say that it is great to have Rakuten Advertising as a major sponsor again this year. Why did you decide to sponsor PI LIVE Europe again?
Nick Fletcher: Well, to be honest, for us, we think it’s this The biggest event in the field of performance marketing is of course in Europe. It’s the perfect blend of what’s important to our business. The content is great – you have a choice of different speakers and panelists from all areas of the industry. You have networks, agencies, technology partners, publishers, advertisers – it’s a good mix.
We also work on building networks, which is a very important part of the affiliate industry and the business as a whole. The event fosters that environment and (encourages) those open conversations. That’s very valuable to us and we think it’s a great return on investment for our marketing investment.
SW: You’ll be talking a lot about artificial intelligence at this year’s booth, but it’s not the artificial intelligence that people expect. This is additional information. Can you explain what that is?
NF: Yeah, so it’s closely related to artificial intelligence – like artificial intelligence – but for us, affiliate intelligence really encapsulates what we see as the future of affiliate marketing.
From what we’ve seen, we have more transaction data on our platform than any other network in the world. This gives us a wealth of data and we believe data is really at the heart of what the industry should be doing. It powers insights and analytics, and it’s absolutely at the heart of the entire industry.
For many years, we have had a dedicated advanced analytics team who are data wizards but also customer-facing. Their job is not only to understand the data, but to explain and visualize it to our advertisers and publishers.
As artificial intelligence emerged and exploded, we began incorporating it into our product roadmaps. Affiliate Intelligence is our data-first approach to affiliate marketing, in which artificial intelligence plays a big role. Dex
We are also lucky to have Rakuten Inc. as our parent company because of their strategic partnership with OpenAI. This gives us significant advantages in integrating artificial intelligence into our business.
When you combine this partnership with the data we have around the world, it creates some really exciting products and insights. Affiliate Intelligence reflects our vision for where the affiliate marketing industry is headed and our direction as an affiliate network.
SW: One thing that stood out to me on the site was the mention of the affiliate conversion journey, which “looks beyond the last click.” Can you explain what that is?
NF: Yes, it’s all about understanding the user’s journey and how they interact with affiliate marketing before making a purchase. We’ve been at the forefront of this for some time.
About a decade ago, Rakuten acquired DC Storm, the UK’s largest independent attribution provider. They work with major blue-chip brands to help them understand their customer journey, and that legacy still lives on in our business.
That’s what drives reports like the Consumer Journey Report that you mentioned. It’s about understanding the role affiliate marketing plays in the entire consumer journey. Now, it used to be that affiliate marketing was purely a lower funnel, conversion, or new customer acquisition channel. I think this is an important part of affiliate marketing. But that’s not the only thing it can do.
We’re seeing more and more advertisers recognizing the value that affiliate marketing can bring throughout the entire buying funnel. By working with publishers that target different stages of consumers, they see results beyond just the last click. Our advertisers want to understand where each publisher is engaging with customers and what value each publisher brings to the table beyond just the last click. So, it’s about answering these kinds of questions.
SW: So, is this about getting more data on how affiliates are interacting at every stage of the customer journey?
NF: That’s right. It’s about taking that data and then visualizing it in a way that both our advertisers and publishers can understand. Ultimately, we believe that the more data we can provide our collaborators, the better decisions they can make.
The Conversion Journey Report is part of a section of our platform called the Insights and Analytics Portal, which pulls large amounts of data from our global network and visualizes it in different ways. There’s conversion journey analytics, but we also do things like forecasting. Our data science team builds models that help advertisers understand what will happen if they change their budgets—whether that’s investing more, spending less, or shifting spend to different areas. This isn’t just speculation; It’s based on the billions of dollars worth of deals we see every year.
SW: Awesome. I’d like to know more about how Rakuten Advertising will help brands and affiliates in the fourth quarter of this year?
NF: Yeah, so, the fourth quarter is getting more complicated. This week you experienced events like Prime Day. I know this is an Amazon initiative, but many retailers are now using this as a sale date as well. Have you participated in Germany’s Glam Shopping Week or World Mental Health Day promotions. It’s not just Cyber Weekend anymore; This is actually a promotional period that starts in the fourth quarter and lasts until the end of the year, with different regions having their own key dates.
