Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines partnered with Tandem8 to improve the quality and effectiveness of its affiliate programme. By removing low-value affiliate activity, recruiting highly relevant content publishers and optimising programme performance, the affiliate channel became better aligned with the brand's growth objectives and target audience.
 

Case Study Summary
 

Client: Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines

Industry: Travel & Tourism

Services Provided: Affiliate Programme Management, Publisher Recruitment, Affiliate Strategy

Challenge: Improve affiliate channel quality, increase incremental performance and build stronger relationships with publishers relevant to the cruise and travel sector.

Solution: Identified and removed poor-quality and non-incremental affiliate activity, recruited relevant travel and content-focused publishers, and implemented programme improvements designed to increase channel effectiveness.

Outcome: A higher-quality affiliate programme, stronger content publisher partnerships, improved programme efficiency and increased opportunities for incremental growth.

 

Working with Tandem8 transformed the direction and quality of our affiliate program at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. After taking over management of the program, they quickly identified opportunities to improve efficiency and long-term performance by reshaping our partner mix and focusing on true incremental value.

A strategic review highlighted an overreliance on low-value affiliates, including voucher sites, sub-networks and browser extension partners that were driving limited incremental contribution while creating unnecessary commission spend. Through a clear affiliate strategy and data-led decision making, they successfully refined the program and shifted investment towards high-quality content publishers and specialist cruise and travel affiliates.

The results went beyond simply improving channel performance. By focusing on relevant content partnerships and high-intent audiences, we significantly improved the quality of traffic entering the funnel, increased exposure with customers actively researching cruise holidays, and reduced wasted spend from low-value partner activity. This created a stronger, more sustainable affiliate channel built around genuine customer acquisition and long-term growth.

Their expertise in performance marketing, affiliate recruitment and partner development helped evolve the program into a more strategic acquisition channel and delivered measurable improvements in both efficiency and incremental performance.

Ben Williams
Performance Marketing Manager