The Affiliate Marketing Podcast
We're on a quest to help the world do affiliate marketing, better. Join your host Lee-Ann Johnstone, CEO of Affiverse an award winning Agency and Top 50 UK Affiliate Agency Owner as voted in The Drum Agency Census 2021 and listen to her podcast series all about Affiliate and Performance Marketing.
Learn from an array of digital marketing veterans, business entrepreneurs, SaaS product providers and more to discover how digital and affiliate marketing is constantly changing.
Hear how brands are building successful affiliate programs and driving consistent partner referrals and sales. Subscribe to hear exactly what it takes to launch, scale and grow a successful affiliate program in this fast moving digital age.
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The Affiliate Marketing Podcast
Affiliate Story: From Side Hustle to Global Publisher Platform
What happens when passion meets persistence in affiliate marketing?
George Sullivan turned repeated program rejections into fuel for building The Sole Supplier—a content-first publisher that now drives millions in sales across Europe's biggest fashion retailers. In this candid conversation with host Lee-Ann Johnstone, George reveals the brutal early days of building an affiliate business, the moment everything changed, and why the industry's future belongs to publishers who can make people feel something.
This episode is essential listening for affiliate managers who want to understand what life looks like on the other side of the partnership—and for aspiring publishers who need proof that starting with nothing but conviction can lead somewhere extraordinary.
Talking points include:
- The psychological impact of program rejections on early-stage publishers (and how managers can turn gatekeeping into guidance)
- Why putting a human face to your brand remains the most powerful growth lever in an AI-saturated landscape
- The shift from siloed marketing departments to integrated teams—and what it means for partnership budgets
Listen to find out more about:
- Why George believes purely transactional affiliate models face existential risk from AI—and where the sustainable opportunity lies
- The specific moment when The Sole Supplier's revenue scaled beyond George's recruitment salary (and why he still waited to quit)
- How treating affiliate managers as friends rather than vendors creates compounding advantages over time
Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune in to go direct:
[03:03] The backstory: from ten failed jobs to founding The Sole Supplier at 22
[13:28] The post-COVID shift that killed top-of-funnel budgets—and why brands are reversing course now
[26:10] The five things every affiliate manager needs to hear about building genuine partnerships
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