Weiss Digital Consulting

About Me

Hi! I'm Adam, Affiliate Marketing consultant & former General Manager & SVP of the Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network (LinkShare).

I am passionate about the affiliate industry & all things related to performance marketing. I have almost 20 years of experience working with Publishers, who I believe are the lifeblood of our ecosystem, true innovators in our space, and shaping the changing e-commerce landscape with tools & technology to provide end users with a better consumer experience.

I spent the first few years of my career at 24/7 Media & About.com on the Publisher side of the business. I then spent 14+ years at Rakuten Marketing (fka LinkShare) and lead the development and growth of the business. This included development of the Publisher Network as well as Product Strategy and various corporate development activities. Most recently, I ran the entire Affiliate Marketing business when I was General Manager/SVP, responsible for the US P&L of the channel where I consistently grew an enterprise level business year over year, retained & optimized our customer base, and continued to drive innovation & growth of the overall Affiliate business.

Now I run my own affiliate consulting practice, focused on the Publisher & Technology side of the performance marketing ecosystem. I've worked with a wide variety of Publishers with different models, goals, and objectives to develop & support partnership development, monetization strategies & a variety of other initiatives all focused on growth of their businesses.

I've worked with and helped thousands of Advertisers & Publishers over the course of my career succeed from the basics of getting started with performance marketing to strategy & optimization of a mature program. I'd be happy to provide my knowledge, expertise, and know how to make your business successful!

I live in New York, and I'm a lifelong and die hard New York Mets fan. This unto itself is evidence of my loyalty & ability to take on challenges and withstand any type of adversity!

Public Speaking

Looking for someone to speak at your next event? Below is a sample of some of the various keynotes & panels I've given over the years.

Martech Record Panel Discussion: Past, Present and Future of Affiliate. A Discussion on Growth
Partner Networking Workshop: Evolution of the Publisher Ecosystem
Brand Innovators Social Media Summit: Unleashing the Power of Social Media
Brand Innovators Fashion and Beauty Conference: E-Commerce and Direct Marketing Re-Invent the Shopping Experience
Ad Age Data Conference: Sponsorship Speaker
Americas Customer Festival: Data strategies to drive exceptional campaigns
Influencer Marketing Days: The Innovation Shift to Empower Emerging Influencers & Brands
Affiliate Summit East Running a Network: Business, Legal & Practical
Affiliate Summit East Ask the Affiliate Networks
Rakuten Marketing Symposium (New York, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Toronto, London) - consistent speaker at client event for past 14 years. Executive Remarks, Panel Discussions, Education sessions, and Advisory Boards.

Publications, Podcasts, Mentions, & More...

Profitable Performance Marketing Podcast - Episode 1
Pepperjam Peptalks Podcast - Why Affiliate is an Agile Mainstay in Every Smart Marketers’ Arsenal
Snyder Showdown Podcast - The Affiliate & Performance Model with Adam Weiss
Martech Record: Creating a Framework for your Affiliate Paid Placement Spend
Weiss Digital on Medium: Perseverance of Performance Marketing
GeniusLink Blog: An Interview with Adam Weiss
Forbes: Why PayPal Paid $4 Billion for Honey Science
PerformanceIn:
mThink:
MarketingLand.com – various monthly thought leadership articles spanning 3 years.
Wall Street Journal: How Style Bloggers Earn Sales Commissions, One Click at a Time
Influencer Marketing Days: State of Influencer Marketing
ClickZ: Affiliate Marketing: What Marketers Need to Know From 4 Experts
MarketingDive: Why Affiliate Marketing is a Growing Opportunity for Advertisers
Performance Partnerships by Robert Glazer (Affiliate Link)
Press Release: Affiliate Marketing Industry to Grow to $6.8 Billion Over Next Five Years

Testimonials

I've had the good fortune to work with so many great people in the Affiliate Marketing industry over the years.

Hear what some have to say...

"I've had the pleasure of working with Adam for many years in a variety of of capacities. First as a strategic partner, and more recently, as a consultant. Adam brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, vital to growing and adapting business strategies, to meet ever changing client needs. As a consultant, Adam identified and evaluated gaps in the market place. With his help, we quickly added those recommendations to our road map. I would not hesitate to work with him again in any/all capacities. He is a consummate professional; timely, efficient and strategic."

– Craig O’Neill, GM/CRO Savings.com

"Adam's knowledge of affiliate marketing is second-to-none. Adam knows everyone, every strategy, and every aspect of performance marketing. He has been a trusted source of knowledge and insight over the past 10 years."

– Andrew Landau, Founder & CEO Jewel Commerce

"I've had the pleasure of working with Adam as both a colleague while we were at Linkshare/Rakuten together and then later as a client of Weiss Digital. There are no brighter minds in the digital marketing world and few that are more respected by their peers in the space as is Adam."

– Greg Doran, CEO Ticket Evolution

"We met Adam early in the launch of Goodshop and since then Adam has been a constant resource for us. His deep knowledge and connections in the affiliate industry helped us grow our business. He not only has provided subject matter expertise but also shown a genuine care and interest in what we've been doing as a Publisher and a desire to help us succeed. There is no one who knows more about this space and helping Publishers monetize and build successful relationships than Adam!"

– JJ Ramberg, Founder Goodshop.com

"Adam's one of those rare individuals who can translate experience into foresight and expertise into insight. Whenever I want to know what's coming down the road next, he's my first call."

– Evan Labb, VP & GM Prodege

“I’ve known Adam for several years when I was at Savings.com and more closely when I was at Slickdeals. He was a strong leader at Linkshare/Rakuten and was always a great partner trying to find win/win solutions for both publishers and advertisers. He has such a deep knowledge of the affiliate & digital marketing space and his extensive network of impactful relationships make him invaluable to any publisher or advertiser. The most notable attribute though is that Adam is personable, good-hearted and a fun-loving guy so it’s easy to engage with him.”

– Greg Kim, CMO & Head of Corporate Development SlickDeals

My daughter insisted on being a part of this too!

"Adam has helped me through so many different things in life. I will always appreciate what he has done for me. I know he's my father, but it still counts."