Mastercard, a global brand synonymous with delivering priceless experiences, set out to engage travelers during the summer holiday period. Their objectives were clear: drive top-of-mind awareness ahead of holiday planning, boost consideration for Mastercard’s travel experiences, and deepen the brand’s lifestyle appeal.

Mastercard launched a two-phase campaign across key locales in the Middle East, that turned Amazon into a destination for travel inspiration. In Phase One, a summer-long custom landing page on Amazon.ae showcased culinary and travel offers, supported by a full-funnel campaign that included Amazon DSP and a Homepage Hero Takeover that drove high visibility whenever shoppers landed on Amazon.ae. Phase Two kicked off with an interactive, gamified product selector on Mastercard’s custom landing page, recommending Parisian culinary experiences. Though Mastercard doesn’t sell physical products on Amazon, the team innovated by adapting Amazon’s native product selector to link potential travelers directly to Mastercard’s website.

This seamless journey, from discovery on Amazon to purchase on Mastercard’s website, allowed new and returning users to explore and book experiences. Click here to discover the full campaign results.

When OSN+, a streaming service in the MENA region, set out to launch the second season of HBO’s House of the Dragon (HOTD), it wanted something that went above and beyond a typical media plan. Before the series premiered, OSN+ and Amazon Ads orchestrated a series of teasers designed to stoke anticipation. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, over 350,000 specially designed Amazon delivery boxes were produced, with the aim of transforming routine deliveries into delightful doorstep moments. Each box bore striking imagery from HOTD and included a QR code that drove customers to the OSN+ Brand Store on Amazon.sa.

Wondering what the custom Amazon boxes looked like? Click here to find out.

Moreover, OSN+ transformed Amazon.sa into an immersive House of the Dragon battlefield, where visitors chose between Team Black and Team Green through an interactive Brand Store experience allowing fans to explore exclusive trailers and character histories through a tailored experience that revealed the secrets and rivalries of their chosen house. This dual-path content journey helped visitors delve deeper into each house’s story, further increasing engagement on the page while creating a natural journey to the OSN+ website, where viewers could subscribe to watch the new season of HOTD.

During the launch day, the campaign utilized the homepage takeover, draping the website in black or green, piquing curiosity among Amazon shoppers who might not have been die-hard fans of the show, and tapped into Twitch, with a hero headline on the service’s homepage and a First Impression Takeover, where viewers would see an OSN+ pop-up during their first Twitch broadcast of the day. Click here to learn more about the impact and results the campaign drove.

What is retail media and/or a retail media network? Are they any different? If so, how?

The term retail media refers to the advertising placed on a retailer’s media network. Third-party businesses that look to reach relevant audiences will work with a retailer to create ad campaigns for those digital channels. In essence, for a brand, retail media is a media buy fueled by shopping behaviors or insights.

Currently, retail media networks are gaining traction in the advertising world. It’s an important category for the growth of programmatic advertising, but there are a lot of marketers who still don’t know about the retail media landscape or about buying media in this space.

A retail media network is an advertising infrastructure that comprises a collection of owned digital channels (e.g. websites, apps), partner channels, and non-digital channels that are offered by a retail company to third-party brands for their various advertising purposes. For example; owned and operated digital channels such as the Amazon Store or entertainment properties (Twitch or Prime Video) will have solutions such as Sponsored Ads, Brand Stores and video inventory. With the growing popularity of online shopping for consumers, retailers are recognizing their digital channels as useful opportunities to help brands reach and engage shoppers. This helps marketers potentially reach more relevant audiences while also providing brands with audience and first-party (shopping) insights that can help make their marketing strategies more effective.

How is Amazon using retail media to pave the way for brands and retailers to drive effective purchase journeys?

