How do you run affiliate programmes across multiple brands, markets, and networks, and still keep profitability front and centre?

In this episode of The Affiliate Marketing Diaries, I sit down with Savia Pettinella, Growth & Performance Marketing Specialist at AS Watson (parent group of Superdrug, Marionnaud and other leading retail brands).

Savia shares a scientific yet practical approach to affiliate marketing: benchmarking ROAS against PPC channels, tailoring publisher mixes to market maturity, and managing complex data challenges across multiple networks. She also opens up about the messy realities of attribution discrepancies, low consent rates, and why proactive publisher relationships matter more than ever.

We also look ahead at the AI era: with Google’s AI search overviews reducing clicks to affiliate sites, how should brands and publishers rethink content and customer engagement strategies?

What we talk about:

• Why affiliate consistently outperforms paid search and social for ROAS
• The pros and pitfalls of multi-network programme management
• How to tailor publisher mixes and CPAs by brand and market
• The importance of dynamic commissioning and active relationship management
• Why attribution and consent data remain stubborn challenges
• AI’s disruptive potential for affiliate publishers and brand visibility

Listen out for:

“Affiliate is one of the few channels where you pay only when you win. That discipline forces smarter decisions.” – Savia Pettinella

Links and References:

• AS Watson
• Connect with Savia on LinkedIn
• Navigate Digital
• Connect with David on LinkedIn

Affiliate Marketing Diaries is brought to you by Navigate Digital – the UK's specialist affiliate marketing agency.

In each episode, we sit down with the people behind the programs – marketers, publishers, tech providers and network leads – to uncover how affiliate marketing really works from the inside out.

You’ll hear honest reflections, smart strategies, and practical lessons from the frontlines of performance marketing – what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what’s coming next.

For show notes, transcripts, and all previous episodes, visit navigatedigital.com/podcast.

Found something useful in this episode? Let us know – or better yet, share it with someone navigating the same challenges. And if you’d like help launching or growing your affiliate programme, get in touch.

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