Chris Dessi - Vice President zanox, Inc

zanox is the only global player that offers a Global Alliance Partnership. This cooperative approach to performance based online marketing is unique, and certainly not something that his common in the US. Most of our competition depend greatly on protecting their publisher base, seen by most as the Holy Grail of performance networks. Zanox takes a cooperative approach, and is able to woo larger brand advertisers by providing transparency, and offering global reach via their GAP partnerships worldwide. This unique platform allows zanox to easily penetrate international market by identifying, and cooperating with major competitors in each market. Zanox is the only performance based marketing network offering an indirect sales solution for third party cooperation with international ad networks. The GAP partnership offer participating networks exposure to advertisers and publishers in 30+ countries, 200 currencies and instant access to a portfolio of 200 international advertisers and campaigns. We've been successful in executing this partnership in the US, UK, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Asia, and Australia.

A Shameless plug of my article that appeared yesterday in DM News.

Christopher Dessi
VP of advertiser sales, North America, Zanox

Some advertisers flinch at the idea of affiliates generating results on their behalf. No matter what doubts you may have about affiliate marketing, the exciting reality is that it has proven to be effective.

If you don't employ affiliate market­ing tactics in your e-marketing strategy, you're missing out on new markets and a guaranteed expanded workforce at no cost. For example, if you decide to partner with a network that offers inter­national affiliate reach – you now have an instant international e-marketing strategy. Similarly, if you allow search affiliates to proactively bid on search words – you've now just penetrated the search market, without internal staff and at zero cost to you.

Once you have decided to leverage affiliate marketing, the next step is to select a preferred partner. If you ask these four questions before you move forward, you'll find an affiliate market­ing partner that is significantly more valuable to your organization.

First, is your affiliate network trans­parent? As larger brand advertisers start to spend more money with networks, a real need for transparency has emerged.

Ask if you are obligated to pay for the conversion when a pixel fires. Savvy networks rely on delayed confirmation of a pixel firing. Then, look for a part­ner that offers international reach.

Finally, ask your potential partner if it will allow your company to work with other affiliate networks. If a partner is attempting to lock you into a contractual obligation of exclusivity, they're only limiting your market reach

This past Thursday I had the privilege to attend the IAA's Global Marketing Summit at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC.

The speakers were a "Who's Who" in global advertising. Lisa Caputo - CMO, Citi (who's bio had my head spinning)..Scott McCune VP and Director, Integrated Marketing, Coca-Cola - David Stern Commissioner, National Basketball Association to name a few.

The highlight for me was a dynamic speaker full of energy and insights that kicked the day off with a speech that still has me thinking. David Verklin CEO Aegis Media Americas. Usually at events like this people in such high ranking positions have a tendency to fall into one of two categories (in my mind anyway). They either lull you into a 25 minute sales pitch for their company, or play it safe and present a case study that you know they barely had any influence in.

David did neither, and to say that I appreciated this may be the understatement of the year. This gentleman was engaging (not easy as the first speaker of a long day of presenters), and provided so much content in his speech that the audience was frantically scribbling away as he spoke (when was the last time you could look around a room and actually see people taking note).

The intent of David's talk was to discuss "Engagement." He not only offered practical insights but also challenged the audience to learn more, educate themselves, and push their companies to be knowledgeable about what is currently happening in the online media world. I was delighted!

David's talk revolved around 5 points:
1. Timing
2. Targeting
3. Emotion
4. Geography
5. Content

He mentioned a few companies that his agency is engaged with that are at the cusp of something very powerful. Joost being at the center. He also touched on Ecostar and some of the exciting things they're doing with his agency. David also acknowledged some of the pitfalls of agencies being able to engage consumers (Big Brother syndrome). But he was highly optimistic that consumers will react well to receiving an appropriate message when they're engaged.

He classified engagement as reaching your user when they are highly interested in what is presented to them.

His speaking style was impressive, his message appropriate, and his ideas fresh and exciting.

Thank you to Mr. Verklin from someone that is always looking for the next best thing. I have a tendency to expect the worst when listening to certain speakers, and he proved himself intelligent, engaging (I was looking for the content he provide...mission accomplished)...and entertaining.

Thank you Mr. Verklin, I'll look forward to hearing you speak again, and I'll certainly research Joost, and Ecostar even further.