Vice's Curated Affiliate Program Picks Identity Over Profit

Sex, drugs, art and food—Vice has written about them for nearly three decades, and now the publisher wants to parlay that authority into revenue. On Tuesday, Vice Media Group announced the launch of Rec Room, its first foray into the world of affiliate marketing. The four-person team has already begun publishing a handful of recommendations a day, most of which aim to spotlight the work of independent vendors and creators from marginalized backgrounds. While this hand-picked approach taps into consumer preferences, it could likely lead to slimmer profits. Spotlighting independent vendors Although Vice had been considering a push into the affiliate sphere for some time, the ecommerce boom heralded by stay-at-home orders and the success of Refinery29’s affiliate program, Most Wanted, convinced the publisher to launch the project now. The brand was also encouraged by the success it has seen through its Shoppable Wednesdays on Instagram, a program in which the publisher highlights products on the platform and encourages its users to swipe up to shop. And it's not alone: Publishers of all types are leaning into ecommerce as a serious source of revenue. In 2020, Hearst UK’s ecommerce revenue grew 322%, The Strategist saw an 85% year-over-year increase in revenue during the second quarter, and Marie Claire’s ecommerce revenue in the first seven months of 2020 was equal to what it generated for the entire 2019, according to reporting from Digiday. In the highly saturated world of online commerce, Vice hopes its decades of brand-building will differentiate it from its competition. By focusing on independent creators with an eye toward socially conscious products, Rec Room aims to capitalize on the natural inclination of Vice readers to support grassroots, mission-driven businesses. “A product needs to give us the ‘thingles,” said Marissa Rosenblum, the brand’s vice president of affiliate and consumer products, “but we don’t want to ‘feed the beast.’ We’re not latching onto one big-box retailer and making a revenue plan around them.” The decision to work with smaller, artisanal vendors like Dad Grass, a Los Angeles-based purveyor of CBD joints, brings Vice another advantage. For one, it aligns with the brand identity that the publisher has been building for decades. “When you think of Vice, you immediately have a sense of the kinds of products they might sell,” said Saad Siddiqui, the CEO of the content commerce business Bonsai. Readers browsing Rec Room will find articles such as "How to Shop for Jeans as a Non-Binary Person" and "How to Buy Art from San Quentin Death Row Inmates." Later this year, it hopes to launch a program similar to Refinery29’s Buy Black storefront, which supports Black businesses and grew out of a Vice program called Black+. At least initially, the commercial arm plans to focus on a number of brand-aligned industries: CBD, food, art, literature, and sexual wellness, especially for men. Vice's narrow brand focus also heightens its ability to push products, because successful affiliate programs are rooted in authenticity, a virtue Vice has in spades. “The tighter and narrower a point of view the publisher develops with its commerce content, the more successful they will be,” Siddiqui said. Whether an affiliate program zeroes in on small businesses, Black-owned businesses, sustainable businesses, or cruelty-free businesses, the same logic applies: Whatever the angle, a successful affiliate program has to have one. Onboarding challenges and technical limitations In the world of affiliate ecommerce, the majority of gross merchandise volume comes from big box retailers and brands, Siddiqui said. “According to Bonsai’s internal data, multibrand retailers still account for the single largest share of GMV for publishers’ affiliate strategies, in part due to the breath and depth of SKUs available,” Siddiqui said. In choosing to eschew the traditional route to affiliate success, Vice differentiates itself from its competition, but at a cost. While it is interesting for Vice to develop a point of view about your local knickknack provider, the likelihood that they’re going to drive meaningful revenue for the brand is orders of magnitude smaller.Saad Siddiqui, CEO of Bonsai Working with a raft of independent vendors can present onboarding challenges and technical limitations. Rather than establishing a business relationship once and profiting off it indefinitely, Vice will have to routinely scout out new merchants, establish a working relationship, and incorporate the brand into their program. These operational costs make working with small businesses a more time-intensive effort. In addition to these heightened costs, Vice could also generate smaller returns by working with grassroots vendors whose products could cost less. Taken in tandem, the strategy risks the company investing more effort for a smaller profit. “While it is interesting for Vice to develop a point of view about your local knickknack provider, the likelihood that they’re going to drive meaningful revenue for the brand is orders of magnitude smaller,” Siddiqui said. Still, such a sacrifice might be a price Vice is willing to pay for the brand differentiation their strategy promises. By doubling down on a mission-driven angle, the publisher hopes to become the ecommerce destination for readers who see their identity reflected in the Vice brand. “We know that our audience is going to shop,” Rosenblum said. “They might as well shop with us.” Vice Media Group Is Finally Holding Itself Accountable to DEI

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With Its Curated Affiliate Program, Vice Prioritizes Identity Over Profit

Rec Room aims to convert irreverence into revenue

Mark Stenberg

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