5 minutes with...

Please provide a brief introduction to yourself & Bauer Media

Born in Perth, Western Australia, I’ve always wanted to work in London. The brand opportunities, talent, and the creative solutions – it’s an absolute hot spot for anyone like me working in Media. Lucky enough, I joined Bauer in the middle of the pandemic after a year at News Corp UK and previously to that, at a fashion brand in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Working in the Affiliate team, I initially started as a Commercial Content Writer across our more lifestyle and specialist brands (being Grazia, Heatworld, Closer, Mother & Baby, YOURS and What’s The Best) but have edged into a more hybrid role onboarding new brands editorially to pitching, project managing and optimising commercial campaigns.

Give us the inside scoop, what is your favourite part about working as Affiliate Business Development Executive?

Tough question as there are quite a few parts to this position that I love! Since I am the only person working across all our brands in this manner, I am currently heading up everything commercial affiliate for agency and brands direct which opens a whole lot of doors when it comes to securing quite diverse (and cool!) partnerships and intertwining affiliate into wider cross-platform campaigns.

Affiliate is also an area of high growth for not just us (and other publishing houses) but for brands and agencies who are after an affordable and measurable content strategy with a high ROI. Interestingly, a lot of my time is spent educating people about Affiliate and its benefits, as now it has almost switched from being just an alternative method for gaining more exposure (and one which will eventually work in tandem with all editorial teams without sacrificing journalistic integrity) to being the key part or ‘the in’ as I like to say.

With a background in creative strategy and video creation, I do see the importance of ensuring our offerings are innovative and remain competitive. If there's a new way we can engage our audiences, I want to hear about it. An example being, we have just introduced virtual shopping video solutions to our Affiliate offerings which I’m excited to see grow. Let me know if this is of interest, and I’d be happy to setup a call 😉

What types of products and price points are you personally looking to feature?

This varies massively as we have such a diverse range of brands across all categories which as you can imagine, offers a wide scope for featuring products. I would say, however, that regardless of the price (to a degree), if the product is on brand and adds value to one of our Affiliate roundups, there’s certainly a place for it. It’s also not about what’s the most expensive on the market and, usually, these products aren’t the ones trending anyway.

What advice would you give a PR pitching to get your attention and secure coverage from you?

Although we love receiving emails with the hottest new products on the market, we do get a lot of them. If you can simplify your pitch, make sure your USP is known, and include only the key information (with a high-res product image), that’s a great start. I know samples aren’t always available, but place this in the header of the email if they are. I would also say building relationships with key journalists is the secret to it all. At Bauer, all Affiliate writers have been assigned to a certain category and work very closely with editorial. Lifestyle, for example, would be Grazia, Heat and Closer. Find out who these writers are or ask me for an intro!

We see from your Instagram that you have travelled all over the world! What is your favourite place you have ever visited?

Brazil. The people, views, and culture – it’s hard not to love a place like this (caipirinhas included)! Living in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival was also quite a memorable experience.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself!

My cousin has the exact same name as me!

Emily’s Recent Article:

Feature piece: For Women In Football, It’s About Time We Level The Playing Field | Grazia (graziadaily.co.uk)