Wayne
Besides this video there was a post by George Michie who was on the panel that is very one sided and looks to be brining up the ppc vs. affiliate marketing issue. As George is a PPC marketer. http://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2008/06/12/irce-affiliate-rant-did-i-go-too-far/

HERE IS MY RESPONSE COMMENT

George
We at MediaTrust are very familiar with and understand the issue at hand. Yes the affiliate industry has had issues with a percentage of affiliates who do not practice or adhere to ethical standards. But there is also the very large very legitimate side of affiliate marketing which has been referenced to in this interview with Patrick Byrne where he says how large and valuable Overstocks affiliate program is to there marketing and growth strategy http://www.relevantlyspeaking.com/2008/06/05/interview-with-overstocks-ceo-patrick-byrne

Its a shame that the panel discussion turned into a affiliate bashing and that the panel was not rounded out with affiliate marketing representation. It does not sound like it was a very objective panel. As is your post here where you apologize and then summarily bash and belittle the substantial $3billion in affiliate commissions as being mostly fraudulently created revenue with out any back up data to prove your statement. Especially when you say it provides no value. Please read the Overstock post and lets also ask why they and Amazon are spending money defending their affiliate program and affiliate partners.

There are many more good people in this marketing vertical than bad. The industry has now formed the PMA http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com to set standards and govern the industry.It is important that all sides of the business participate in the PMA so that we can learn from their insights and provide better accountable service and standards. Aff marketing is not going away. So lets all work together to bring it to a level of excellence. negativity breeds negativity and it seems that everyone wants to create a better affiliate marketing channel.

There are other companies like ours who work extremely hard to ensure quality and empower of advertising and affiliate partners with the best tools and information to achieve success by collaborating and creating long term partnerships.

It is important that thought leaders be responsible in giving well rounded and objective sides of the 3billion plus story and work together with the community to find solutions.That 3 billion number is only commission. So we are talking about enormous gross transactional number that is driving much value to many of the world largest retailers.

I hope you will help create proactive solutions by participating in the PMA. Please excuse me for the length of this post.It is a very important subject for us and our performance marketing industry.

all the best

Peter Bordes
CEO
MediaTrust

Dee the PMA is just forming and you have my word that it will help set up standards across the board for affiliates and the industry. It will also have a unified voice for the community and stand up for the very big and valuable affiliate marketing channel.

certainly, but at the beginning the process is very slow.