Page 60 - AVN October 2017

SFEATURE
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR
A week of edutainment at Webmaster Access 2017
Stephanie Bedard made the overseas trip to
Webmaster Access Amsterdam with a few
different goals in mind.
The business development manager for
CrakRevenue, the Quebec-based CPA network,
said first and foremost she wanted to raise
awareness about her platform.
“We definitely want to get more affiliates on
board, so meeting new people,” Bedard told
AVN at Amsterdam’s DoubleTree by Hilton
Hotel, the site of the 13th annual conference,
held September 8-11. “So we’re looking for new
traffic types, new geos, and as far as advertisers
go, we’re looking to do new deals and payout
bumps with the advertisers we already know.”
Dozens of blue-chip tech companies
traveled to Amsterdam to unveil their latest
developments at WMA, the longest running
webmaster show in adult entertainment, which
was presented by iMonetizeIt, TopOffers and
Aurora Global.
As registration got underway the early
arrivals poured into the DoubleTree from all
over the world. Jessie Chan, the community
manager for Kinkoid, flew in from Sofia,
Bulgaria.
“We’re here to promote our games and our
platforms,” said Chan, a former art student who
has been with Kinkoid for three years.
Kinkoid is the company behind the adult
game HentaiHeroes, which went from 0 to
1.5 million players in less than a year. This
year Kinkoid is releasing a new game called
GayHarem and launching an affiliate platform,
GamingAdult.
Chan mapped out her game plan for the
show, concluding, “I would like to learn new
things. I would like to help the company and I
would like to meet some new people.”
Meanwhile, Remi St-Maur, the chief business
development officer and partner at TrafficStars,
said the gathering for him is “all about
networking.”
“And I’m looking for affiliates and media
buyers. That’s my target,” St-Maur, who is from
Montreal, said as he picked up his show badge
and greeted old friends.
On September 7 attendees got warmed up at
the Welcome Party, held at the one-of-a-kind
VR Cinema, which featured walls adorned with
classic movie posters altered to include VR
goggles. The unique venue, located about 20
yards away from the WMA host hotel, started
off as a pop-up concept that toured through
FEATURE | By Dan Miller
Europe before opening its first permanent
location in early 2016.
Sponsored by Epoch, Gamma Entertainment
and Stripchat, the Welcome Party rolled out the
red carpet for attendees, keeping them fueled
with an open bar and gourmet hors d’oeuvres
such as teriyaki chicken, meatballs, shrimp and
veggie balls. A light rain fell on the comfortable
60-degree evening as the party buzzed into the
11 o’clock hour.
60 | AVN.com | 10.17
Meet Market Value
The show kicked off the next day with the
first of six Speed Networking sessions, followed
by the Meet Market. One of the centerpieces of
the show, the Meet Market brought together
50-plus sponsors in the Eastwood Restaurant,
where more than a thousand adult entertainment
professionals made their way through the sold-out
event. Sponsors showcased their latest product
developments, chatted with newcomers and
passed out armloads of fancy swag. Later that
evening, the annual GFY Party was held in the
rooftop Sky Lounge.
One participant at the Meet Market was Igor
Komarenko, now the chief marketing officer at
Aurora Global. Before moving into the adult tech
sector, he built rockets in Eastern Europe.
“In the Ukraine you are not getting a good
salary, so I had to switch to adult stuff,”
Komarenko said with a smile.
Komarenko orchestrated the marketing strategy
for his niche-leading adult dating and webcam
company, which generates 20 million visitors a
month across a portfolio of 20-plus dating brands.
“I started from dating and then switched to
cams and now I’m also working on two traffic
companies and do gaming and gambling verticals,”
added Komarenko, who has degrees in engineering
and marketing.
David Rosado held down the MindGeek/
AdultForce table during his first trip to
Amsterdam, where he gave away AF-branded
fidget spinners, boxes of M&Ms and Brazzers
T-shirts.
“This is like legal crack,” Rosado said,
demonstrating the addictive nature of the stress-
relieving spinner. “You just grab it and spin. It’s all
the craze right now.”