Amazon Ads is helping brands to reach customers wherever they are. This means our solutions are designed to reach shoppers in and beyond the Amazon Store. We capture their attention in places they choose to spend time, creating opportunities for brands to reach and engage customers throughout their journey across a diverse range of devices, retail, and media channels. With diverse content, we are helping brands find incrementality, and unique audiences, and connect them to the right customers in the context that matters. The specific retail media solutions offered by Amazon Ads are full-funnel marketing solutions for both endemic (brands that sell on Amazon) and non-endemic (brands that don’t sell on Amazon) advertisers to reach and engage with shopping audiences, fuelled by first-party insights from hundreds of millions of global active customer accounts.

In what ways can retail media networks help brands and retailers leverage the power of commerce – keeping in mind the fact that every consumer is online in today’s digital landscape?

One of the biggest benefits of retail media is that it can help brands better connect with relevant audiences. Since shopping audiences are generally in the mindset to discover, learn more about a product or buy when they’re visiting a digital store, seeing a brand’s advertisement on a retailer’s website can help that brand stay top of mind for customers as they shop. Another benefit of using retail media networks is access to first-party insights which can help better inform the brand’s marketing campaigns. Beyond insights, retail media networks can also help brands better link their ad spend to conversion, driving closed-loop measurement. The journey between when customers engage with digital ads to when they make a purchase can help brands better understand the connection between ad spend and product sales, which can help them analyze their return on investment and make more strategic business decisions like increasing inventory, allocating resources, or increasing ad budget.

All too often retail media is seen as a purely lower-funnel play. But very few shoppers convert to purchase having never heard of a brand, and a customer doesn’t need to be shopping in that moment to discover a product. Advertisers need people to recognize, recall, and think of their brand in buying situations, which is why Retail Media actually starts at the top of the funnel. Through Amazon DSP brands can reach audiences and programmatically buy ads to reach new and existing audiences anywhere they spend their time. An effective retail media strategy enables brands to seamlessly integrate their messaging into the daily routines of their audiences, connecting experiences across various channels and devices, and ultimately driving sales.

Where does the Middle Eastern market stand in embracing retail media – do you have any numbers or case studies that can support your answers?

Here in the Middle East, retail media is growing rapidly. In Saudi Arabia, for example, 91% of consumers now shop through e-commerce according to McKinsey. Perhaps even more striking is that 14% of them say they shop online at least once per day. In the UAE, 96% of consumers now shop via e-commerce, an increase from 89% last year. These numbers are a testament to the rapidly evolving digital economy and the consumer demand for flexibility and comfort to shop online.

Combining robust first-party insights, exclusive inventory, and engaging ad formats, retail media is now the third-largest digital channel in the world—and to put that number into context—it will likely overtake social advertising in the next five years to become the second-largest digital channel behind just paid search according to projections from eMarketer. Last year, we collaborated with Finish to boost product adoption through dishwasher sample bundles in the UAE. The result? A 38% increase in purchase rates, demonstrating the effectiveness of messaging in driving sales and capturing customer interest.

On the non-endemic advertiser front, Emirates Islamic Bank worked with us to drive awareness and adoption of their credit cards through an owned page on Amazon. As for product info, a DSP campaign targeting the FinServ audience segment fueled by first party signals, and a homepage takeover during the Q4 shopping season, resulting in an 80% drop in CPL (cost per lead) based on Amazon attribution.

How is retail media a great approach to embedding omnichannel marketing?

Retail media omnichannel marketing is a great way for all brands to leverage all touchpoints a retail media network can offer. Although it may not be obvious at first, retail media is relevant for both endemic and non-endemic advertisers. For example, shoppers browsing for snorkels and flip-flops or purchasers of plane pillows, earplugs, and cozy socks are probably getting ready to rack up their air miles. These retail insights can be used to inform campaigns running on Amazon or other channels via the Amazon Ads DSP.

