James Little and Hannah Wharrier are the founders of Affilifest, the UK affiliate marketing event bringing festival energy, community and creativity into a traditionally corporate conference world.
Hosted at Dreamland Margate, Affilifest has become one of the most talked-about events in the affiliate and performance marketing industry, combining serious business networking with rollercoasters, tattoos, beach breakfasts, live panels, karaoke, brand activations and a completely different approach to industry events.
If you are looking to unlock the internet’s fastest growing marketing channel, connect with the team at RevWise: https://revwise.com/
James and Hannah break down how Affilifest started, why they chose Dreamland Margate, how they built a standout event brand, and why memorable experiences create stronger business relationships than bland conference rooms.
They also explore the wider affiliate marketing landscape, including cashback incrementality, publisher discovery, cookie consent, ICO guidance, AI tools, media mix modelling, Women in Affiliate, leadership, personal branding and why brands need to think differently about partnerships.
We will be doing an episode of Marketing Over Milkshakes live from Affilifest, so if you would like to be in the audience live, get you tickets to at www.affilifest.com/register
James and Hannah share:
- How Affilifest became one of the UK’s most talked-about affiliate events
- Why Dreamland Margate became the home of Affilifest
- How “festivalisation” is changing affiliate marketing conferences
- Why memorable experiences create better business relationships
- Why Affilifest is free for advertisers and publishers
- How AI is helping founders, events teams and affiliate businesses move faster
- Why Women in Affiliate became one of Affilifest’s proudest projects
- Why brands need better ways to discover new and innovative publishers
Key Moments:
00:00 - Affilifest, Dreamland and the festival energy
03:17 - Work hard, play hard and affiliate industry culture
07:14 - Introducing James Little and Hannah Warrior
08:39 - Building the UK’s most talked-about affiliate event
09:43 - The story behind the matching tattoos
13:11 - How the idea for Affilifest started
16:44 - Taking Affilifest to the USA and Australia
17:06 - Why affiliate events matter to new agencies
19:49 - Keeping Affilifest free for brands and publishers
22:09 - Hannah’s journey from Affiliate Summit to AffiliateFest
24:06 - Why Dreamland Margate became the home of Affilifest
29:07 - Why work events should feel like Glastonbury
30:55 - Making events fun and valuable for business
35:10 - Bringing Affilifest to Manchester
36:45 - Brand roundtables and putting advertisers first
39:08 - Using ChatGPT to find event speakers
41:05 - The business model behind events
43:15 - Building a culturally confident brand
44:13 - Creating bold event formats that build brand
45:37 - Why not everyone has to like your brand
47:24 - Designing events for the next generation
53:28 - Platforming new affiliate industry voices
56:35 - Why Affilifest does not sell sponsored talks
57:26 - Using AI to improve live events
1:09:07 - James on TopCashback and cashback marketing
1:15:15 - The debate around cashback incrementality
1:18:05 - ICO guidance, cookies and cashback tracking
1:21:35 - Why better tracking can increase conversions by 30–40%
1:25:22 - Why passion matters in affiliate marketing
1:30:00 - How Hannah’s fiance used ChatGPT for engagement proposal
1:32:34 - How AI helps startups move faster
1:38:41 - Launching Women in Affiliate
1:42:16 - James’ proudest AffiliateFest moment
1:45:11 - Personal style, confidence and standing out
1:51:23 - Why Hannah changed her mind about panels
1:53:51 - What leadership really means
1:57:45 - The biggest opportunities brands are missing
1:59:37 - Why brands need better publisher discovery
