In a week’s time we will be opening our doors to the show and affiliate marketing community at PI LIVE Europe and CJ will be joining us as Head Sponsor.
Back at CJU24, I caught up with Linda O’Connell, CJ’s senior vice president of UK and Ireland, to find out more about the network’s programming plans for this year, their involvement in the Digital Disruptors program, and whether the data is actually all it turns out to be.
Below is a transcript of our conversation and you can find the video at the bottom.
Sol Wilkinson: Hey, we’re here at CJU 2024 in sunny Santa Barbara, California. I’m with Linda O’Connell from CJ. First off, how has it been for you to find CJU so far this year?
Linda O’Connell: Well, that’s great. CJU has to be one of my favorite events. Apparently, you can’t beat the beauty of the sunshine in sunny Santa Barbara. I’m hosting a really cool event. It’s great to have all our advertisers, publishers, agencies, partners here together. Lots of great speaking courses, great networking opportunities and always lots of fun in the sun.
SW: Yeah, I enjoyed every second of it. Another upcoming event that I’m looking forward to is PI LIVE Europe in London, which you will also be participating in. Why did CJ choose to be the headline sponsor this year?
LOC: PI LIVE Europe is another one of my favorite events. CJ has been a major sponsor of PI LIVE for many years. As I always say, the foundation of our industry is partnership. In order to really do this, you need to be there in person and meet and make connections.
PI LIVE is always a great event and you can provide such an environment. Additionally, there are great speaking opportunities. I know we have a session on the main stage on the first day that I’m really looking forward to, but also hearing about different industry topics and voices from different angles.
There is always a lot to learn and learn from. The turnout is always great and everyone involved is great.
SW: Is there anything in particular that excites you about this year’s show?
LOC: Yes, it looks like a great agenda and I’m excited about the CJ session on the main stage on day one (Tuesday 22nd from 12:00 to 12:30pm).
We were talking about the importance of leveraging first-party data, which is obviously very important for brands – this was brought up at CJU (during our keynote).
Our theme for CJU this year is Amplify Beyond, but it also focuses on the importance of data to brands and publishers. So, I was excited about that meeting. There are a lot of other speaking conferences coming up, so I’m excited to hear some of them.
SW: For me, the biggest takeaway from CJU is the importance of data. I attended a very interesting session this afternoon about the media mix model and how if affiliates can really clean up their data, they will start to see better results and growth (compared to all other channels that receive budgets) .
But I do wonder, is too much data sometimes a bad thing? Could you get a little lost in the weeds of analysis instead of getting out there and taking action regardless? Or do you think you should always use data to guide your decisions?
LOC: Data is absolutely fundamental to any decision – especially strategic decisions.
But to answer your question, would you have too much data; I would say no.
But your data must be of high quality. There is no point in having a lot of data if it is not accurate or real. Clean data is critical. And then, with the media mix modeling session that you mentioned earlier, it’s really about understanding how you interpret the data and what other considerations and variables can influence your decisions about how to analyze and view the data.
SW: Back to PI LIVE Europe. I know CJ has been working on Digital Disruptors this year, which will also be at the show. Can you talk about this?
LOC: Last year, we worked with digital disruptors Tina Judic and Julie York, who are both incredible. Two remarkable women established this project in memory of Nikki McShane.
We were delighted to host approximately 36 young people. They are part of the Hebe Foundation, which helps age groups from disadvantaged areas of London and teaches them all about digital marketing.
CJ had the pleasure of hosting them in our office for a day, which was stressful but very rewarding, making sure they were all in the building and we had a great session on affiliate marketing and influencer marketing.
The group of young people there were absolutely amazing and they participated in many breakout sessions and took on different tasks. So we’re really excited.
They are working on projects and the finalists will present live and then the winner will be announced. It’s a great cause and it’s great for growing our industry from the grassroots up and helping individuals who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to gain this kind of work experience. So, this is a great move.
SW: I watched the Digital Disruptors conference on PI LIVE a few years ago and it was really fun. This was one of the best conferences I have ever attended. It contains huge energy. It’s really creative because young minds; they’re able to come up with very interesting, creative ideas in affiliate marketing, I think because their ideas are so fresh.
Locke: That’s right. marvelous. Even some of the working sessions we had when we hosted these conferences about two weeks ago; how they came up with some extraordinary ideas very quickly and how they really understood it.
It’s really impressive that they can do that at such a young age. This is an encouragement and guarantee for our future. We are safe.
SW: Alliance members are currently safe. Cool, okay, thanks, Linda, my pleasure.
LOC: Thank you and I hope you have a great time at CJU!
Please join us for the Digital Disruptors Final on day two of PI LIVE Europe from 12.30pm to 1.30pm on the main stage.
Haven’t got your tickets yet? Quickly steal one of the remaining passes here.