An endemic advertising partner, Garnier, partnered with us during Ramadan to run a first-of-its-kind 360-degree campaign. Garnier brand integration took place across TV, out-of-home (OOH), and digital placement for the Amazon KSA and UAE Ramadan campaigns. In synergy, Garnier also utilized Sponsored Ads solutions resulting in a 2.6x increase in branded keyword traffic and a 2.3x return on ad spend. On the non-endemic global solutions front, Emirates Airlines partnered with Amazon Ads to reach US travelers through streaming TV, digital and audio ads utilizing the power of retail media networks and first-party signals across different offerings to achieve a 12% uplift in recall and 6% uplift in brand favorability through measured through the Amazon Shopper Panel survey. The strategy for success in non-endemic categories is deeply intertwined with the effective use of first-party insights. These insights, grounded inactions or behaviors of customers such as purchases, site visits, or app usage, provide a solid foundation for understanding customer preferences. This data-driven approach offers a strategic advantage, especially for non-endemic brands looking to reach new audiences or segments.

And finally, brands such as Unilever, Puck, Nivea, and First Abu Dhabi Bank have leveraged the Amazon Ads creative canvas to reach customers through custom executions across the Amazon store, Amazon boxes, and Amazon Fresh bags. The connected worlds of retail media networks (like Amazon Ads) allow advertisers to reach customers wherever they spend time, across retail stores, plus thousands of apps and websites / across formats, websites, and devices, where they browse, stream, or shop.

The article was first published in Communicate's Issue 180 2024.

The shopping event featured live demonstrations and personalized recommendations from influencers and beauty experts, while customers could interact in real-time and make purchases directly through the Ramadan landing page, with a 10% discount using the special event code.

"We launched the first-ever on-platform live shopping in the MENA region for L'Oréal Paris in collaboration with VML, Amazon Ads ME, and Wavemaker. This innovative approach captivates and entertains shoppers, significantly boosting our online brand presence and market reach. It's a testament to the collaboration across the chain #LikeNeverBefore to create beauty that moves in the Middle East," commented Alyshan Parvez, L'Oréal Paris Online Brand Manager, GCC.

Over the past 2.5 months, multiple stakeholders have worked together to advance the project, ensuring the technology and development necessary for its implementation. VML conducted an in-depth research and social listening exercise to understand consumers' behavior and online chatter during Ramadan. Insights revealed concerns about dehydration due to fasting and dietary changes, with a shift towards appearance and looking good as Eid celebrations approach.

To address these, VML launched two episodes: one for Ramadan (March 15), focusing on hydration for skin and hair, as well as clean makeup looks, and one for Eid (April 1), highlighting glowing skin, lustrous hair, hair coloring routines, and full Eid makeup looks. The episodes, featuring skin and beauty influencers like Marwa Bawaba, Manal El Hage, Safa Srour, and Sereen Abudoush, added authenticity and credibility to the content.

A dedicated landing page within Amazon for L’Oréal Paris offers in-depth routines, tips, and tricks for each concern, along with the opportunity to rewatch the episodes throughout the month. The campaign was amplified across social platforms and advocacy content to reach a wider audience.

“L'Oréal Paris Ramadan Beauty Live Show marks the beginning of a transformative era in live shopping. We are proud to lead the charge in the region, starting with Amazon, which is revolutionizing commerce in multiple countries. It reflects VML’s dedication to utilizing digital technologies for enhancing customer engagement and redefining the online shopping experience through this cutting-edge live event," emphasized Sabine Abdallah, Account Director at VML Dubai.

Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East and North Africa (MENA) said, “Online shoppers in Qatar have been asking for a way to easily find and purchase products available in their location, and this new expansion of the international shopping experience to Qatar does just that. Customers in Qatar can now browse, shop, and get shipments of hundreds of thousands of products directly to their doorstep. They can also enjoy some of our most exciting Amazon.ae sales events such as White Friday, our biggest sale of the year complete with incredible deals and promotions.’’

To get started, customers in Qatar can simply access the Amazon app or visit Amazon.ae, sign in with their current account details, or set up an account if they are new to Amazon. Customers using the App can go to settings, select ‘United Arab Emirates’, and customize their language preferences. The international shopping experience will do the rest, automatically displaying the available products, while clearly listing pricing and shipping information for customers.

