A view into what’s happening in the partnership economy

Increasingly, effective digital advertising strategies promise significant opportunity, marked by a natural tension. That was one of the many key takeaways from the recent iPX event in New York, hosted by impact.com and attended by the players in the partnership economy.

Let it Go – or Not

Not surprisingly, the growing prominence of influencers, and their growing importance in affiliate marketing, was a predominant theme at IPX. More and more creators are being tasked not just to promote, but sell items directly from their content. This is true with short form video – the exceedingly popular genre propagated by TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts – even if the format allows for a limited amount of time for creators to drive home messages from brands.

In many cases, brands may be having to forgo a direct relationship with their own customers, as influencers act as deal closers. Tiffany Matloob – Global Head of Creator Community, YouTube Shorts, opined that over time,  product attributes may become less important than relationships between consumers and influencers over time, which might give many a product manager pause.

What will surely make some brands nervous is the loss of control inherent to many influencer marketing programs – yet it may be the best recipe for success in this category. The creator Michela Allocca, author of the personal finance diary “Break Your Budget” urged brands to trust influencers’ understanding of their audience’s needs and mindset, versus forcing scripted content their way.

Easier said than done in certain categories. For example, Melissa Sackler – Director, Affiliate Marketing, AMEX said that as many marketers want to tap into creators’ authenticity and unscripted output, certain compliance requirements are non-negotiable – necessitating the need for some degree of scripted material.

As the power of the creator economy only grows, this push and pull will be something nearly every CMO will have to grapple with – particularly as pressure to gauge return on ad spend only grows.

Church and State

As recently highlighted by research conducted by Digiday on behalf of impact.com, the worlds of content and commerce are increasingly colliding, as affiliate marketing becomes even more of a vital revenue generator for many publishers.

As this new source of income percolates, it’s causing different divisions within publications to come together in unfamiliar- and sometimes uncomfortable ways.

For example, Jen Birkhofer, VP of commerce at NBCU’s news group, said that in recent years, her specialist team has been fielding a lot more inbound questions about deals from brands – clients who typically work directly with ad sales. That’s a change, considering that Birkhofer and her team are technically housed with editorial – which has traditionally operated very independently from the business side of the company.

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Along those same lines, Emily Jackson, SVP of eCommerce at Forbes, said her team is increasingly working hand in hand with the company’s programmatic ads sales team, a dynamic that was not commonplace just a few years ago.

However, times are changing, as the NBCU commerce practices is now leaning toward forging a few large, direct deals with brands on its own, as what was once strictly the domain of journalists takes on new talent and roles.

It’s also causing more editorial practices to become more aware of, and even proficient in using performance data to drive decision making, Chris Lloyd of USA Today’s Reviewed, said that his team is still in the process of trying to determine what data really moves the needle – and whether or not that data matters, corresponds with what metrics matter to the ads sales teams.

As more publishers lean on Commerce Content to help steer them through a still uncertain economic picture, it’s likely that we’ll see more and more of these strange publishing bedfellows. The companies that embrace change, abandon preconceived notions about the ‘right way to work with brands – while establishing an agility necessary in today’s climate, will likely be best positioned to succeed going forward.