2025 Rakuten Optimism Golden Link Awards | Finalists Announced

Rakuten is excited to bring our annual Golden Link Awards to the main stage this year at Optimism. We will be hosting the Golden Link Award Ceremony on night two of Rakuten’s Optimism on May 28^th, 2025. It’s an event you won’t want to miss!

A Night of Enchantment: The Golden Link Awards will be filled with mystery and allure. The evening will feature dazzling entertainment, mystical fortune tellers, in-theme makeup artists, and a captivating magician. Get ready for a night of celebration, surprises, and old-world glamour — where elegance meets extraordinary! Seating is limited, so make sure to register for Optimism today and select the Golden Link Award session.

2025 Golden Link Award Finalists:

Best Influencer Campaign

• H&M and Collective Voice
• Princess Polly and LinkPrefer
• Red Wing Shoes and SmileKOLs
• Saks and Collective Voice
• Sam’s Club and BrandCycle
• Shopbop and ShopMy

Best Campaign Optimization

• Ashley and Apartment Therapy
• Bloomingdale’s
• Estée Lauder and 55Haitao
• Macy’s
• Sephora
• Synchrony Bank

Best Cause-Based Campaign

• Coach
• Klarna’s “Circular by Design”
• Savings.com
• ShopSimon.com
• TerraCycle

Best Global Campaign

• 24S and Shoplooks
• Diesel and SPRNV
• LEGO
• MANGO
• The Collagen Co. & The Thoughtful Agency
• Udemy

Best Collaboration

• Canadian Down & Feather Company and Aeroplan
• Citi and Credit Karma
• FRAME and Team Bespoke
• Harrods and Dealmoon
• JP Morgan Wealth Management and BestMoney
• Saks OFF 5TH and Afterpay
• SoFi and Rakuten

Best Collaboration with Rakuten

• Alliant Credit Union
• Bluemercury
• Bobbi Brown Cosmetics
• Neiman Marcus
• Newegg
• Sephora
• Kate Spade

Affiliate Team of the Year

• Sarah Speranza, Clinique
• Cole Haan
• Dyson Affiliate Team
• Frank Ravanelli, FOREO Affiliate Team
• Moroccanoil Affiliate Team

Agency of the Year

• Advertise Purple
• GroupM
• January Digital
• JEBCommerce
• Seven Square Media
• Versa Marketing Inc

Advertiser of the Year

• Bloomingdale’s
• Bluemercury
• Chase Credit Cards
• Giftcards.com
• JD Sports
• ShopSimon.com
• Tory Burch

Publisher of the Year

• Capital One Shopping
• CreditKarma
• Dealmoon
• Klarna
• RedVentures
• Wildfire Systems, Inc.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The winner of our Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced live at the end of the Rakuten Optimism Golden Link Awards!

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We also have to give an enormous shout-out to our esteemed panel of industry judges. Every year, these judges read through every single nomination to select a winner and we are honored to have their expertise:

Jim Nichols – Founder of Exclamation Marketing Solutions and Board Member of the Performance Marketing Association

Matthew Wood – Founder of Hello Partner, PI Live, CreatorFest, and Influencer Marketing Show.

Tricia Meyer – Executive Director of the Performance Marketing Association

We are thrilled to see you at Optimism this year at the 2025 Rakuten Optimism Golden Link Awards, where we announce the winners!

Want to see who took home the gold last year? Check out the 2024 Rakuten Golden Link Award winner blog.