Running a Network: Business, Legal & Practical

Affiliate Summit West 2010

Running a Network: Business, Legal & PracticalGary KibelPartner, Davis & Gilbert LLP

Mary Beth PadianGlobal Affiliate Manager, Loylogic, Inc.

Adam WeissVice President - Network Development, LinkShare Corporation


Running a Network: Business, Legal & Practical

Mary Beth PadianGlobal Affiliate Manager, Loylogic, Inc.

CASE STUDY – PUBLISHER LOYLOGIC

The Company:• Loylogic is the leading global provider of points ‘earn’ and

‘burn’ solutions to loyalty programs. We help loyalty programs increase member engagement by combining loyalty innovation with state-of-the-art technology and the fastest-growing global merchant network.

http://www.loylogic.com/index.php


The Goal:• To build and launch an international online accrual mall within

3 months for Etihad Airlines and their Etihad Guest loyalty program. The mall must include top merchants and brands for their key markets including UAE, India and Australia.



The Result:• Launched (on-time) an online mall with 5 networks, over 200

merchants, shipping to every country in the world – could not have achieved this goal without affiliate networks.


ADVANTAGES OF NETWORKS

• Speed to Market – Create an online mall with global merchants in

3 months

• Economies of Scale– Easily partner with hundreds of merchants

• Accounting Efficiency – One check per network (vs. one check per merchant)

ADVANTAGES OF NETWORKS

• Single Point of Contact – Publisher development reps help with internal

and external outreach• Country Expertise

– Smaller, local networks offer valuable advice on selling to consumers in specific markets

CHALLENGES OF NETWORKS

• One Size Fits All – Individual publisher needs cannot easily

be met

• Nascent International Capabilities – From flexibility of payment currency to

reporting, all networks are in early to mid stages of being truly global

CHALLENGES OF NETWORKS

• Technical Documentation– In general, needs by Publisher vertical are

very similar; no technical documentation fully addresses each of those needs within a vertical

• Very Little Consistency Across Networks – As publishers work with multiple networks

having certain industry standards across networks would be VERY helpful (data feeds etc.)

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO CHALLENGES

• One Size Fits All – Create toolbox for publishers based on vertical

(loyalty, coupon, content, etc.) that addresses key needs of publishers in these verticals

• Nascent International Capabilities – Add Intl Focus to advisory boards and industry

events to share best practices and highlight needs from int’l publishers

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO CHALLENGES

• Technical Documentation – Create get started documentation/steps for

publishers based on vertical (loyalty, coupon, content etc.) that answers FAQs of new publishers and SHOWS them how to get started

• Very Little Consistency Across Networks – Create industry advisory board (domestic and

international) with reps from ALL networks that focuses on standardizing common publisher products/needs while still keeping competitive edge for advertisers



Gary KibelPartner, Davis & Gilbert [email protected] Twitter @GaryKibel_law

AFFILIATE MARKETING ECOSYSTEM

AFFILIATES/PUBLISHERS

OTHER NETWORKS

REGULATORS

NETWORKS

VENDORS

CONSUMERS MERCHANTS/ADVERTISERS

Gary Kibel, Davis & Gilbert LLP, [email protected], Twitter @GaryKibel_law




• Numerous contracts in play

Network-AffiliateNetwork-MerchantAffiliate-Merchant (special terms)Affiliate-ConsumerConsumer-Merchant

• Pre-checked boxes

“The practice of using pre-checked boxes in an online sales transaction is insidious – simply a way to entrap unwary consumers who don’t read the tiny print of dense disclosures or click through every available link on the site – and perhaps it should be considered inherently deceptive and unfair” FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director David Vladeck (October 5, 2009)


• Key contractual issues:

Responsibilities

Indemnification

Limitations of Liability

Jurisdiction


• Network operator liability

Communications Decency Act

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

Designed to protect “information service providers,” not “information content providers”


Todd Hollis v. www.dontdatehimgirl.com (June 2006)

Claim: Attorney in Pennsylvania sued web site after numerous women posted unflattering and allegedly false comments about him, such as “he has herpes”, “heard he was gay”, “he gave me an STD” and “his crib is a dump.”

Result: ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation defended web site on the grounds they are not liable under the CDA. Case ultimately dismissed on jurisdictional groups.




Adam WeissVice President - Network Development, LinkShare Corporation

Where Were Going – The Ongoing Evolution of Performance Marketing

•Platform Distribution•Feeds and APIs•Product level focus•Easy integration •Breeding ground for innovation•Continuing maturity of various Publisher models

Product Philosophy

Open Link Distribution•Making it easy for Publishers of different sizes and technical levels to get links•APIs into data provide savvy users the ability to tap into retailer information•GUI built on top of APIs for novice users to access data thru Publisher Dashboard

Coupon Feed•Data feed that contains an aggregation of all coupon offers.•Search by promo type ($ Off, % Off, Free Shipping, etc.)•Query by WGET method; Output in XML•Making it easier to do business in the LinkShare Network

Adv 5

Adv 4

Adv 3CouponAdv 2

Adv 1Coupon Offers

•Adv 1 $ Off•Adv 1 % Off•Adv 2 Free Ship•Adv 3 $ Off•Adv 4 % Off•Adv 5 % Off

Affiliate Marketing as Platform Based Distribution

social networking(myspace, facebook)

life publishing(youtube, ebaums)

blogs(blogger, xanga)

file sharing(flickr, photobucket)

virtual communities(second life, gaia)

Connecting Brands Across PlatformsMac Dashboard Widgets Desktop tools for a Mac that allow users to instantly create

Linkshare links.

#TweetShop Search, shortens, and distributes links thru Publishers utilizing

Twitter

Wordpress Link Lookup Creates links in Wordpress posts without logging into the interface

Joomla Link Look Up Generate deep links to advertiser pages directly from the Joomla

Editor

Bookmarklet Tool Firefox and IE users to can install a plugin that instantly changes

site URLs to Linkshare links.

Easy Integration

Full reporting integration at the transactional level via push or pull options.Allows for systematic processing of data

Incorporates payment data into weekly XML fileAllows to identify payments at the transactional level

Feed based options for a variety of link typesSystematic ‘push’ of links on to a publisher site

Tools and Technology to make it easy for Publishers to do business in the network

Mobile Commerce•Mobile Commerce is here! •Expected to surpass $1 Billion in 2010 (eMarketer)•Consumers are using their mobile device to comparison shop and to buy a variety of products

•Most advertisers now implementing mobile strategies•Publishers that move into this space early win!

•LinkShare Mobile Links introduced in 2007•Networks will play key role in matching Advertisers with Publishers to distribute mobile links

Running a Network: Business, Legal & Practical

Business

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