For us, it’s divided into two parts: active and passive. The proactive part is planning for those key dates and working with our publishers and advertisers to understand what promotions they want to run. Many of the plans were completed months ago and have been incorporated into the plans.
Then there’s the passive side – advertisers and publishers constantly monitor their performance, adjusting their promotions as needed, pulling back some and pushing others forward. They want us to help them react, which means providing them with real-time data so they can make quick decisions during critical promotion periods. That’s where we step in, providing insights and recommendations based on what we’re seeing in real time.
So, yeah, it’s a crazy time. This is a time that requires everyone to work together. You need to communicate extremely well with publishers, advertisers, and internal colleagues. It’s a very big team effort and it takes a lot of hard work, but when you do it right it pays off because it’s a critical time in retail.
Southern Weekend: Of course. Especially for the affiliate channel as most of this period is based on discounts, offers, deals and promotions. Alliance members play an important role this time of year.
NF: Yeah, totally agree with that. As we said before, the affiliate channel is no longer a lower-funnel marketing channel. There is a brand awareness aspect to this. But it’s still very, very good at converting customers and driving them to make a purchase.
When you’re competing for every pound, dollar or euro in a consumer’s wallet, having a channel like affiliate marketing with ROI and high responsiveness is really powerful.
We see a lot of advertisers relying on affiliate marketing for Q4 success because it gives them the flexibility to respond to what’s happening in real time. Therefore, this is definitely a key channel for year-end promotion.
SW: Yeah, it’s great that the league has had some pretty big wins recently as we enter a very busy period of the year. The ICO recently updated information regarding affiliate tracking, specifically cashback cookies. What are your thoughts on this? How will Rakuten Advertising support clients with future tracking challenges?
NF: As you said, this is great news for the industry. One of the issues the industry has been debating is cookie consent and GDPR. This specific update relates to the Electronic Privacy Directive (PECR), but GDPR is also relevant. I think the ethos of these directors is to prevent things like building user profiles and behavioral targeting, and affiliates kind of fall into that, even though it usually doesn’t do anything about it. It relies on cookies to track sales
Cashback and loyalty sites are particularly affected by this, where users click in the hope of being tracked so they can receive rewards. The new guidelines for ICOs are a welcome update for issuers in the space. This is not surprising as the French data agency (CNIL) has stated that cashback and loyalty cookies are considered absolutely necessary.
Our job is to educate our publishers and advertisers. Ultimately, it is the advertiser’s decision whether they require these cookies. They are the ones who actually drop the cookies.
But we should draw their attention to this guidance and help them understand how they will implement it if they do want to make some changes later.
We offer different solutions to help our advertisers make exceptions and treat cashback and loyalty rewards cookies as strictly necessary if they wish, and this is a discussion we have with them on a case-by-case basis.
SW: PI LIVE Europe is coming soon. What are you most looking forward to?
NF: Probably my group, you won’t be surprised to know. (Laughs) It’s not just that I like the sound of my voice. I’m really lucky that the panel is a good mix – advertisers from Superdrug and Oliver Bonas, and on the other side of the fence we have List and Customer First Digital.
I had some initial conversations with them and the insights they brought were very interesting for everyone in attendance. They are very open to current industry challenges and opportunities, so this should be very interesting. The panel discussion is on Tuesday at 10:20, and I encourage everyone to attend.
Other than that, I’m just looking forward to networking, talking to as many people as possible, and absorbing as much content as possible. It’s going to be a crazy few days, but I’m really looking forward to it.
SW: Last question – what can we expect from Rakuten Advertising in 2025 – if you can confirm this?
NF: Well, as I mentioned before, alliance intelligence is a big focus for us and will continue to be key in 2025. We will double down on how data and technology can drive the industry forward.
Relationships are still at the heart of affiliate marketing, but data and artificial intelligence can help enhance this.
Our product roadmap will leverage the global data we have, build many features around AI, and remove some of the heavy lifting and guesswork that advertisers and publishers go through every day. This will free them up to make more strategic decisions about how to grow their affiliate program, ultimately building their confidence to expand the program.
We’ll also continue to build on what we’ve already discussed and expand the awareness of affiliate marketing so that it’s not just a lower-funnel marketing channel, but something that truly impacts consumers throughout the entire conversion process.
If you haven’t got your tickets for PI LIVE Europe next week yet, Go to the website Secure one of the remaining passes now.