Category: 
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 @ 5:06 pm (Chris Frost)Today I was contacted by an agency, a Google Adwords Professional, about an advert showing up when a merchants name is typed in to MSN. Sure, Google and MSN are different, but the theory is still the same, so the Adwords Professional Sticker should still mean they have an idea of how differnet matching works.
Anyway, my advert shows up not only for the merchant (Ann Summer), but also for the last part of the name which happens to be a season which us Brits don’t usually see a great deal of. The agency firstly accused me of direct brand bidding and threatened ‘to reverse any outstanding commissions to you’. I kindly explained to them, that yes although sometimes I do directly brand bid, which is always a mistake or oversight on my part, usually corrected within 5 minutes of contact, this wasn’t such a case.
The Avdert itself is very generic, and does not have any mentioned of Ann Summer, Sex Toys, Rabbits, Lingerie etc, so it should be plainly obvious that I am not trying to find a sneaky way to bend the rules, after all I do a lot more business with Love Honey anyway 
I explained that I was BROAD and PHRASE matching on SUMMER, and as that happened to match part of the merchants name, I therefore didn’t think I was breaking any of the Keyword Restrictions that were currently in place. The merchant T&Cs state;
Keyword Policy
Ann Summers do not permit affiliates to bid on the brand name, misspells or any other variations thereof. Ann Summers also do not permit affiliates to bid on the word “rampant rabbit” as this is an Ann Summers registered trademark.
I was then asked a strange to “confirm that you are not willing to remove this ad from the Ann Summers keyword?” Really starting to get baffled here, so again I explained that SUMMER was not a keyword restricted according to the Keyword Policy in place. I did offer to add a negative for the word ANN so that my advert will not show when the two words are searched together in a term or phrase, however was kindly informed;
Take on board your suggestion but I think we might have another solution which works better for all concerned. We will communicate this to you shortly.
Why the instant assumption that affiliates are brand bidding, when it isn’t the case. A simple 2 minutes work would have proven this, but obviously it was easier to fire of an email than do a bit of investigation work and this has come from a company who should have understood different matching types if they have passed the Google exam. Anyway, I wait to hear what they have planned, that may affect a fair few affiliates.
Horaayy..there are 9 comment(s) for me so far ;)
Easy solution. Find a generic term they are bidding on then apend your brand name ie “Lingerie + Your Brand Name” .. try various options until their ad appears, then tell them to stop bidding on your brand or variations or to put negative keywords of you brand into all they paid search campaigns, then face the other way, drop your draws and illustrate to them where the sun doesn’t shine.
Too funny!
This is a good example of why companies buy affiliate advertising — because they don’t understand this stuff themselves.
If companies don’t want affiliates bidding on keywords then they need to provide an exact list saying you must add the following as negative keywords. Simple, no need to waste our time.
Andrew I totally agree.
Some merchants do actually provide you with a complete list of words that they don’t want you bidding on. Currys on Affiliate Window is a prime example and have about 10 words in their exclusion list. They also sas that certain words are not used in phrase/broad match too.
i.e. - you are not allowed to bid on CURRYS, but it is also requested that your advert doesn’t appear for CURRYS DISCOUNT CODES.
Although this isn’t originally stipulated in the T&C’s AWin are an approachable bunch of people who bring it to your attention and ask/assist you in reaching the agreeable level of PPC. This is something I am all for - simple open non-biaised communication.
Sadly I think most networks, agencies and merchants automatically presume you are brand bidding when in actual fact, you’re not.
The assumption you are brand bidding is there because of the complete lack of understanding of how PPC on Google actually works by most parties concerned, merchant, agency, network, account managers etc. some really do have only the vaguest idea
Some media agencies that offer to manage PPC on behalf of their merchants as an add on service have (in my experience) sometimes given PPC management duties to people there without anything but the most fundamental understanding of it. ie.. create campaign, create adgroup, create adcopy, slap in some keywords and bid £1 a click and spank anyone who shows up for any part of the brand name even if it’s for totally different, unrelated products.
I’ve given up working with some people on PPC as it’s like groundhog day every time there’s an issue, you have to explain it in such depth that I should be dropping them a bill for consulting.
The PPC knowledge at many (not all !) UK general media agencies is bordering on incompetent at best and don’t think it’s the big agencies who know what they are doing as some of those are the most clueless of all !
There is another reason why networks/agencies/merchants are a bit mistrustful (accusatory even!) about brand bidding… it’s because it happens. Why just yesterday someone was blatantly bidding on Wickes, even though the terms are very clear on this. Mind you the ads were taken down very quickly. I know that often merchants jump the gun, and often it is out of ignorance. And I’m sure you’re just sick of explaining how things work - but often merchants are sick of having to chase around after their brand. Another case of few ruining things for many I’m afraid.
It’s important to see both sides if these partnerships are going to work. What seems to be the hot topic now is trust and that’s hard to have in an industry where being cloaked is so easy!
We just had a similiar email from Anne Summers representatives 3-Pin Marketing.
“”I am writing to you regarding brand bidding on MSN. You may not be aware that bidding on brand keywords and variations for sponsored results is prohibited by the terms and conditions of the Ann Summers affiliate program. In your case this applies to the terms ‘www.annsummers.com’ and ‘annsummers.co.uk’, which you are bidding for on MSN.
Please remove these brand term and any others from your sponsored search keyword list on all search engines. If the offending bid is not withdrawn we may ultimately have to review your participation in the affiliate program although, as this is clearly not in our interest, this action would be very much a last resort.
If you have any questions regarding this matter please feel free to contact me at this address.”"
An ad does appear for one of our sites, however it’s a broadmatch issue on a word not in their brand name, so not anne or ann or summer or summers. We don’t even promote the merchant via ppc.
The initial email we thought was polite enough, however on the phone, you could tell they simply didn t get it at all. The interpretation we had was that is was black and white.
My response by email was:
“”Thank you kindly for your polite email,
We can confidently say we are not brand bidding on anne summers related terms, and perhaps can point back at your sources lack of understanding of broadmatch on various paid search engines. Nor are we promoting your client via PPC.
Perhaps I can point you to these two blog entries.
http://www.mooseontheloose.co.uk/cj-network-quality-at-commission-junction-needs-taking-down-peg-or-two.html
http://www.webaffiliate.co.uk/blog/seo/microsoft/you-cant-ppc-seasons.html“”
On the phone I explained we prefered to use lingerie merchants on generic terms without display url restrictions and are hestitant on using merchants if we feel they may not understand the search space.
Their last words ” i appreciate that” .. and hanged up
Voila
Oh well, I expect to be removed from the program for doing nothing in due course, but that is neither here nor there.
The last thing I heard from them was;
“Take on board your suggestion but I think we might have another solution which works better for all concerned. We will communicate this to you shortly.”
Since then, not a dickie bird!
It’s crazy the way merchants, agencies and networks just jump to conclusions. I notice you have been TOLD;
“…which you are bidding for on MSN.”
They aren’t asking if you are, they are telling you!
Sadly it’s the same old crap time and time again. I’ve vowed to myself not to use one network for any new programs until they get someone with some sort of skills inhouse. Maybe they will get a super duper merchant, but in my eyes, it’s simply not worth the agro that goes with it. I’d rather work with a professional outfit who know what they’re doing, or atleast ASK rather than jump the gun. This type of working relationship is not one I want.
Did you/will you charge them for your consultancy and time taken to train their staff?
Nope, I told the them something along these lines … “I am not going to explain to you how broadmatch works, you’ll have to learn that for yourself and how it works on different paid search providers”