A recent IAB report from the UK boldly declared that by the end of the decade “all media will be retail media”.
Amazon has been one step ahead of the industry on that front for some time. In fact, it is the world’s largest retail media player. Stepping back, it isn’t hard to see why. You can buy nearly any product on Amazon and have it shipped to you in, sometimes, less than 24 hours. Advertising your product through the world’s largest marketplace makes complete sense.
But what if your product or service isn’t sold on Amazon? While it may seem like a waste of spend to be spruiking your wares on the platform, Nick Thomas, head of non-endemic (meaning brands that aren’t sold at retail) at Amazon Ads ANZ, believes your brand or clients could be missing out on results right through the funnel.
Different Audiences, Different Touchpoints But The Same Signals
The first thing media buyers and advertisers need to consider is just how many different channels Amazon has up its sleeve to reach different audiences. In fact, you can likely reach nearly all adults in Australia through one of its various offerings.
“We can reach large audiences through the different touchpoints on the canvas, whether it’s Twitch, Prime Video, IMDB or Amazon.com.au,” said Thomas.
At a time when audiences are fragmenting and jumping around between walled gardens, linear TV and digital audio (to name just three), gaining a consistent view of audiences through Amazon’s wide-ranging set of surfaces should be an exciting prospect for any brand or media agency.
As you’d expect, there’s more to Amazon Advertising than impressive audience sizes. By working with the tools and audience information available (spoiler alert: there’s a lot) the potential upsides can be vast.
“I’ve got two examples that really wowed me when I first arrived at Amazon,” said Thomas, who joined the business in April 2024 following 12 years at B&T’s Media Agency of the Year, EssenceMediacom, rising to become chief investment officer at the agency.
“First is entertainment. If you’re an entertainment brand and you’re speaking to audiences you can leverage our first-party signals because we understand what audiences are watching on Prime Video. We know what movies they’ve purchased on their Prime account and we can use those signals to create cohorts to make audiences more relevant to your brand.”
For example, Prime Video signals make it clear which users would rather spend their evenings cowering behind their couch watching a horror movie and which would rather relax with a rom-com. If you’re looking to get audiences to see an upcoming film, for instance, you don’t need to waste spend talking to users salivating to see Saw when you’re spruiking Sex and The City. But you’ll also see where those audiences overlap, potentially giving you impressive incremental gains.
Thomas offered another, very different example. “Think about the auto vertical. If you go to Amazon.com.au, there’s a functionality called Your Garage that lets you log the make and model of your car to customise the shopping experience to make sure everything works with your car,” he said.
While that’s a very nice-to-have feature for drivers, it’s great for advertisers, too.
“If you’re an auto advertiser, you can use those signals to create cohorts again, to make your ads relevant to the right audience. I work with brands across multiple verticals, and there are signals relevant to every single one,” added Thomas.
Amazon Ads gives advertisers the chance to expand their reach beyond traditional channels, meeting users where they are but also with the signals to deliver them advertising that is relevant and timely. Plus, these audiences will be in positive mindsets when presented with branded content or a traditional ad format.
Entertainment Moments
Reaching customers at the right time is one of the cornerstones of good marketing. But reaching them in the right mind frame (let alone the right time to buy) is increasingly challenging given the stresses of modern life. Amazon’s Elevating Everyday Moments research with Crowd DNA offered one possible solution, finding that consumers are looking towards entertainment as a way to decompress from the whirlwind of daily life.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that reaching customers through entertainment media is nothing new. After all, we’ve been watching TV since the 50s in Australia. However, the scope of entertainment has expanded to include watching different types of TV–whether it’s linear, BVOD, SVOD or AVOD–as well as playing and watching video games, listening to audiobooks and more.
Amazon Prime Video’s raft of original content, including Reacher and Fallout or, Thomas’ favourite, Clarkson’s Farm, to say nothing of the millions of streamers on Twitch, gives brands a chance to reach consumers in a positive headspace.
“Quality time is important to me and my family. I could really relate to the stat around 54 per cent of Australians getting 10 hours or fewer of quality time per week… Consumers are overwhelmed with how much choice they have. It’s a privilege to have Prime Video because it gives people a chance to wind down,” said Thomas.
Being the entertainment destination for family units–or groups of friends–gives Prime Video advertisers a significant chance to build extra familiarity with audiences and reap the benefits of positive brand associations. When brands show up in ways that are unintrusive and complimentary to the entertainment experience, those benefits are multiplied further.
“If you’re buying into content, you’re buying into the social currency for that particular piece. If you’re buying into Rings of Power [Thomas’ joint-favourite Prime Video show], you want your brand to become synonymous with the next episode, plot line, or character development,” Thomas said.
“I love it when brands go that step further, using talent or authentic content to really become part of the conversation. But there are other ways you could use cohorts to make your brand more relevant to the content. ahm, for example, was trying to engage Gen Z who were aging out of their parent’s health insurance… ahm partnered with Twitch and became part of the game using five different streamers who would talk about the benefits of its health insurance–really playing in consideration. They also created healers in the game to heal the characters and renamed them ahm Insurance, which was a really nice tactical piece, too.”
As a result, Thomas said that the brand’s newfound social currency was “off the chain” and its awareness among the tricky Gen Z demo was up eight per cent.
“Amazon Ads is a true full-funnel at scale proposition because there are so many ways into the Amazon canvas. We work with brands across so many different verticals and so many different brands.”
While all media may, in fact, become retail media by the end of the decade, advertisers and agencies would do well to remember that awareness is still the first step of the journey. They’d also do well to remember that engaging consumers in happier moments–such as when they’re relaxing at home–will have even better returns.
Learn how Amazon Ads can help connect your brand with the right customer, at the right time.
