Not Honey

Megalag made this really amazing breakdown of how Honey is stealing from influencers by overwriting their affiliate codes with their own. Definitely go watch it, but tldr:

1. Honey uses its privilege as a browser extension to changes the affiliate code for products you purchase.
   1. Plug: You should check out what John Tuckner's Annex is doing to stop malicious extensions btw.
2. Creators have been promoting Honey and losing out on (probably collectively) millions of affiliate marketing revenue.

Which makes me think, what if someone built the opposite?

Where fans could pick the creators they want to support and attach their creators' affiliate codes to their purchases. In fact, you would even bring back the same Gold "credit" idea, except the credits may be used as a way to get special creator items, merch, etc.

I think an MVP of this would even be an affiliate transparency tracker that told you who this purchase was supporting.

You could then add on the feature of allowing the user to switch who they were supporting. Other things you can add are:

• Rules to stop overwriting codes if it comes from a code that already has an affiliate link.
• Rules to choose a default creator if the purchase link doesn't have a code yet
• The ability to choose and support multiple creators (maybe this just round robins across selected creators).
• Public or private leaderboard on creator support.
• Embeddable and whitelabel widgets for creators to promote.
• Easy affiliate signups for creators.
• I guess you COULD also add in discount codes.

There's also a really cool extra layer of data you can get out of this. Since users are able to "support" creators through these purchases, you would be able to see which users have the most financially "supportive" fan base... which feels like a different level of fan engagement.

Distribution

The distribution kinda writes itself.

1. Someone should hit up Megalab and promo it with the creator.

Otherwise, I would start cold outreach and using Megalab's video as a source for why Honey has been stealing from them. The messaging could be something like "Honey's stealing creator money. We're helping get it back!"

Because creators can start making money off affiliate revenue, I'd assume smaller creators are more incentivized to start promoting it off the bat as well in their videos. It's something that has no "cost" to the audience, much like a Like & Subscribe.

A slightly less ethical way to do this could be clipping Megalab's video and throwing it into the YT Shorts/TikTok black hole.

Objection Handling

Ok, some things you might be thinking. Or at least, I thought about them when writing this idea down.

"Larger creators might hate this."

Which I think might be true. I think affiliate marketing gets harder when an online shopper is made more aware that someone is getting commission off the purchase.

There may also be concern that their hard work will get overwritten if the user decides to support another creator. (Much like how I am sure they are PO'd about Honey stealing their money.) I think the first feature bullet I listed above is probably super important for that reason.

Otherwise I think that incentivizing their audience to support them through other benefits helps equal out the general parasocial imbalance too (and it's sort of your job as a creator anyway?). Some examples of what I mean:

• Users who have "supported" a creator for X amount of money might get a t-shirt.
• Users on the top of the leaderboard for a creator get meet & greets, and other privileges.

Naming

Also you could be cute and call it

Agave. Maple. Or Syrup.