I was really honoured to be asked to keynote at Econsultancy’s 2009 FODM in June 2009. I’d spoken before and found the audience to be tough but receptive. It’s one of the more difficult speaking gigs of the year, I find, and there’s always a pressure to perform well (and Ashley commenting that there’s “no pressure” of course just makes it worse… 😉 ). At least this year he didn’t promise I’d be “funny” (a throwaway remark that gave me my first night of lost sleep in 10 years as I imagined that I’d been forced to perform a standup routine at the Comedy Club without a script! Wah).
Anyway, the event was held at the rather spectacular Congress Hall and upon entering I realised both that is was a great presentation venue, and that 350 marketers is quite some audience 😉
There were some spectacular and energetic speakers (Jonathan MacDonald in particular), and two sessions that interested me in particular on digital publishing and ecommerce in retail.
The presentation went well and I used the time to reprise themes from previous FODM presentations, wander into the realms of Augmented Reality, build on some KPI discussions I’d been having with Michael “KPI” Ross and finally introduce the “Obama-Preedy Pricing Principle” (the result of a beer-supported discussion with Tony Preedy on how discounts and promotions should be related to a specific place, time and – increasingly – appropriate behaviours). Maybe it should have been the Pavlov-Preedy Principle??
And so it came to pass, yea in the fourth hour of our confinement, that Nectar manage to get into their office and fire off an ‘if you’re snowed in you can still shop online’ email.
It was an eclectic gathering of a couple of hundred people: merchants, affiliates, programme managers and entrepreneurs in a very open, engaged forum.
I spend a lot of time talking to and writing about retailers and the need to engage fully with the digital, demanding customer, and so it was interesting to have an opportunity to examine the role that affiliates play in connecting products and brands with customers’ wallets.
The blend of large-traffic sites, aggregators (like MyDeco or HousetoHome who put a very professional experience design onto the feeds they receive) and very, very niche affiliates (whether MobileShop.co.uk or perfectlyshapedworld) who put retailers to shame in their focus on customers) covered the gamut of retailing.
Given that we had people from the commercial and operational sides of affiliate marketing it was also an opportunity to examine the drivers for profitability, areas of collaboration and the developing needs that affiliates will have from merchants as they seek to remain relevant to customers in an evermore-demanding marketplace.
Following some good questions (both directly, over coffee and then on the subsequent panel discussions) I met some fascinating affiliates and niche businesses who I’m sure we’ll be seeing in upcoming issues of Internet Retailing.
My thanks to the team at Buy.at for their welcome and hospitality. The event was an examplar of stakeholder communication and networking.
It’s also about the only time I’ll ever get to stand on the stage at the BAFTAs… 😉
