LisaRiolo

Soundtrack for a Session

The final session  in the PubCon 2009 Affiliate Track “Will Performance Marketing Save the Advertising Industry?” had almost as many panelists as audience members.

Not kidding.

As the moderator I was tempted to lead our baker’s dozen to the conference bar and hold the conversation there. Instead, Lisa Picarille, Shawn Collins and Jay Berkowitz proceeded as if the room were packed.

In spite of our bold title, the topics of quality, disclosure, fraud and scams trained a spotlight on the ever-present question of our industry’s vulnerability.  When our sprinkle of an audience asked the panelists for advice, the tone was cautious.

How do we know who to work with…?

Why aren’t we using white lists?

How do we protect ourselves from the scams and fraud?

Who will pay the price if regulations (assuming more are further enacted) aren’t respected?

So, how bad is it?  Will it all go away in 2010?  One audience member revealed that he had placed a $10 bet with a friend against the-end-of-it-all outcome.  (Yep, only $10.  These are tough times.)

Marketers won’t turn away from the accountability Performance Advertising offers them any time soon.  The model is too strong.  Deal terms will change.  The profile of an ideal partner will shift.  Competition will rise.  But the percentage of ad spend with performance-based pricing will not erode from 60% of the total back down to zero.

These feelings of instability or unease over what’s happening now are nothing new. Performance Marketers have always wondered whether the industry will tolerate the aggressive approach its leading edge participants invent.  How many boundaries will be re-established or tactics rejected by the advertising community?  Sometimes turbulence and foul-smells are part of the advertising frontier.  Other times–being way out front is exhilarating.  And lucrative.

Will we still be in business in 2010?  I’m betting, and more than $10, the answer is Yes!