Amazon Unveils Ads Solutions for Full-funnel Performance
At unBoxed 2024, Amazon Ads introduced new measurement and machine learning capabilities features designed to empower advertisers of all sizes. Key announcements include:
- New product campaigns: A managed service to help brands introduce new products to customers, utilizing ad placements across Amazon’s platforms and partners.
- Audience bid boosting: Advertisers can now re-engage shoppers seen on streaming TV via Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products.
- AMC solutions: No-code tools for brands to analyze audience and optimize ad frequency.
- Multi-touch attribution: A new model to track ad interactions leading to conversions, testing later this year and rolling out in 2025.
- Long-term sales insights: A beta feature that estimates future sales from upper-funnel tactics and customer engagements.
Amazon DSP Slated for Major Updates
The announcements kept flowing at unBoxed 2024, with Amazon unveiling several innovations for its Demand Side Platform.
Key enhancements include a simplified user experience for faster campaign creation, improved insights, and machine learning recommendations for performance adjustments. Amazon DSP also introduced advanced frequency cap controls, helping advertisers save on their budgets by reducing duplicate impressions.
Amazon Ads also introduced updates to Performance+, the always-on, automated optimization feature within Amazon DSP. The new Performance+ tactics, now available in open beta, enhance advertiser campaign strategies by adding remarketing and retention options, alongside the previously available prospecting tactic.
PayPal Enters the Ads Game
PayPal has officially launched its digital ads arm, PayPal Ads, in the US. PayPal Ads aims to help marketers tap into data on the billions of transactions that take place across its payment platforms. Starting this year, brands and agencies in the US will be able to run ads across properties, including PayPal, Venmo, and Honey. Next year, PayPal also intends to let these advertisers purchase ads across the more than 30 million merchants that use its payment systems, opening a much broader commerce-media ad network.
Tesco Updates its Retail Media Platform to Drive Engagement
Tesco has unveiled a series of new retail media developments at its annual ‘Upfront’ event, including the launch of video ads on its website and full-scale store wrapping. The retailer’s new video advertising solution – launched via Tesco Media and Insight Platform – will allow brands to connect with customers via short-form content on its website and app, bringing them into contact with its 16 million plus Clubcard app users. This will also be supported by an expansion of in-store opportunities for advertisers. In a UK retail first, Tesco will also be offering the opportunity to do store wraps at 50 locations.
Microsoft is Reportedly Shutting Down its Retail Media Platform PromoteIQ
Microsoft is reportedly shutting down its retail media platform, PromoteIQ, due to low profitability. Since Microsoft acquired PromoteIQ in 2019, the platform has struggled with “very low margins,” and Microsoft is aiming to focus on more profitable ventures. Though Microsoft declined detailed comments, they will continue offering retail media services through partnerships with Criteo, which provides expanded advertising reach for clients. Independent analyst Andrew Lipsman noted PromoteIQ had a strong reputation before Microsoft acquired it, but it lost key executives and clients afterward.
