A4U Affiliate Marketing Awards 2008 – Wrapup and photos

Well what a night! It was truly a remarkable site to see 400 or so of the industry's finest all dressed up in their posh frocks and posh suits for the biggest and most glamorous bash we've ever had. For all the affiliates who complained that they "don't like wearing suits" and therefore stopped at home then I'm afraid it was your loss as we had an absolute ball. For me, my day started with a shopping trip to Harvey Nicks when I arrived in the late morning. I then met up with Frostie for a Peroni lunch in their fantastic rooftop restaurant. Very relaxing, and a great way to start the day of networking/celebrating. After some more shopping I then met up with Helen, Cat, Jess and the rest of the DGM posse for their pre-event networking party at the legendary Met bar. After a few Strawberry Daiquiri's it was then off for a quick change (from new jeans to posh suit) then back to the Sheraton for the main event. A few drinks, a nice 3 course meal and some chocolates courtesy of Thorntons and the award ceremony itself started a bit before 10pm. Michael McIntyre was an absolutely brilliant choice for presenter. He was very funny and certainly raised the energy levels in the room with his wit and character - and his comments about Experian :) Surreal I've listed the winners below from each category below but wanted to take a minute to tell you about the moment when myself and a few others were asked to come to the stage to receive an award that wasn't publicised. Matt came onto the stage half way through the ceremony and announced that he wanted to recognise some people who have contributed to the A4U forum. He then asked myself, Keith, Elaine, Shane, Frostie and Naomi to come down to accept an award. All good stuff, so we all trooped onto the stage only to find some strange woman was already there giving an acceptance speech. It was clear it was a "comedy" speech as she went on and on and thanked everyone from God to the person who does her nails. However I didn't really know who she was (remember by this time I had had a few Peronis and Champagne) and wasn't sure how to react. Was she a genuine winner who was just trying to be funny? Or was she some gatecrasher pulling a stunt? So it ended up that we were all standing behind her trying to be polite and laugh at her jokes and just grin our way through it. Anyway it turns out that it was Olivia Lee from the Channel 4 TV show "Balls of Steel" and it was being filmed for a future edition. The plan was that it was a "prank" to see how we would all react to some stranger crashing the awards and giving an over the top acceptance speech. I'm not sure if she got the reaction she wanted though as we all just stood there smiling and being polite in case she was someone important.

My Blog Award and a present for Kirsty I was absolutely delighted to win the "Affiliate Marketing Blog of the year" award again and would like to personally thank each and every one of my readers who took the time out to vote for me. It's very much appreciated and I really mean that. I also want to thank everyone who came up to me at the ceremony to share some kind words and to tell me that they enjoyed reading my ramblings. It was also great to hear that the white car posts and music choice are appreciated as well as the affiliate marketing stuff :) As you probably know Sunshine.co.uk sponsored this award and were kindly offering a week's holiday as a prize to the category winner. Now, seeing as I know that Kirsty loves travelling so much and as she won the Highly Commended slot in this category I've had a chat to Chris at Sunshine.co.uk and have agreed to give my prize to Kirsty. As Kirsty lives in Australia at the moment she couldn't attend the ceremony so hopefully this will be some consolation for missing out. She is also getting married later this year so Sunshine are going to tweak the rules a bit and change the prize into a "mini-moon" to send Kirsty off in style after her wedding. Just make sure you send me a postcard Kirsty :) After the main event there was a post show party hosted by Affiliate Window.

The party was held in the "Oxygen Lounge" where every attendee to the party received a boarding card with tear off complimentary drink strips. The lounge came complete with Affiliate Window decked out Air Hostesses, a 6 foot ‘aw’ water wall, Nintendo Wii, fully stocked bar with a special A.W.O.L. cocktail, ice cream girls called ice angels and a standalone bar serving pure flavoured oxygen! I can't remember how long we lasted in there but after the party came to a close we all went off to the lush "Palm Court Cocktail Lounge" in the Sheraton were the residents bar was open until the early hours of the morning for us. All that's left to say is a big thankyou to Matt and the Existem team for an awesome event. I was reflecting with a few of the other "old timers" on how much the industry has grown and changed over the last few years. To be able to pull off a night that was on the scale that this was, is truly a sign that we can no longer be called "grubby" by the ignorant. Affiliate Marketing is and should be a standalone, viable and profitable part of everybody's marketing mix. The award winners in full: Best Use Of Creative Winner: PrezzyBox Highly Commended: Jackpotjoy Best Network Innovation Winner: Affiliate Window Highly Commended: Paid on Results Best Merchant Innovation Winner: PrezzyBox Highly Commended: Firebox Best Use Of Affiliate Marketing As Part Of An Integrated Campaign Winner: Hotel Chocolat Highly Commended: Play.com Publisher's Choice Awards Publisher's Choice Of Network Winner: Affiliate Window Highly Commended: Affiliate Future Publisher's Choice Of Account Manager Winner: Julie Wood Highly Commended: Thuy Pham Affiliate Manager of 2008 Winner: Chris Clarkson (Sunshine.co.uk) Highly Commended: Zak Edwards (PrezzyBox) Community's Choice Awards Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2008 Winner: Kieron Donoghue (here.org.uk) Highly Commended: Kirsty McCubbin (affiliatestuff.co.uk) Affiliates4u Award For Excellence Winner: Nicky Iapino Agency Of The Year Winner: Existem-AM Highly Commended: R.O.EYE Publisher Of The Year Winner: eConversions Highly Commended: Quidco Vertical Awards Finance Winner: Credit Expert (Experian) Highly Commended: Leadbay / Dot Zinc Retail Winner: buyagift Highly Commended: iTunes Gaming Winner: Virgin Games Highly Commended: Jackpotjoy Travel & Leisure Winner: Travelodge Highly Commended: DFDS Technology & Telecoms Winner: SKY Highly Commended: Vodafone Well done to everyone who won! What I'm listening to right now: Tank – "Personal Assistant"