The US Partnership Awards (USPAs) return on June 11th for a digital-first programme with a community core that celebrates standout performance across the partnership ecosystem.
This year, our shortlist showcases some of the strongest entries to date, with ground-breaking technology, pioneering data integration, and partnerships that set the standard for the industry.
In the Media Buying Affiliate Campaign category, we’ve got Linkbux Media, which teamed up with Shutterfly for its compliance-first programmatic affiliate media buying framework and Performance Partners, whose campaign with Fiera Cosmetics resulted in 300% growth.
Vibrant Performance is also in for a chance to win for its campaign with Wiser Advisor, which scaled Meta revenue by 3,267% with paid social.
Finally, there are eAccountable and BISSELL for the FurFinder campaign that sustained momentum, raising visibility and ROI.
Moving into Most Innovative Technology, we’ve got some heavy-hitters and rising stars.
Parnerize’s VantagePoint entry demonstrated the impact of going against the grain and creating a system of record for the machine-mediated market, while Awin’s submission showed how to address the attribution challenge.
CJ’s entry spotlights what it calls the first interconnected AI architecture for performance marketing, and Rakuten Advertising showcases the role of AI-driven innovation in the future of partnerships.
We’ve also got Upsellit pioneering on-site technology to maximise conversions and COLLABLE PARTNERS LIMITED, which created an intelligent commerce infrastructure for the creator economy.
Those contending for Best Full Funnel Strategy include LaserAway, Tombras, and impact.com, which joined forces to build an $18.8MM growth engine and Everflow, Hume Health and Affiliboost, for a strategy that mapped out a $2m monthly full-funnel journey.
impact.com and Resident paved the path from awareness to profit through Resident’s full-funnel creator and affiliate engine, and Upsellit and Puritan’s Pride built coordinated campaigns to drive growth across the funnel.
We’ve also got Rubix Agency, Hurom, Fishwife, and Opopop, which demonstrated the role of a YouTube-led affiliate strategy in owning mid-funnel.
In Best Performance PR/Commerce Content Campaign, we’ve got an array of stand-out submissions, from Autumn Communications and Urban Outfitters’ holiday campaign to Gen3 Marketing and Good Chop, with a campaign that showed the sky’s the limit when it comes to growth.
Wellblūm and PATTERN Beauty unveiled the power of content in a campaign that led to a 101% revenue increase at PATTERN Beauty, and eAccountable and Splits59 showed how to take upper-funnel momentum and turn it into Q4 growth.
Awin and Forme® Science also showed how brands can turn a cultural moment into new customer acquisition.
Our Best Influencer Marketing Partnership category showcases the best of the best utilising creators, social and data to drive impact.
We’ve got Linqia and International Delight (Danone), which showed that laughter can unlock brand love, and Influencer and Chili’s Grill & Bar, which let real-life social stories take the lead.
Shortlist standouts also include Acceleration Partners and Lowe's, which used data to create impactful content and uplift revenue and CJ and TORK, which put culinary unsung heroes in the spotlight to beat engagement records.
Our Best Platform for Partnership Success category has some stiff competition: CJ, Later, LTK, impact.com, Rakuten Advertising, Trackdesk and Partnerize — our eyes are glued.
There’s been an explosion of AI innovation across the industry in the last few years, so those on the Best Use of AI / Automation in Partnership Marketing shortlist, big congratulations.
Rakuten Advertising’s entry shows how AI innovation can drive measurable impact, CJ’s CJ 360-AI homes in on the next era of commerce media and PartnerCentric and StewMac unveiled how the former’s AI forecast delivered 2.8 ROAS.
Inflektion brings its tools to the table with an entry focused on AI-powered affiliate growth from compliance to conversion, and Partnerize brings VantagePoint, its AAM-Certified Standard for AI attribution.
