|
Amazon Ads launches Performance+ in the Amazon DSP
Source: Amazon
March 29th, 2024
Summary: A little more than a month ago, Amazon Ads quietly launched Performance+, a self-service, ML-driven campaign type that drives performance against top- and bottom-funnel goals such as awareness, consideration, and conversion. The product follows in the footsteps of other walled gardens, including Google's Performance Max and Meta's Advantage+, which are known as black-box ad products that use AI to drive performance at the expense of advertiser control and transparency.
Performance+ leverages Amazon's massive first-party data set and machine learning to automate campaign setup, audience creation, and optimization against KPIs such as return on ad spend, cost per action, and cost per install. Advertisers also have a certain degree of control with the option to choose optimization strategies like bidding priority and budget allocation. Advertisers can choose to extend their campaigns to drive off-Amazon conversions. Amazon also promises more transparent reporting. Performance+ is now in beta through the Amazon DSP in the US and Canada.
Opinion: We wish we could have been a fly on the wall in the meeting to name this thing. The creative juices must have really been flowing! Lol. Jokes aside, the product does seem compelling. Especially since Amazon's data is quite differentiated from Google and Meta and arguably more valuable (it’s purchase data!).
U of Digital was able to secure an exclusive interview with Brian Tomasette, Director of Product, Amazon DSP, to talk about Performance+. Said Tomasette:
 "For several years, we've been refining our AI-based solutions and are excited to have launched Performance+. Our goal is to offer advertisers and agencies AI-powered efficiency and clear oversight ... Performance+ simplifies programmatic buying while providing visibility into effective creatives, placements, and audiences served by Amazon Ads AI technology…"
It seems as though Amazon’s strategy with Performance+ is as follows: “This easy-to-use ad product is just like PMax and Advantage+, except it performs better AND we’re not going to be cagey about what it’s doing behind the scenes!” Smart. They have to be careful though; these companies don’t make black box products just for funsies; they make them black boxes because they know marketers and agencies have a tendency to pick everything apart, often times to their own detriment, which has all sorts of downstream negative impact on all parties. And, of course, they make black boxes to hide the "bad stuff".
In order for this product to be successful, Amazon should thread the needle by being transparent in a way that sows trust and makes marketers feel comfortable that Amazon isn’t hiding any “bad stuff,” without giving them too much control.
Frankly, this is the recipe for success for any ad platform in an AI-dominated future.
|
