Exclusive Interview: Anton Eshtokin on Boomerang Partners and AC Milan partnership, Golden Boomerang League tournament approach, and Golden Boomerang Awards 2026

Boomerang Partners has been making waves with its innovative approach to affiliate program growth and sports activations. We spoke with Anton Eshtokin, Chief Marketing Officer, to learn how the company is leveraging its partnership with AC Milan, what lessons were learned from the 2025 Golden Boomerang Awards, and what’s in store for the 2026 tournament.

Anton Eshtokin also shared how the Golden Boomerang League works, how the team creates unique money-can’t-buy experiences for affiliate partners, and how collaboration with AC Milan, creative campaigns, and smart use of data are helping drive engagement and results across the Boomerang Partners affiliate partner network.

Q. What learnings from the Milan event are you incorporating into your Q4 tournament strategy, particularly around the charity auction element that created such meaningful connections?

A. Like any partnership, our collaboration with AC Milan (let me remind you that Boomerang Partners is the Official Regional Partner of the Club) is not just a formal agreement or a set of obligations – it’s a dynamic, ongoing effort focused on activation and meaningful storytelling. The Golden Boomerang Awards ceremony in May 2025 was much more than simply gathering our affiliate partners in one place.

Together with AC Milan, we developed a unique concept for the event that reflected the Club’s spirit, the atmosphere of Milan and Italy, and, of course, the values and principles we stand by at Boomerang Partners.

Our goal has always been to offer affiliate partners not just tangible benefits, but truly “money-can’t-buy” experiences. The AC Milan partnership is one of the key tools for creating exactly that. Very few brands manage to deliver something comparable – especially in such iconic venues as San Siro Stadium.

The charity auction we organized with Fondazione Milan was an idea that emerged early in the planning process, and it resonated deeply with our affiliate partners. We intend to incorporate more initiatives of this kind into our major projects going forward – and the Golden Boomerang League is a perfect example of such an opportunity.

Q. How is your AC Milan partnership evolving in Q4? Are there new collaborative campaigns, exclusive content opportunities, or marketing assets being developed for your affiliates?

A. Our partnership with AC Milan continues to evolve successfully. During the off-season, we held several strategic sessions with the Club to review the outcomes of the 2024/25 season and to ensure thorough preparation for the 2025/26 campaign.

We’ve developed a dedicated promotional campaign – TIME TO WIN – set to launch in Q4. It will include a variety of engaging initiatives, ranging from our signature AC Milan home match tours to new collaborations, digital activations, and other special projects that will be announced in due course.

We’re confident this next phase will further strengthen both our partnership and the value we deliver to our affiliate partners.

Q. What early results can you share about affiliate engagement and conversion rates through your tournament model?

A. The Golden Boomerang League has enabled us to highlight our strategic direction further and motivate affiliate partners to launch sports-focused campaigns across our client portfolio.

We’ve already seen positive results within the first month of the tournament, most notably a 35% increase in sports traffic.

The tournament also serves as one of our key communication drivers at this stage. It helps us effectively convey the core messages of our strategy while maintaining creative engagement with affiliates and strengthening both loyalty and participation.

Q. How are you helping affiliates transition from traditional promotional methods to this experiential tournament approach?

A. The Golden Boomerang League doesn’t require our affiliate partners to make any significant changes to their usual workflows. Instead, we focus on strengthening their motivation by creating a competitive environment and offering the opportunity to participate in the GoldenBoomerang Awards 2026, with the winner of GBL 2025 receiving direct entry.

At the same time, affiliates continue operating in a format that’s comfortable and familiar to them. As always, we provide everything they need to run effective campaigns – from valuable analytical insights and high-converting, AC Milan–themed creatives and landing pages to strong marketing team involvement in the creative process and a personalised approach to each affiliate partner.

Q. Are you planning any industry events or speaking opportunities in Q4 to share insights about experiential affiliate marketing?

A. We’ll be participating in SiGMA Europe this November in Rome with our own booth. During the event, we plan to summarise the results of the Golden Boomerang League, recognize the winners, and engage them in various on-site activities.

We also continue to highlight our key projects through media interviews and PR publications. It ensures the industry stays informed about our latest initiatives and insights in experiential affiliate marketing.

Q. With football season in full swing, how are you leveraging the AC Milan brand power for seasonal campaigns, and what new promotional materials are you creating?

A. As mentioned earlier, AC Milan–related assets remain at the core of most of our sports campaigns and are prominently featured across our creatives. We are currently implementing our ‘Time to Win’ communication line, which reflects the key themes of our collaboration with the Club this season. A new video campaign featuring several key players from AC Milan will also be launched soon.

Beyond that, we strive to make full use of every opportunity within our sponsorship agreement – while continuously developing additional joint projects. We’re pleased that our partners at the Club not only understand but actively share this approach, often bringing their own ideas to the table.

We highly value our relationship with AC Milan and the intense, ongoing dialogue we maintain. Both sides recognise that truly impactful projects are born from synergy – and ours is operating at a remarkable level.

Q. How are you expanding the data transparency and insights you share with affiliates? Are there new dashboard features or reporting capabilities launching before year-end?

A. Our current tools already provide affiliate partners with a comprehensive set of standard data directly within their partner dashboards. In addition, through our individual account management approach, we share key statistical insights tailored to each partner’s needs — working together to optimise and scale their campaigns.

We are aiming to achieve mutual success with our affiliate partners, which is why we’re deeply invested in helping them maximise the effectiveness of every campaign.

Q. What feedback from your Milan event participants is shaping your 2026 tournament calendar and partnership strategy?

A. The last Golden Boomerang Awards was an outstanding success, with the vast majority of feedback being not only positive but often truly enthusiastic. We received excellent responses from our affiliate partners, AC Milan, and even from the San Siro Stadium operations team. To quote one of their staff members: “In my eleven years working at San Siro, I’ve never seen such a well-structured and professionally organised event.”

That kind of feedback also came from our guests – reflected in a record-high NPS score. It’s an outstanding achievement, but also a benchmark we’re determined to maintain in our future events.

As we prepare for the 2026 Golden Boomerang Awards tournament, which many of our affiliate partners are already eagerly anticipating, we are focusing on optimising elements that enhance the overall participant experience. Also, we want to preserve the best practices that have proven successful, and once again present “something special” to surprise and delight our guests. Work is already well underway, and we’ll be sharing more details soon.