AffCon2010 Panel "The Affiliate Tax: How Colorado & the Industry Mobilized its Fight"

The Affiliate Marketing Tax: How Colorado & the Industry Mobilized its Fight

Affiliate Marketing-Citizens Unite!!!
The affiliate marketing taxation issue is a wake up call & goes beyond Colorado. This is about our industry and its future.
The CO tax is a vital example of HOW & WHY we can come together as an industry. Locally & nationally to proactively collaborate & overcome issues the affect our future
Everyone needs to participate no matter how big or small… Affiliates, Networks, Agencies, Advertisers alike
Help shape the future of our industry: Colorado is a great example for affiliates & the industry – showing up makes all the difference!
YOU are a part of a community, be it a local or a national group. We are stronger as a collective than as individuals...take action!

Look at Our Breadth
We cover the country & are growing.1/3 Linkshare Database
We represent $billions in local and national revenue
We have power of numbers IF we come together & coordinate
Take our destiny in our hands before others do!
We are one of the fastest growing and most misunderstood

The opportunity: Performance Marketing Growth 13% 46% 41% 5% 48% 47% 4% 45% 51% 4% 39% 57% Source: IAB April 2-10 4% 37% 59% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 $12.5 B $16.9 B $21.2 B $23.4 B $22.7 B

The opportunity: Affiliate Marketing Spending

We Need to Act Together as a Unified Industry Network Local Groups National Groups Social Networks Corporate Involvement We need to coordinate locally and nationally and leverage social media amplification using twitter, facebook, and blogs etc to mobilize, broadcast, and generate ground swell awareness http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com Industry Groups Associations

However, performance marketing stands at the crossroads... MAKE NO MISTAKE … we are at a critical time in our growth. Decisions & how we act now will FOREVER impact everyone and our future potential

We Need to Go from Good to Great
We have a history of being fragmented & have operated in an unregulated super highway of grey as a young emerging segment of internet marketing.
We have a history of being reactive vs proactive
No central association to coordinate & drive standards, research, industry data about our markets. We have been operating in a black box w/ ZERO INFO
Enter the Affiliate Advertising Tax... a wake up call that started the process of our becoming organized as an industry... we still have along way to go
The tax issue was the first to challenge us to become less fragmented, leverage our size & grow up
We MUST come together locally & nationally to proactively shape the future of our industry: Adtax , FTC regulation, compliance, and standards issues are JUST getting started. This is the nature of business evolution
Either we take control & participate in our future OR it will be done by outsiders who do not know all the facts or have enough data to make informed decisions
The formation of the Performance Marketing Association PMA has begun bringing us together to collaborate around the 1st of many critical industry causes

The Benefits of Our Industry Action & the State Affiliate Tax issue
PMA helped prepare & coordinate efficiently & effectively by building a strategy around legislative efforts
CO affiliate marketing community mobilized & coordinated:
local meetups with affiliates, networks, & agencies to show how vital we are & how many people are involved
leveraged social media to create ground swell to engage local government
individuals & Companies took an interest and showed up to fight the tax
ALL made a difference in not having affiliate marketing WIPED OUT in CO w/ merchants completely pulling out due to the tax
The affiliate marketing industry has now won in 13 other states because people unified across the industry
We now have data & information from our association to explain what affiliate marketing is & how big & vital it is to local & national economies
Effort was planned, practiced, and coordinated to create and influence state and national awareness and acquire local political influence and support in a way that never existed… We created a VOICE

ITS NOT OVER! This is just starting
Now more than ever, we all need to do our part!
This is going to come back state by state. Regulation, Compliance and more need our attention
STAY & GET involved by:
getting more involved with the PMA by joining & get in working groups
following the PMA twitter stream so you are aware and active
Blog, Tweet and engage in your social media channels about the issues and spread the word. They all affect you and us as an industry directly.
Help Share The Future of Our Industry

The Panel
Peter Bordes, CEO and Founder, MediaTrust
http://blog.mediatrust.com http://twitter.com/mediatrustpete
Janine Crooks: Affiliate Manager, Scudder Phillips
http://www.twitter.com/jeannine_crooks
John 'Jack' Pommer, Colorado State Representative
http://pommer.us
David Asseoff, President & CEO, Adperio
http://www.twitter.com/davidua

Questions for the Panel
What was your reaction to the ad tax & when you heard it was coming to CO? What did you do?
Why should others get involved. What do you recommend the citizens of affiliate marketing do?
How big was that chasm you had to cross to effect change? did people know/understand the issues & what data & info did you gather & use to paint the picture?
Tell us about the bill in Colorado (what is is and how would it affect affiliates)?
What did you do to mobilize forces and work against it?
What tools were used and what did you feel was most effective (call-ins, emails, social media, meetups, etc.)?
How did you feel about Amazon pulling out at the last minute after working with you to address the tax?
What was the final outcome and how did you feel about it?
What would you recommend to affiliates fighting these bills in other states? (working with lobbyists, using PR, working with the PMA and similar orgs)
Where do we go from here?

Questions for Representative Palmer
Why was this bill introduced?
What data information was used for the understanding of the industry and foundation for the Bill
How did you anticipate it would affect people?
How do you feel about the outcome and Amazons final response? etc.
How can we help you help us?

AffCon2010 Panel "The Affiliate Tax: How Colorado & the Industry Mobilized its Fight"

by MediaTrust on Jun 22, 2010

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AffCon2010 Panel "The Affiliate Tax: How Colorado & the Industry Mobilized its Fight" — Presentation Transcript