Why partner with Customer First Digital...
Chunk of Devon and Baked to Taste approached Customer First Digital in 2023 by a referral from a premium partner of ours. With a lack of expertise and affiliates being a completely new channel for Chunk of Devon and Baked to Taste, there was scepticism of whether affiliates was right for the two brands or not.
We spoke to Rakuten Advertising to discuss the potential of the Food Industry within affiliates and to review the viability of both brands being in one affiliate programme, to reduce costs.
Our key objectives from the project included …
Objective 1: A smooth onboarding process and to achieve the publisher launch targets
Objective 2: Achieve the new 24/25 financial year Revenue and Return On Investment targets (initial 3 month targets)
Objective 3: Achieve the overall forecasted Revenue and Return On Investment targets set out for the financial year
The brand signed an initial 3 month agreement, with the option to extend if the targets were met and the brand was happy with our service.
What has been delivered so far…
Phase 1 - Pre-Launching and onboarding for peak: As the programme launched in November, (notoriously difficult to recruit / activate), we engaged with priority publishers during October, to pre book our integration and provide assets. We also offered an increased commission (12% New / 8% Existing) and promoted with collateral and an exclusive code at a PI Live Networking Event. We recruited / activated 44 publishers in the first 2 months.
Phase 2 - Two brands, one programme: To avoid misunderstanding, bespoke communications and incentives were developed for each brand: Virtual meetings with publishers, different incentives (commissions / codes), product gifting across editorial publishers, brand centric educational content and close collaboration with both Rakuten Advertising's and select publisher's tech team for integration.
Phase 3 - Brand Exposure (CPAi/Tenancy): With low brand awareness vs the high competition and no tenancy budget, we leveraged publisher relationships, gaining additional exposure for increased commission (including Home Page / Category / Newsletters). Chunk of Devon secured 160 pieces with 18 publishers and Baked to Taste secured 117 pieces with 11 publishers. This ensured brand awareness grew +23% for Chiunk of Devon and +39% for Baked to Taste.
In Year 2, tenancy budget was secured and publisher, Savoo was selected initially, due to positive performance across other programmes, the lifetime integration and category exposure gained just before the peak period, generating a 2:1 ROI in 3 months.
How Chunk of Devon and Baked to Taste have benefited…
The strong partnerships formed between Customer First Digital and Rakuten Advertising has enabled both brands (via the same programme) outperform their set targets with continuous growth across both brands.
11.2%
INCREASE IN REVENUE
VS. THE ORIGINAL FORECAST
14.6%
HIGHER ROI
VS. THE ORIGINAL FORECAST
AFFILIATE CONTRIBUTION GROWTH
|
Q1 4.6% |
Q2 8% |
|---|---|
|
Q3 8.7% |
Q4 12.7% |
AFFILIATE CONTRIBUTION GROWTH
|
Q1 3.3% |
Q2 3.6% |
|---|---|
|
Q3 4.6% |
Q4 6.1% |
What we think…
"Partnering with Customer First Digital and Rakuten has proved a highly effective for Chunk of Devon and Baked to Taste. Their expertise in affiliate marketing, strategic onboarding, and publisher engagement delivered strong early results, exceeding our initial revenue and ROI targets. The growth in brand awareness and sustained performance improvements have proven the value of this channel, and we’re excited to continue building on this momentum in 2025."
Matt
Head of eCommerce
Chunk of Devon & Baked to Taste