For those of you who are just getting to know me, I got a lot of laughs for my A Day In The Life of An Affiliate Manager post that I did on the Income Access blog, as part of my campaign to win the iGamingBusiness affiliate awards Best Affiliate Manager of 2009 award.

Luckily, it looks like at least a few people realized I was being facetious, and I got the call last Friday from my co-workers in London that I won Best Non-Traditional Affiliate Manager. I, of course, played it off with a lot of smug jokes about this being a “non-traditional honor”, but deep down, I’m actually very happy that of all the categories I was nominated for (Poker, Sports Betting, etc..), I was chosen for Non Traditional. I’ve always felt that the true art of affiliate marketing management is creativity and flexibility, regardless of industry or brand, and if someone is viewed as “Non Traditional”, that can only be a good thing.

Here’s the quote I sent to Marit from IGB (who coincidentally is Colombian!!) regarding the honor:

Working with Income Access over the last few years has been a constant thrill, as each new client presents a unique set of needs, goals and problems to overcome. In order to best suit his/her clients’ needs, an affiliate manager needs to identify their core strengths and weaknesses and apply strategies to help them achieve long term success. In this way, every client that we work with at Income Access is “Non Traditional”.

In particular, I think our work with mFortune over the last year has epitomised this commitment to building custom solutions for each of our clients. As an operator that functions almost exclusively in the mobile space, we had to put aside our traditional strategies and relationships and develop a whole new network of mobile affiliates, and build custom solutions based on their needs.

Being nominated and ultimately chosen for this award shows that these efforts did not go unnoticed. It’s an honour to be chosen as best Non-traditional Affiliate Manager and I look forward to more exciting innovation and creativity in 2010.

I think that just about perfectly sums up how I feel. 2010 is just kicking off and I’ve got a new title, some great new clients, and a brand new blog. And in keeping with this new title, I pledge to at all times adhere to Non-Traditionality, whether it be in my affiliate marketing strategies, my musical preferences, or my approach to blogging, because, well, YOU DESERVE IT.

Non traditionally yours.