Rakuten Optimism Review + What We Learned (and Didn’t) About the Rakuten Impact Strategic Alliance

Dustin Howes and Amanda Karr recap their experience at Rakuten Optimism, highlighting the event’s strong networking, centralized venue, smooth meeting scheduling, great hospitality, and standout social events like the 1920s party and pickleball tournament. They also discuss frustrations around the Rakuten–Impact Strategic Alliance, including vague keynote messaging, conflicting transition timelines, and agencies being excluded from the brand-only meeting, while sharing insights on what the changes could mean for the affiliate industry.

The hottest affiliate recruitment tool of 2026 is Alfie. There is a 7-day free trial and a no-risk 30-day money-back gaurantee

Go to Dustinhowes.com/trial to sign up

Have you heard about Inflektion yet? They are changing the game in Affiliate marketing.The only platform with personalized funnels to scale partnership marketing for brands, agencies, influencers, and affiliates. Catering to the health and wellness space, this tracking soluition is helping build landing pages for partners in a manner of minutes instaead of weeks. They have social listening to capture all the content your brand is creating so that you can find more partners talking about y

For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com