James Little and Hannah Wharrier Reveal How They Built Affilifest To Become The Glastonbury Of Affiliate Marketing

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 eventsWhy Dreamland Margate became the home of AffilifestHow “festivalisation” is changing affiliate marketing conferencesWhy memorable experiences create better business relationshipsWhy Affilifest is free for advertisers and publishersHow AI is helping founders, events teams and affiliate businesses move fasterWhy Women in Affiliate became one of Affilifest’s proudest projectsWhy brands need better ways to discover new and innovative publishers Key Moments:00:00 - Affilifest, Dreamland and the festival energy03:17 - Work hard, play hard and affiliate industry culture07:14 - Introducing James Little and Hannah Warrior08:39 - Building the UK’s most talked-about affiliate event09:43 - The story behind the matching tattoos13:11 - How the idea for Affilifest started16:44 - Taking Affilifest to the USA and Australia17:06 - Why affiliate events matter to new agencies19:49 - Keeping Affilifest free for brands and publishers22:09 - Hannah’s journey from Affiliate Summit to AffiliateFest24:06 - Why Dreamland Margate became the home of Affilifest29:07 - Why work events should feel like Glastonbury30:55 - Making events fun and valuable for business35:10 - Bringing Affilifest to Manchester36:45 - Brand roundtables and putting advertisers first39:08 - Using ChatGPT to find event speakers41:05 - The business model behind events43:15 - Building a culturally confident brand44:13 - Creating bold event formats that build brand45:37 - Why not everyone has to like your brand47:24 - Designing events for the next generation53:28 - Platforming new affiliate industry voices56:35 - Why Affilifest does not sell sponsored talks57:26 - Using AI to improve live events1:09:07 - James on TopCashback and cashback marketing1:15:15 - The debate around cashback incrementality1:18:05 - ICO guidance, cookies and cashback tracking1:21:35 - Why better tracking can increase conversions by 30–40%1:25:22 - Why passion matters in affiliate marketing1:30:00 - How Hannah’s fiance used ChatGPT for engagement proposal1:32:34 - How AI helps startups move faster1:38:41 - Launching Women in Affiliate1:42:16 - James’ proudest AffiliateFest moment1:45:11 - Personal style, confidence and standing out1:51:23 - Why Hannah changed her mind about panels1:53:51 - What leadership really means1:57:45 - The biggest opportunities brands are missing1:59:37 - Why brands need better publisher discovery