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September 21, 2004

An Interview with Jeff Pullen, General Manager of Commission Junction

Posted by Todd Tweedy

Now that Commission Junction (CJ) has won the affiliate wars it’s clear the performance-marketing leader is planning to flex it’s market muscle through a number of growth strategies that will be lead by CJ’s General Manager Jeff Pullen.

I interviewed Mr. Pullen yesterday following his opening remarks at CJU.

Pullen outlined his plan to realize CJ’s vision of becoming the leading provider of online marketing solutions by continuing to strengthen merchant and publisher relationships, industry consolidation, maturing a growing marketplace, international expansion, value-based pricing as well as squashing rumors that BeFree is not scheduled for what Pullen termed “end-of-life in Q1” of 2005. He added, “these rumors are not true.”

Mr. Pullen’s commitment to BeFree was somewhat surprising since CJ, a ValueClick division, was selected as the brand name leader following the formal merger of the two affiliate giants earlier this year and “the loin share of new advertisers,” Pullen noted, are signing up for CJ rather than BeFree including many new advertisers like HomeDepot as well as retailers who have recently launched CJ programs in preparation for eventually phasing out BeFree-side activities. Internally within the organization employees privately call the technology platform demolition of BeFree’s platform Central City. It seems apparent that IT and other operational resources will be diverted from BeFree as CJ takes the stage as the preferred solution bundle.

Other road signs for growth pointed toward further international expansion including updated news on the official opening of a German office next month, and a slide with the map of Europe that Pullen shared unintentionally with the country of France shaded CJ green telegraphing future plans to expand European operations. When questioned about the slip, Pullen brushed aside questions about operations in France by noting no specific target date for formalizing Paris operations was scheduled.

Other subtle messages shared in Pullen presentation included the use of the word client that was strategically repeated during Mr. Pullen’s presentation leaving audience members with the perception that CJ’s short-term strategy will focus more attention on nurturing merchant relationships in light of increasing advertiser demands related to data access, recruitment, expanding reach and program performance. In part, Pullen was playing to audience. Approximately 60% of attendees to CJU are sophisticated advertisers including well-known brand like eBay, Real Networks, Sony, Countrywide Home Loans, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Home Shopping Network among others.

Pullen noted in his opening remarks that CJ managed 1,500 advertiser relationships and specifically reference the value of ISP advertisers have provided to CJ and hinted that additional revenue growth is likely to come from the financial services category when asked about other valuable advertiser categories.

CJ’s dominance of the affiliate arena had relied on relationship and process leadership with publishers as a trusted third-party that allowed advertisers to leverage the power of a commissioned network paired with proprietary technology solutions to achieve specific business objectives.

As CJ looks toward the future, focusing more energy on client-development activities and sharing merchant learning with new advertisers that are testing the affiliate waters for the first time may achieve Pullen’s realization of his company vision. Regardless of this apparent shift, CJ is a savvy, well-run business that is unlikely to ignore how they won the affiliate war: reaching out to entrepreneurial affiliates. Expect to see further innovation around affiliate management to expand CJ’s revenue growth.