Mumbai: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and vCommission jointly organised the 8th edition of The India Affiliate Summit (IAS) 2022 on 14-15 September, 2022. The event, which included engrossing keynote sessions, masterclasses, panel discussions, and exhibitions, was held at The Leela Ambience, Gurugram.
The country’s biggest affiliate marketing event saw the participation of national and international attendees from over 700 companies and provided ground for them to network and discuss opportunities to accelerate business.
On the first day of the two-day long event, vCommission CEO Parul Bhargava opened the floor for discussion with her keynote session, wherein she spoke about the lessons that she has learnt from her entrepreneurial journey in affiliate. "Affiliate marketing has made businesses millions and people millionaires. The affiliate industry is so young and innovative that no one can say, we know it all."
Looking at the journey of the India Affiliate Summit since 2015, she added, "As I stand here, from where we started this journey, I am very proud that affiliate as an industry, as a department, is now prevalent in most brands, companies, and agencies."
As a piece of advice to marketers, Valueleaf vice president – delivery & ad operations Ameya Kaulgi pointed out, "Affiliate is a massive pull. If you make your funnel right, with the right checks, you can build your brand with the bottom funnel."
Patanjali Ayurved COO-media and communications Anita Nayyar spoke about how a brand should optimise its customer lifetime value. "It is important to go back to basics in terms of brand benefits and customer engagement, and once this war is won, optimising ‘lifetime value’ will follow."
On the first day of the conference, industry veterans presented new insights, data-driven strategies, and innovative ideas on affiliate, ecommerce, D2C, etc. Twitter business head Kanika Mittal, Meta industry head automotive & D2C Hari Pulipati, HDFC Bank VP and head-acquisition content and social media marketing Jahid Ahmed, and The Man Company director-brand marketing Rumi Ambastha, were among the other key speakers on the inaugural day.
The second day of the event threw light on several subjects, such as social media listening, influencer marketing, and creativity. Admitad country head Neha Kulwal spoke about Indian SMEs, "For SMEs, partner marketing is a great way to increase their reach and raise brand awareness without breaking the bank. Since most SMEs strike a balance between productivity and profitability, including low-cost and high ROI-driven channels such as partner marketing is a must. Also, the world is moving to ‘Digital First’ and with this shift, performance/partner marketing will be a major driver in their marketing mix."
Addressing a session titled, "From celebrities to social media influencers.. what’s next?", HDFC Bank vice president and head-digital acquisition content and social media marketing Jahid Ahmed said, "Today celebs and influencers are shaping up well. But as a brand, to ensure stronger and long-term communication for the audience, it is important that they focus on building individual brand advocates who can further educate micro communities. And that’s how they can turn this around to build a large pool of their brand lovers."
On a panel about "Programmatic reach by using new age media-CTV, audio & DOOH etc.," Optimise Media Group – India CEO Shaan Raza revealed, "The IAS as a platform has evolved over the years. This year, they've discussed new marketing trends like programmatic and connected TV, which are preparing the audience for the web 3.0 space. The new age media has now become popular and it is in its transition phase. Various new trends are entering India, and new age performance marketers should look forward to them. They should use their creativity and imagination to engage with them from the performance marketing aspect."
Amongst other prominent speakers who spoke on the concluding day at IAS22 were Google Cloud head of regional marketing-India Virginia Sharma, Samsung Electronics deputy general manager Nitin Guleria, Max Life Insurance VP & head of D2C ecommerce Sameer Jain, and Niva Bupa SVP head of marketing Nimish Agrawal.
