The bustling halls of Lisbon witnessed countless handshakes, pitch sessions, and partnership discussions, but few exhibitors approached the event with the strategic depth demonstrated by PIN-UP Partners.
They used a multi-layered conference strategy with interactive tools and input from teams like affiliate management, creative, and HR. Their strong presence shows how established operators are moving beyond traditional affiliate recruitment to create real strategic partnerships.
In exclusive post-conference interviews with Affiverse, three key PIN-UP Partners executives reveal the mindset shifts driving their approach to long-term value creation, the operational frameworks behind their high-volume creative testing, and the talent intelligence that can only be gathered on the conference floor—insights that signal broader industry evolution toward more sophisticated partnership models.
Oleksandr Hloza: Teamlead Affiliate Manager at PIN-UP Partners
Q. You mentioned affiliates can earn 3x more by thinking like product managers – what’s the biggest mindset shift affiliates struggle with when moving beyond just chasing immediate conversions?
A. It is indeed possible to achieve strong results, but it requires thorough analysis, forming hypotheses, and testing them step by step. This approach is far more mentally demanding than simply launching campaigns that convert, yet it’s exactly what allows you to unlock sustainable growth.
Q. When you’re evaluating LTV vs CR performance, what specific metrics do you use to convince affiliates to sacrifice short-term gains for long-term partnership value?
A. In general, this is the number of active players with an increase in distance after the campaign, the sum of deposits, winnings, withdrawals, the average size of the first, third, fifth deposits, etc.
Q. You claim seamless collaboration can scale traffic 2-3x faster – what’s the most common breakdown in communication between affiliate teams and partners that kills this potential?
A. Most often, challenges arise from differences in expectations. At times, partners and affiliate teams may view the terms of cooperation differently. In such cases, the key is to find balance and foster dialogue that leads to mutually beneficial solutions. Flexibility and a willingness to listen to each other are what truly unlock the full potential of collaboration.
Margarita Ershova: Teamlead Affiliate Manager at PIN-UP Partners
Q. Producing 50 creatives per week sounds intensive – how do you maintain quality control while scaling A/B tests at that volume without burning through budgets on poor performers?
A. It’s very important to have a system, a working process. High volume doesn’t necessarily have to mean chaos. Every idea starts with a clear hypothesis and goes through standardised production templates. Our in-house team runs a lot of micro-tests with small budgets, and it is our job to provide our partners with data about working patterns and underperforming creatives. This way, we minimise wasted spending and the affiliates can focus on other ideas.
Q. In gambling verticals where creative fatigue happens quickly, what’s your framework for knowing when to kill a creative versus when to iterate and test variations?
A. We closely monitor metrics like traffic volume, CTR and CR over time. Of course, it varies from type of traffic, geo and audience, but we have a clear reference for every test and its performance. Also, we make sure that every creative and every landing we test is fully localised for the target user: we adapt not only obvious things like flags and currencies, but visuals, and language nuances are considered as well. For example, in Latin American countries, we specifically use local Spanish variations, and this has a direct impact on conversion.
Q. What percentage of your weekly creative output actually moves the needle on profitability, and how do you avoid the trap of testing for testing’s sake?
A. On average, 10–20% of creatives impact profitability and that’s exactly what we aim for. The goal isn’t to make every creative a winner but to find the ones that our partners can work with and scale. To avoid “testing for testing’s sake,” we maintain a detailed knowledge base of what has worked across different GEOs and narratives. Every new idea builds on that foundation rather than random guesses.
Iryna Teut: Head of HR at PIN-UP Partners
Q. What talent acquisition insights can a Head of HR only gather at events like Lisbon that you’d never discover through traditional recruiting channels?
A. At industry events you get access to insights you simply won’t find through CVs or LinkedIn profiles. Here, talent is seen in action – how leaders speak about the future of iGaming, how they present their vision, how they interact with peers. You witness not just what they know, but how they think.
Equally important, you get a pulse on the shifts in candidate expectations – what future leaders want from employers, what attracts senior talent beyond compensation, and how culture, flexibility, and growth opportunities are shaping decisions.
And, of course, you gain market intelligence: who’s expanding, who’s building new verticals, and which regions are becoming talent hubs. This knowledge allows us to adjust our talent strategy months ahead of the curve.
Summing it up: HR attends to see the people behind the titles, understand where the industry is heading, and shape the talent acquisition strategy with a focus on the future, not the past.
Q. How do you measure ROI on sending HR leadership to affiliate conferences, and what business outcomes justify the investment beyond just networking?
A. For us, ROI is measured in three key ways:
– Strategic Intelligence: we gain insights on emerging markets, competitors, and evolving skill sets, which guide our recruitment and team development strategies.
– Employer Brand: HR leadership presence on global stages strengthens our position as an attractive employer in iGaming.
– Talent Pipelines: we build relationships with future hires, industry experts, and partners to accelerate growth.
ROI also translates into faster market entry, stronger reputation, and enhanced leadership credibility — factors that attract top talent. Sending our HR leaders to SBC Lisbon is an investment in the future of both our teams and our brand.
Q. Pin-Up Partners’ had a comprehensive presence in Lisbon. How did this multi-touchpoint approach impact the quality of partnerships you established versus competitors with smaller footprints?
A. Our presence in Lisbon wasn’t just large, it was layered. The presence of our group companies also made it possible to “transfer” leads between, which allowed us to reach more potential partners and increase quality.
Moreover we intentionally built a multi-touchpoint strategy that combined brand visibility, interactive engagement, and strategic conversations.
While some brands focused solely on booth presence, we created multiple points of contact: the main booth, mini-activations (Labubu machine, fortune wheel), and informal meetings.
Q. Between the fortune wheel, Labubu claw machine, and speaking sessions, which engagement method generated the most qualified affiliate leads, and how are you measuring success beyond booth traffic numbers?
A. Different tools address different stages of the funnel. The fortune wheel and the Labubu claw machine helped spark interest and boost «CTR» by attracting attention to the booth.
However, the most qualified leads came from the speaking sessions — thanks to meaningful dialogue, showcasing expertise, and building trust.
We measure success not just by traffic, but by how contacts convert into meetings, campaign launches, and long-term partnerships. Each touchpoint becomes a step in the funnel that leads to real business value.
Q. What gap in the affiliate marketing industry became most apparent to you through your various interactions at Lisbon, and how is Pin-Up Partners positioned to address it?
A. Many affiliates are still painfully aware that they’re often treated by networks or advertisers as just another link in the supply chain, not as partners.
What we’re doing at PIN-UP Partners is different:
We treat webmasters as strategic partners, not just traffic sources.
We try to share more product-side analytics because we know transparency builds retention.
We invest in tooling that helps partners understand not just “how much”, but “why” something is performing.
That’s how we move to real, long-term growth partnerships.
Conclusion
PIN-UP Partners strategy demonstrates a clear evolution in how sophisticated operators approach industry events—moving far beyond transactional booth interactions toward building genuine strategic partnerships. Their systematic approach to creative testing, emphasis on LTV metrics over immediate conversions, and investment in HR intelligence gathering at conferences reflects a broader industry maturation. As affiliate marketing continues to consolidate around quality over quantity, companies that adopt PIN-UP Partners’ partnership-first mindset and data-driven operational frameworks will likely capture disproportionate market share. The question for other operators isn’t whether to evolve these approaches, but how quickly they can implement similar strategic depth before their competitors do.