For Best Affiliate Programme Optimisation, our shortlist features entrants that exemplify thinking outside the box, with impact.com and Tombras rebuilding Sally Beauty’s affiliate into an engine for growth, Round Barn Labs and Thermacell creating an affiliate storm and Acceleration Partners and TikTok for Business optimising to incentivise partners.
The list also features Grupo Xcaret and Awin for optimisation expertise, eAccountable and Wildflower Cases, which transformed influence into scalable growth, and Everflow and Runna, which teamed up to create a global performance engine.
We've also got Linkbux and SharkNinja, which brought forward a compliance-first programmatic affiliate media buying framework.
In Best Content Partnership, Rakuten Advertising and Hulu drove forward audience-first content, Awin, Article and LTK’s partnership scaled a curated brand by leveraging influencer subnetwork flair, and eAccountable formulated a precision-built affiliate strategy for Satchel & Page.
The list also features Shoplooks, which worked to prove the value of paid creator content for Urban Outfitters, while Rubix Agency and Opopop led a YouTube AEO sprint.
Across Best Data-Driven Strategy, we’ve got an example of B2B affiliate marketing transformation from Partner Commerce and ClickUp, 60% YOY growth for DeleteMewith with Vibrant Performance, and a performance-led creator strategy from FOREO with COLLABLE PARTNERS LIMITED.
tvScientific and RealTruck shifted to CPA-based CTV, and Upsellit and Moen demonstrated how real-time behavioural data can create ecommerce growth, while impact.com, Dreamday and Quince showed how editorial influence can drive substantial incremental revenue.
The Best Performance-Based Partnership category illustrated how strategic collaboration can result in big gains, with exceptional entries from Tombras and LaserAway, Rubix Agency and Fishwife, and Couponology and KitchenAid Small Appliances.
Tombras and LaserAway made the shortlist with their $18.8MM growth engine in the Best Lead Generation Campaign category, alongside Partnermatic, for a campaign that created qualified pipeline growth for SEMRush, and Upsellit and VEVOR, for transforming abandoned visits into revenue-driving leads.
For the Partnership of the Year award, we’ve got impact.com, Dreamday and AG1, a collaboration that went beyond last click and executed 306% traffic growth, Tombras and LaserAway, for their collaboration which realised real, measurable growth, and TikTok and Acceleration Partners’ partnership, which delivered a high-impact affiliate growth engine. We’ve also got QVC, Acceleration Partners and Couponology, which built success from the ground up.
Zoning in on Best Travel & Hospitality Partnership, we’ve got strong submissions from three entrants which hit the mark, featuring Round Barn Labs and Cruise America, a multi–brand campaign from Upsellit and Propark Mobility, and Trafalgar and Capital One Ad Solutions, which demonstrated how the right partnership can balance purpose and profit.
Meanwhile, in Best B2B Partnership Round Barn Labs and Remote go head-to-head with Partner Commerce and Notion; the former taking a partner engine from idle to impact and the latter utilising strategic creator partners to double both B2B trials and conversion.
In our Best Partnership Problem Solved category, our entrants show that no dream is too big. Fintel Connect and FVCbank exceeded target by 172%, while Upsellit and Splits59 solved stagnant growth by utilising real-time personalisation.
Our Affiliate Marketing Team of the Year - Brand shortlisters demonstrate the true power of a dream team, with Tombras’s team working together to thrive in the new affiliate era and Partner Commerce’s team working to set the standard for B2B affiliate marketing.
And last, but certainly by no means least, in Best Health, Beauty and Wellness Partnership, Rakuten Advertising and Bluemercury came together to redefine what affiliate excellence looks like in the luxury beauty landscape and Everflow, Impact Brands and All Inclusive Marketing (AIM) united to drive scale through performance technology.
With the clock ticking down to the big day, we wanted to give a big shout-out to all USPA entrants, who put time, effort and creativity into their submissions. And for our lucky finalists, you now have access to our USPA community channel on Slack, where you can connect, network and organise local meet-ups.
