Advertiser of the Year

In this category, it’s all about performance. And you’ll have the numbers to prove it. Our judges are looking for a well-executed affiliate program. You’ll have utilised our partners, expertise, data and insights to bring a program to life and overdeliver on results like no other.

Open to: Advertisers or agencies

Publisher of the Year

In this category, we want to highlight our publishers who have taken their partnerships to the next level to deliver a powerful one-two punch. You’ll represent the pinnacle of performance for your partnered brands and epitomises the essence of a ‘win-win’ relationship. 

Open to: Publishers

Partnership of the Year

Has one of your partnerships outperformed all expectations? We want to hear from you. Maybe you’ve been creative with commission rates or come up with a smart new strategy? We’re looking for a partnership between an advertiser and a publisher that has delivered next-level results.

Open to: Advertisers and publishers (an award will be given to both parties in the submission)

Affiliate Manager of the Year (Advertiser)

Behind all high-performing affiliate programs are the exceptional individuals or teams who are going above and beyond to deliver results. This award is your chance to put yourself or your team in the limelight. We will be recognising those individuals or teams who are the driving force behind program performance.

Open to: Advertiser-side or agency-side affiliate manager or team

Affiliate Manager of the Year (Publisher)

In this category, we want to highlight publisher-side affiliate managers or teams who are creating a better calibre of advertising experience. You or your team will be optimising every partnership to drive a real connection with your audience – and one that delivers results for you and your advertiser partners.

Open to: Publisher-side affiliate manager or team

Advertiser of the Year (Self-Managed)

This award celebrates exceptional performance from a self-managed advertiser, highlighting your ability to independently manage your partnership program with unparalleled results. We're looking for proof of your success, demonstrated by high engagement with the Rakuten Advertising platform and impressive results.

Open to: Advertisers or agencies

Best International Strategy 

We live and breathe global expansion. This category is for our trailblazing partners who are driving next-level performance across borders. Whether you’ve scaled across Europe, LATAM, the US—or all the above—we want to celebrate your global success.

Open to: Advertisers, agencies or publishers

The Outthink & Outperform Award

With us, it’s about outperforming. In this category, we’re looking for brands who are outthinking their competition. Whether that’s implementing a smart new strategy, taking advantage of a bold new opportunity or creatively executing a new idea – we want to hear how you’ve brought something new to the industry over the last 12 months.

Open to: Advertisers, agencies or publishers

Best Content Partnership

We want to celebrate your content partnership wins! Whether through innovative strategies or unique initiatives, we're seeking dynamic, high-performing, results-driven content partnerships between advertisers and publishers that have delivered remarkable outcomes.

Open to: Advertisers and content publishers (an award will be given to both parties in the submission)

Agency of the Year

For this entry, collaboration is key. This is your opportunity to show strong results from an affiliate program managed by an agency. Show the judges your thoughtful strategy and strong results your agency has achieved with a client on the Rakuten Advertising network.

Open to: Agencies

Advertisers’ Choice Award

Which publisher is driving real value for your business? All advertisers on our network will be given the opportunity to nominate their ‘Advertisers’ Choice’. The winner will be voted on live at DealMaker Australia. 

Open to: Publishers

Publishers’ Choice Award

We want to hear which advertiser you feel has truly excelled over the last 12 months. All publishers on our network will be given the opportunity to nominate their ‘Publishers’ Choice’. The winner will be voted on live at DealMaker Australia. 

Open to: Advertisers or agencies

Rakuten Rep of the Year

Our team members are our secret sauce: Pulling from our unique expertise, data and insights, they devise strategies and opportunities to help you get the most out of your campaigns. This is your opportunity to celebrate our bright and ambitious talent that ensure you outperform. Every single time. The winner will be determined by vote from each award submission.

Open to: Advertisers, agencies or publishers