We caught up with Meytal Markman, VP Product Management, Rakuten Advertising, at DealMaker, to pick her brain on the rise of the creator in affiliate, how brands connect with consumers and the technological innovations driving change within the industry.
In our conversation, Markman shared that brands are now seeking to merge the creator and affiliate channel at scale, a task which she said requires tools and tech to support, as well as the people element for onboarding and strategy.
At the same time, micro-influencers and closed user groups (CUGs) are on the rise within the space due to their ability to connect and build trust with niche audiences.
And this trend is here to stay, Markan said, something which she attributes to changes in how marketers are working, the AI shift and the transformation in consumer behaviour — the ripples of which date back to the pandemic.
Here, Markman said that if brands are seeking to scale access to audiences through the influencer channel, having a wide pool of micro-influencers can be strategically advantageous. These creators are connected to audiences closely either by niche or through their locality, acting as a strong foundation for bridging to a brand.
From the technological perspective, Markman said that brands are “doubling and tripling down” on brand safety and monitoring tools —something which she noted was historically a focus for the most regulated industries focused on compliance.
“We’re only going to see more innovation in that space.”
With regards to what Markman feels most hopeful about, she shared that shifts in tracking, measurement and attribution mean that affiliate can have a seat at the table “more holistically” than before. With probabilistic, MMM and value attribution coming into view, Markman said that some of the last-click determinism pressure is off, with more focus on “ambient value” that affiliate can drive.
Watch our conversation with Meytal Markman below.
