Amazon Ads has introduced Amazon Ads Agent and a new campaign buying tool, DVA+, bringing more of its advertising products into a single platform.
The move centres on a renamed unified advertising system that combines sponsored ads with display, video and audio buying tools. Advertisers can choose manual campaign tools, automated optimisation or a mix of both, depending on their goals.
DVA+ is the main new buying feature within the platform. It combines functions previously spread across Sponsored Display, Sponsored TV and programmatic campaigns, giving advertisers a single workflow for campaign set-up and management.
Advertisers choose a campaign objective, upload products and creative material, set a budget and launch. Amazon Ads said its artificial intelligence then manages ad placement and optimisation across streaming television, online video, display and audio inventory on Amazon properties and elsewhere on the internet.
The tool is built on Brand+ and Performance+, which steer campaigns towards different outcomes. Brand+ is designed to reach audiences likely to take actions such as visiting a Brand Store, adding products to a basket or making a purchase, while Performance+ focuses on shoppers already in the market.
Amazon Ads is also expanding the platform's conversational features. Those tools let advertisers use natural language prompts for tasks including media planning, audience sizing, reach forecasts, target audience refinement, campaign analysis and optimisation recommendations.
Chat tools
The latest additions include what Amazon Ads describes as agentic media planning, campaign targeting through plain-language inputs, natural-language analytics and guided recommendations for sponsored ads. The system is intended to reduce the manual report building and campaign administration required of advertisers and agencies.
Amazon Ads pointed to earlier use of natural-language targeting recommendations in the United States as evidence of demand. It said advertisers using those recommendations gained more than 25% additional unique customers on average while reducing cost per impression by more than 10%.
That data forms part of Amazon Ads' broader case that automation is becoming more central to media buying. Over the past year, it has been consolidating its ad technology stack, following an earlier move to bring its demand-side platform and ads console into a single media-buying experience.
Kelly MacLean, Vice President, Engineering, Science, & Product at Amazon Ads, outlined the company's position on the changes.
"Rapid advancements in AI are allowing us to deliver better advertising with improved performance across all channels and customer objectives," said Kelly MacLean, Vice President, Engineering, Science, & Product at Amazon Ads. "At the same time, we are making it as simple as possible for brands and agency partners of all sizes to create highly impactful campaigns and achieve their goals."
Buyer control
Amazon Ads said DVA+ is aimed at both less experienced advertisers and established programmatic buyers. For advanced users, the platform includes settings for direct control over targeting, deal activation, supply sources, frequency caps and bidding strategies.
Advertisers already using Amazon's programmatic products should find the workflow familiar, with the added option of interacting with the platform through chat-based prompts. That suggests Amazon is trying to balance automation with the level of control often required by agencies and large brands.
Agency groups are among those already testing the conversational approach. Amazon Ads included comments from dentsu on how the tools affect campaign work.
"The conversational experience in Amazon Ads Agent is fundamentally changing how our teams work. Rather than spending hours on manual campaign setup and optimization, we can now make human-informed optimizations directly," said Jason O'Toole, EVP, Head of Commerce & Retail Media at dentsu. "Our strategists spend less time on execution mechanics and more time on the insights and creative thinking that drive results for our clients."
DVA+ and the wider Amazon Ads Agent features will roll out over the coming months.