The report uncovers the attitudes of consumers and marketers to ad platforms and channels. The annual study, now in its fourth year, is based on interviews with around 16,000 consumers in 23 markets and 900 senior marketers globally.

Among marketers, YouTube has leapfrogged to the top of the charts, improving trust by 6% compared with last year. The rise of YouTube demonstrates marketers’ preference for established, brands, even if it does not register in consumers’ top five platforms.

Top-ranking media brands

This year’s analysis also reveals that “in-person” touchpoints dominate consumers’ preferred channels – with sponsored events taking the lead for the second year in a row. The rest of the top five also comprises channels that are experienced in-person, including cinema ads, point of sale, and out-of-home/digital out-of-home.

Top-ranking media channels

The study shows there’s a significant contrast between marketers’ and consumers’ most preferred channels, with marketers inclined towards newer channels while consumers prefer channels that cause the least interruption to their lives.

TV or not TV?

Notably, TV, the traditional lynchpin of ad campaigns, is absent from the ranking of marketers’ preferred ad channels this year. While TV has never been rated highly among consumers, it has historically performed strongly among marketers. However, it has fallen from 3rd place in marketers’ preferred channels last year to 12th place in 2023, and TV sponsorship has fallen from 12th place to 20^th. Just 6% of marketers say they will increase TV spend in 2024.  

“While TV as a preferred channel is losing steam amongst global marketers, it remains a key channel in the Middle East and the lynchpin of ad campaigns for marketers in the region. So while online gain traction, traditional channels are here to stay. Marketers also need to understand that the Middle East is not a homogenous region – one size does not fit all, and different media mixes are needed to cater to a wider melting pot of people in the UAE and KSA,” comments Sagar Dhal, Media Lead, Middle East, Kantar.

The marketers’ mindset

The Kantar Media Reactions 2023 survey of around 900 marketers around the world also quantifies how trends and changes in the media landscape shape their attitudes. Key highlights include:

• The Metaverse continues to be an unfulfilled promise – In 2022, a net 61% of marketers claimed they would increase spending in the metaverse, but only a net of 12% actually did. In the 2023 study, only one in five (22%) state they will raise their budget for Metaverse advertising next year.
• Twitter, the end of an era – X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has suffered reputational damage among marketers, the research shows. X, the latest incarnation of the platform, does not feature in the list on marketers’ top 5 preferred ad platforms. A decline in perceptions of innovation (now 16%, down from 28% in 2021) and trustworthiness (now 7%, down from 11% in 2021), is accompanied by a net 14% of marketers saying they will reduce their ad investment on the platform in 2024.
• The race for attention – Marketers continue to invest in channels that consumers don’t think are attention-grabbing. For marketers, influencer content is king in terms of delivering attention, but it doesn’t make the top 5 for consumers. Furthermore, a staggering 50% of marketers do not see attention as important as brand or sales outcomes, despite the evidence that it helps build brands and drives sales. According to the study, cinema ads, sponsored events and digital out-of-home are among the few channels that both consumers and marketers believe are attention-grabbing. Both groups are in agreement that TikTok is the most attention-grabbing media brand.

Gonca Bubani, Global Thought Leadership Director – Media, Kantar, concludes “Successful advertising today seamlessly integrates into consumers’ lives: in their scrolling, viewing or simply while they go about their days. This year, consumers have spoken up and said they strongly prefer advertising that they see out-of-home, like at sponsored events or the cinema. So why is there such a huge mismatch between the advertising consumers enjoy and what marketers are spending their precious budgets  on? We know advertising campaigns are seven times as impactful among receptive audiences, so for marketers, it’s crucial to understand the strengths and weaknesses of different ad platforms and invest their money where it will make an impact.”

