When I came up with the title for this posting, I had to do some serious thinking in order to compare the two.  I love both football and affiliate marketing, and I figured that there has to be some sort of a common ground between them…and I think that I have found it.
So, let’s start with the Indianapolis Colts and Upromise.  Both are very powerful organizations.  Right now, the Colts have not really had a serious breakdown (except for the 1st quarter against my Redskins last weekend) but it is come to be expected that they will prevail.  They are the big team with big expectations, strong players, and good management.  Upromise is the big loyalty affiliate, similar to the Colts.  We expect so many things from them, as we do from the Colts, however what if they do not perform.  Do we loose trust in them?  Do we abandon our loyalty toward them?  Would you give up on the Colts…never, when you are a fan, you are pretty much a fan for a long time.  Of course there are exceptions, but pretty much, you stick with your team…win or lose.  I am a Upromise fan.
Next, I would like to tackle the San Diego Chargers, and compare them to a coupon affiliate.  Both rely on a special player to succeed.  When I was at The Affiliate Summit in Orlando this past year, I sat in on a session featuring Brad, from BradsDeals.com.  Brad flat out said that he relies on coupons and will not take on a merchant without them.  In this case, Brad relies on one thing to make his site work…as do the Chargers.  They rely on LT to make their team work.  Both BradsDeals.com and the Chargers gear their organizations around one thing…but what if that one thing stops performing?  Where does that leave Brad and the chargers?  Should they be building a backup to rely on?  Now, I like coupon sites and I try to get Pepperjam merchants on them, but I also manage accounts that do not believe in coupons.  Do I get sacked?
Lastly, I would like to compare a search marketing affiliate to the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Eagles have strong players at key positions in both offense and defense.  Search affiliates utilize the two major search engines…Google and Yahoo, to draw traffic.  They realize that although one search engine may be more powerful then the other, they come with a strong presence on both.  Offense and Google tend to be more exciting, or at least more of a draw but no one in their right mind can push defense and Yahoo to the back burner.  I will compare Brian Westbrook to Google and The Dawg to Yahoo.  To make the Eagles work, both are needed, and to make Search Marketing successful for affiliates, both Google and Yahoo are needed.  You can try to survive for a little while without one or the other, but you will not win the Superbowl, nor will your affiliate business be successful.
 So that is it, my comparison of football and affiliate marketing.  Hope it was insightful and useful.  Stay tuned for more.
 

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