After the celebrations of the Global Performance Marketing Awards 2025 last night, the first day of PI LIVE Europe 2025 kicked off with fantastic energy.
Bringing together the brightest minds in affiliate and performance marketing, the event set the stage for a day of bold thinking, innovative ideas, and spirited discussion about the future of the industry.
The morning: creativity and collaboration
On the Pyramid Stage, the day began with a welcome from our fantastic chair, Trusted House Sitters’ Annie Amusu, who opened with a call to embrace creativity and collaboration across the partnerships ecosystem.
Kicking things off, Dean Harris, Head of Co-op Media Network at The Co-op, delivered a powerful talk on “The Power of Being Different”. He explored how the UK retailer transformed its distinctive identity and in-store assets into a competitive advantage, encouraging attendees to turn their brand quirks into their greatest strengths.
“The Evolution of Creator Commerce” brought together speakers from Samsung, REVOLVE, smol, and Lo Digital to discuss how creators are evolving from content partners to true performance drivers. The panel highlighted how the lines between influencer, publisher, and affiliate continue to blur as commerce and content become inseparable.
One of the morning’s most talked-about sessions was Awin’s interactive workshop “Let’s Get Sh*t Done”, led by Rosalyn Berrisford and Rebecca Rowntree. Abandoning slides and scripts, the session turned the audience into an idea factory, tackling real marketing challenges live in the room and sending attendees away with practical, creative solutions.
"Who Owns the Truth?" was a big discussion, bringing together affiliate leaders from Harvey Nichols, Lounge, and Genie Goals. They talked about the ongoing problem of tracking and figuring out where credit is due, looking at ways marketers can trust their data again. This was very important with all the new analytics tools, stricter rules, and complicated ways the customer journey is heading.
A highlight of the late morning came from CJ’s Linda O’Connell, whose session “How Social Commerce Rewrites the Customer Funnel” demonstrated how brands can move audiences seamlessly from scroll to sale. The discussion showed how live shopping, creator content, and social platforms are transforming performance into participation.
Everflow and Tipalti pros spilled the tea on the tech behind smooth global affiliate payments in “From Click to Cash.” They showed how automation and compliance can ditch the manual grind and rev up growth.
The afternoon: the future of partnerships
After lunch, Sarah Lambert from Accenture took to the stage for “Social Commerce: Everyone’s Talking, Nobody’s Ready”, examining how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are redefining the shopping journey through content, community, and co-creation.
Sean Sewell of Partnerize, in his presentation "The GenAI Opportunity," made a major announcement, showcasing the new Partnerize product, Vantage Point. It’s a clickless affiliation tool, helping advertisers and publishers to better understand, and monetise, their influence in LLMs.
A lively debate followed in “Card-Linked Offers: Promise, Proof, or Problem?”, as experts from Ocado Retail, CJ, Sientia, and eAccountable dissected the real impact of CLOs on transparency, attribution, and incremental growth.
In the late afternoon, Kevin Edwards unveiled the findings from the APMA Advertiser Survey, joined by Helen Southgate of Acceleration Partners. Together, they shared exclusive insights into brand sentiment heading into 2026, covering everything from GA4 confidence to AI ROI and the continuing evolution of affiliate transparency. It was a session to remember.
The day closed on a high note with Henry Hayes hosting The Big Fat PI LIVE Quiz, where we tested our knowledge in a fast-paced finale that mixed competition with camaraderie.
As day one came to a close, the atmosphere across Old Billingsgate was one of optimism and momentum. From the rise of AI and creator-led commerce to the renewed emphasis on data clarity and creativity, PI LIVE Europe 2025 became a place full of the great minds of partnership marketing.
With more sessions, networking, and innovation to come, day two promises to continue the conversation.
