DealMaker Europe 2025 | The Official Highlights

Hundreds of attendees from across Europe, the Americas, and APAC made the trip to The Brewery in London for our first DealMaker event of 2025! Attendees included top advertisers, publishers, and agencies who got together to network, learn, and celebrate in one jam-packed DealMaker day. 

Our eager attendees scheduled meetings to strategise for 2025 and to forge new partnerships —the venue was filled with laughter, dealmaking, and exciting conversation! Attendees learned all about Rakuten Advertising’s AI advancements, explored 2025 consumer trends and how the digital landscape is changing, listened in on panels across verticals, celebrated excellence at the Golden Link Awards, and finished the day off with some karaoke at the afterparty. We told you it was a jam-packed day!

We would be remiss not to thank our official sponsors for the day:

• Silver Sponsor: PayPal Honey
• Media Partner: HelloPartner
• Sustainability Sponsor: Treeapp

Here are the highlights from this year’s DealMaker Europe:

Making connections and deals at DealMaker Europe 2025

As the name implies, DealMaker is all about making deals and bringing the affiliate community together. The March 19^th event was filled with opportunities to schedule one-on-one meetings and network with the industry as a whole. In fact, our attendees scheduled more than 1,000 individual meetings during the event!

While content was centre stage, we also had a plethora of opportunities to build connections – from our Agency and Publisher networking mixer in the morning, to our Finance and Tangoo Lunch and Learns – attendees had ample opportunity to meet, mingle, and network.

Content takes centre stage

Amidst client meetings, attendees had the opportunity to listen to compelling content from thought leaders in the affiliate space. This year, attendees had several opportunities to hear from top European companies across luxury, brand safety, finance, travel, and more!

Lost in the Metrics: Navigating Measurement Challenges

In this insightful session, the panel explored the evolving complexities of affiliate marketing measurement in the era of GA4. They tackled the pressing challenges of tracking, attribution, and incrementality, sharing actionable strategies for overcoming common pitfalls. Emphasising the importance of best practices, the discussion provided attendees with a clearer understanding of how to navigate the shifting analytics landscape and optimise their affiliate marketing efforts.

Thank you to our speakers:

• Moderator: Kevin Edwards, Founder APMA
• Edward Trinkwon, Director, Analytics
• Sumair Seth, VP Analytics MMA, Ipsos

Expanding Horizons & Maximising Full Funnel Affiliate Programmes

This panel explored how businesses can leverage affiliate marketing to enter new markets and drive growth in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. The discussion focused on building a robust online presence and crafting a comprehensive full-funnel content strategy. Attendees gained valuable insights into effective approaches for market penetration and maximising the potential of affiliate programmes to support sustained business success.

Thank you to our speakers:

• Moderator: Thomas Pothet, Client Services Manager, Rakuten Advertising
• Bethan Salemen, Senior Brand Partnerships Manager, Lyst
• Paloma Juncos, Global Head, Digital & Data Analytics, LOEWE
• Dunia Silan, SVP, Revenue for MENA, JAPAC, Skimlinks

The Fight Against Fraud

 We tackled the critical issue of fraud in affiliate marketing, exploring both new and traditional tactics that threaten transparency and performance. The discussion highlighted the impact of fraud on brands and partners, while sharing best practices for detection and prevention. Attendees left with strategies to safeguard their affiliate programs and maintain high performance in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Thank you to our speakers:

• Moderator: Nicole Wellman, Director, Client Services
• Ryan Irvine, Head of Global Sales, AdPolice
• Andy Cooney, Co-Founder, Marcode
• Chikay Lo, Founder, Lo Digital

Partnerships Unlocked: Navigating the Future for Travel Brands

Our travel mixer explored how travel brands can drive growth through innovative partnerships in a rapidly changing digital landscape. The panel delved into emerging travel booking trends, strategic collaborations, and practical solutions to overcome industry challenges. The group provided attendees with insights to help their brands adapt, thrive, and unlock new revenue opportunities in the evolving travel market.

Thank you to our speakers:

• Moderator: Harry Johns, Director of Sales, Rakuten Advertising
• Justin Reid, Senior Director or Media, TripAdvisor
• Murat Şahin, Online Product Development, Turkish Airlines
• Jack Wolf, Senior Sales and New Business Manager, Stylink

Speakers Corner

This year, we hosted Speakers Corner, an opportunity for up-and-coming publishers, AI and Video providers, content partners, and more to present their tools and tech to our DealMaker Europe audience. The group tackled the question: “How can the affiliate channel help me overcome my digital marketing hurdles? And “How can the affiliate channel help me drive incrementality?”.

This year’s speakers included Linkby, ufurnish, Edgevideo.ai, THIRD, Trinity Audio, Grwm, and Partnerboost. Thank you to this year’s speakers!

Golden Link Awards

 Our Golden Link Awards finished off the day’s festivities. There were more than 50 entries and 11 outstanding winners from the event! Read more about the full list of winners and those short-listed here. Congratulations to all!

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We wanted to extend our gratitude and appreciation for our events and marketing team, we couldn’t have accomplished DealMaker Europe without their leadership and support.

To stay up to date on upcoming Rakuten Advertising events, check out our events page.