PokerStars Affiliate Program New Affiliate ManagerPokerStars.com has hired an industry pro in Edward Ihre as the new director of affiliates for the PokerStars.com Affiliate Program.
Poker Affiliate World is looking forward to working with PokerStars to make this the best poker affiliate program in the industry.
PokerStars.com is proud to announce they have acquired one of the top affiliate directors in the industry. They have announced that Edward Ihre has officially joined the team as the new Director of the PokerStars.com affiliate program.
If you are looking for the Best PokerStars.com Marketing Code however then just look here.
In his new position, Edward hopes to build the PokerStars affiliate program to be the best poker affiliate program in the industry. He is also looking forward to being a member at Poker Affilate World and working with the PAW integrated affiliate back end.
With Edward Ihre at the helm of the affiliate program at the largest and most well known poker site on the internet, we are confident at PAW that PokerStars is about to become a major player in our industry.
Today we had the chance to sit down with Edward and ask him so additional questions about himself and the new PokerStars affiliate program.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, What is your background and how did you
get into the poker affiliate industry.
I am a soon-to-be-married 33 year-old. I am a Swede with an international background (US and Belgium mainly).
The one job that led me into this industry was as a Sales Director for a huge .com-venture back in 2000, called Sportal.com. I started there doing innovative deals with online betting companies. Once the company went bankrupt, I became Head of Business Development at TV-sports rights company called IEC in Sports. Once again there were contacts with the betting industry as we among other products, launched some betting applications to go along with the sports content. I was then recruited to become Managing Director of online betting exchange, Parbet.com. Since an online betting exchange very much relies on liquidity, have great relationship with the heavy punters/gamblers was key. I also worked out a system where those players would get discounts and other benefits if they were to recruit others to the site. I was then recruited to head the poorly managed affiliate program of PokerRoom.com back in 2004. What started off as a one-man department grew into being a department with a staff of 18 people, solely working with the affiliate program. After the acquisition of Ongame by Bwin, I decided it was time to move on and shortly thereafter, the good people at PokerStars contacted me.
2. What are some of the things that attracted you to Pokerstars.com?
Brand, Size, Technology and Opportunity
3. What is it like working for the largest and most well known poker site in the world?
Pride more than anything. Having the biggest brand and site in the industry behind you, makes your job as head of the affiliate department a lot easier. The people working there are also very good, experienced and knowledgeable so when you want things done, there is always someone able to do it.
4. In respect to the Pokerstars.com affiliate program, what are some of the exciting things you have planned?
The vision is to build a program that is flexible, automated and highly customized for everyone involved; affiliates, customers and managers. The plan is to make that a reality. I also plan to have the program to be a rather exclusive one so we will focus on the big affiliates, but also the ones who might not be that today but show us a dedication and potential to become big or unique. I urge affiliates and members of PAW to contact us and give us input on features they would like to see the new program have as now is the real chance for us all to design a program which everyone is happy with. If you want to give us input, please send it to affiliates@PokerStars.com and put: “Input for the new affiliate/partner program” in subject line. We would very much appreciate it.
5. Will PokerStars.com's affiliate program remain CPA only or will you be instituting an MGR program as well?
We probably will add MGR, but we will enforce a strict non-rakeback-policy still. We will probably implement a process and system to make sure that affiliates honour that agreement.
6. In your diverse industry experience, what would you say one trait is that almost all successful poker affiliates possess?
Affiliation is very much based on a good relationship between AM and Affiliates. The successful ones I have enjoyed working with are the affiliates who have shown the program and managers a mutual respect, professionalism, also they haven’t given promises they couldn’t keep and finally haven’t been too greedy. They have understood that we as an affiliate program also need to make profits.
7. On a global scale, in 5 years where do you see the online poker industry heading?
Exactly what the question implies I expect the online poker industry to be a global one by then (not only US, Nordic and UK), where affiliates play a key role to reach those other markets as local presence and knowledge are vital. I would also expect it to be available in multiple channels (Digital-TV, mobile and PDAs)
8. Thinking mid to long term, what is your #1 goal as the new director of affiliates at the worlds largest online poker room?
Make sure that we have a program which will provide an excellent service and necessary tools for affiliates in order to make their work as efficient and easy as possible.
9. And finally, do you play poker yourself, and if so are you a fish like most other affiliates?
Yes, I play a fair amount. I had the privilege to qualify and play the WSOP main event this year (even though I busted out day 1..) so I would say I am a decent player.
|
Jun 17, 2008
