Customizing your brand’s presence on the Amazon marketplace is an easy way to differentiate your catalog from competitor offerings. And Amazon is rolling out more and more tools that brands can leverage to gain a crucial edge. Sponsored Brands video ads are one such tool that recently went live on Amazon.com.
“Video is exciting in ecommerce because when it’s done right, it really helps the potential customer with their buying decision,” says Bobsled PPC Manager Nikola Basic. “At Bobsled, we anticipate video will become a very important part of the Amazon marketplace over the next few years. So it makes sense to get in early, and figure out what works as soon as possible.”
In this article we’re going to explain exactly what Sponsored Brands video ads are, and how to set them up. Nikola will also share some initial video ad results from a Bobsled client.
Above: Bobsled PPC Manager Nikola Basic
Sponsored Brands ads (formerly ‘Headline Search Ads’) are ads that appear on the Search results page.
Above: Example of a traditional Sponsored Brands ad on Desktop. Source: Amazon Advertising
Recently, Amazon rolled out a video option beta program for Sponsored Brands ads. Video is now one of the three available campaign types within Sponsored Brands, alongside product collection and store spotlight. At the time of publication, these video ads are only available on the Amazon.com marketplace.
The video ads are keyword targeted and utilize a cost-per-click model. Note: despite the ad creation page claiming the video ads would be Mobile only, the Bobsled team can confirm they have been appearing on Desktop too.
Above: The three available video campaign types on Amazon.
The video ads have a minimum duration of 6 seconds, and a maximum duration of 45 seconds.
They can contain audio or they can be silent, and advertisers can also choose to utilize text captions.
Advertisers set up a link between the search results directly to the product detail page of the product showcased within the ad.
Above: Search results and product detail page. Source: Amazon Advertising
According to Nikola, not all products are worthy of video advertising.
“There are certain products, such as some household or kitchen items, that everyone knows how to use. Creating high-quality video takes time and money, so the priority should be products that are being undersold with the standard static images and description copy on the product display page,” he says.
Brands should also place a high premium on quality when creating ads for the Amazon marketplace.
“Amazon is increasingly crowded, and some brands will have direct competitors who have already started experimenting with video ads. If you come in and start running poor quality videos, this could damage your credibility,” Nikola says. “On the same note, it’s important that you consider the specifics of the Amazon marketplace. It’s fine to repurpose existing video content, but it may need to be tweaked for Amazon.”
Your ad needs to meet all of Amazon’s video and audio specifications. There’s also some general best practices that should be followed:
After clicking the Video option within the Sponsored Brands section of the Advertising dashboard, you’ll have the opportunity to select the product you wish to advertise and preview your video.
Above: Video and audio specifications.
Then you will decide upon which keywords to target and bid amounts. You can track video ad performance from within the Reports section of your dashboard.
Above: To find video ad data click on Reports > Advertising Reports, then choose “Sponsored Brands Video” from the All campaigns drop-down.
Nikola has started running Sponsored Brands video ads for select Bobsled clients.
“I have a client selling exercise wraps in the Sports & Outdoors category with a huge number of competitors,” Nikola says. “So we recently started running video ads for one of their flagship ASINs as a way to stand out from the pack.”
The immediate results have been promising.
“The video campaign has only been running only for 7 days, so it’s too early to predict what kind of performance we will have after a month or two,” Nikola explains. “We started the campaign with a high bid of $1.00 as we wanted to generate conversions as quickly as possible. Over the first 7 days, the video ad spend is $66, and sales is at $163 at an ACoS of approximately 40%."
"The CPC has settled to around $0.90 which is still high, but we got the early conversions we were chasing. The average level of ACoS for this particular account is around 20% due to the competitiveness of the category. So it will be interesting to see how much we can drive the video ad CPC down over the next few weeks, and this will give us a good indication of how to effectively fold in the video ads to the broader PPC strategy for this account.”
Sponsored Brands video ads are potentially useful for brands of all shapes and sizes.
“Now is the time to experiment with video on Amazon,” Nikola says. “If you’re a brand that owns a huge amount of market share in your category, you can use video ads to own more real estate on the search results page. On the flip side, if you’re an up-and-comer, video is a great way to get your brand in front of new customers. At the moment these ads are new and shiny for shoppers on Amazon, so brands may as well seize the opportunity.”
Need help creating an effective video ad strategy for the Amazon marketplace? Please click the consultation button below, enter your contact details and a Bobsled team member will be in touch to learn more about your situation.
✍ This article was written by Bobsled Marketing Manager Tom Crosthwaite
with contributions from Bobsled PPC Manager Nikola Basic.