What Each Ad Type Actually Does
Sponsored Products (SP)
These are the ads that appear in search results and product detail pages — they look like organic listings. They drive direct conversions. They're the highest-volume, most measurable, most controllable ad type in the Amazon ecosystem. For most sellers in most situations, SP should represent 70–80% of total ad spend.
SP ads are ideal for: conversion on specific keywords, rank building, defending your own ASINs, conquesting specific competitor ASINs.
Sponsored Brands (SB)
These appear at the top of search results as banner ads featuring your brand logo, a headline, and up to three products (or a Store page or video). They're only available to Brand Registry sellers. They are primarily a brand awareness and upper-funnel tool — their CVR is typically lower than SP, but they show above organic and SP results, making them valuable for brand search defense and new-to-brand customer acquisition.
SB ads are ideal for: defending your brand terms, capturing customers who are researching in your category but haven't decided yet, and cross-selling complementary products from your catalogue.
The Budget Allocation Logic
A common mistake is allocating equal budget to SB and SP because "they're both ads." They have different functions and different efficiency profiles. The right allocation depends on your brand maturity:
- New brands (less than 12 months, limited organic rank): 85–90% SP, 10–15% SB. Focus on conversion and rank building first.
- Growing brands (12–36 months, some page-1 organic rank): 75–80% SP, 20–25% SB. Add SB for brand term defense and upper funnel.
- Established brands (strong organic rank, recognizable brand): 65–75% SP, 25–35% SB. SB becomes a meaningful revenue driver at scale, especially for brand searches.
"SB ads on your own brand search terms typically have the lowest ACOS of any campaign type — often 5–12%. Running them is cheap brand insurance that competitors can't buy away from you."
Sponsored Brands Video
SB Video ads (autoplaying video in search results) deserve special mention. For products where the value proposition is visual — how it works, how it looks in use — video ads consistently outperform banner ads on the same keywords. CVR can be 2–3× banner SB. If you have a product video (even a simple one), run SB Video campaigns on your top 10–15 exact match keywords and compare the performance.
Product Targeting Campaigns (SP)
Separate from keyword targeting, SP Product Targeting lets you place ads on specific competitor or complementary ASINs. This is a distinct strategy from keyword bidding and deserves its own campaign. Use it for:
- Competitor conquesting: Appear on competitor detail pages to capture consideration-stage shoppers
- Complementary product placement: Show your case on the page for a phone; show your coffee filters on a coffee maker listing
- Defending your own listings: Target your own ASINs to capture cross-sell opportunities and prevent competitors from stealing your page traffic
Sponsored Brands Quick-Start Checklist
- Create SB campaign targeting your own brand name (exact match) — this is non-negotiable brand defense
- Create SB campaign targeting your top 10 category keywords (phrase/broad) — upper funnel awareness
- If you have video: create SB Video campaign on top 15 exact match keywords
- Link to your Amazon Store rather than a product listing for SB campaigns — better CVR for multi-product brands
- Budget: start at 15–20% of total ad budget and adjust based on new-to-brand customer acquisition rate
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