With a brand valuation of $880bn, Apple has proven resilient in the face of testing market conditions, justifying premium prices with positive perceptions, and proving that meaningful, different, and salient brands are best placed to weather global economic disruption. Google and Microsoft complete the top three, with technology brands, once again, the most represented in the Top 100 and commanding the largest share of brand value.

Commenting on the launch of the report, Martin Guerrieria, Head of Kantar BrandZ said, “This year’s results – despite the fall in aggregate value – are, in fact, a continuation of the long-term growth trend for brands, which began following the global financial crisis of 2008 and continued up until the start of the pandemic in 2020. While the market has proved volatile and been greatly impacted by global macroeconomics, consumers’ view of brands has proved far more stable – the most valuable brands in the world remain as highly regarded as ever. The lessons for brand owners and marketers remain clear; effective marketing investment and long-term thinking are vital to your business’ growth prospects. Those brands consistently investing in establishing strong consumer connections are now much better placed to navigate the current volatile conditions and deliver a greater degree of resilience for their shareholders”. 

2023 Kantar BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands

Key highlights from the 2023 report include:

• 16 brands grew in brand value across the Top 100 – with Airtel (No.76; +24% and Pepsi (No.91; +17%) achieving the highest brand value growth vs 2022.
• Nine brands returned to the Top 100 – including Colgate (No.95), Sony (No.99) and Pampers (No.100).
• Two new Chinese brands joined the Top 100 ranking for the first time – Shein at No.70 and Nongfu Spring at No.81.
• The Luxury, Fast Food and Food & Beverages categories proved to be the most resilient to market fluctuations.

• Brands improving their ability to justify a higher price than competitors, based on the strength of their equity with consumers, grew at twice the rate – adding 67% to their brand value over the last four years.
• Sustainability remains an untapped opportunity for brands – only 2% of the most valuable global brands are perceived as ‘leading’ in this area.

2023 success stories

Pepsi’s brand value has soared 17% year-on-year, reaching a total value of $18.8bn and taking Pepsi back into the global ranking at No.91. Defined by great advertising, the brand has grown its price premium positioning in the US while being considered a ‘value’ brand across the rest of the world. Coca-Cola (No.10) showed great resilience, increasing its brand value by 8% and breaking back into the Top 10 for the first time in seven years.

TikTok (No.41) is still perceived as the second most disruptive brand in the Top 100, behind Tesla (No.25). Tesla continues to be considered a true game-changer, ranking No.1 in the Automotive category, with a 2023 valuation of $67.7bn. Outside the Top 100, Ferrari makes its debut in the Top 10 Automotive brands with a valuation of $7.8bn, increasing demand and perceived value to consumers even through the most challenging market conditions. Emerging brands competing in the EV space, and which are likely to gain value in the future, include Polestar, Li Auto, and Genesis.

Food & Beverage brands demonstrated the most resilience as an overall category, declining just 3% year-on-year. Doritos proved the value of its superior taste messaging, ranking No.19 in this category, with a brand value of $5.4bn – one of many brands in this year’s report that shows functional benefits can be the key to outperforming competitors.

Fast Food was the second-highest-performing category. Brands that outperformed in this space include Burger King, Chick-Fil-A, and Starbucks. Resilience in the industry is being fuelled by greater exposure and better experience. Burger King, for example, cut drive-thru times with menu simplification and digital boards and invested more heavily in brand communications. The brand has been rewarded with a 2023 value of $7.7bn, an increase of 8% compared to last year.

Luxury brands retained their allure even with steady, incremental price increases. Louis Vuitton is the only luxury brand in the global Top 10, rising two places to No.8, with a brand value of $124.8bn. Dior is the fastest-growing brand in the category, increasing its brand value by 9% to $11.4bn. The category’s strong overall performance highlights the excellent job luxury brands are doing at leveraging their distinctive assets to drive higher demand and pricing power, despite economic challenges.

“Brands need to continue investing in brand-building, product, and market diversification to grow. This year’s results clearly show that, even in the current macroeconomic environment, it remains possible to find growth in any category and territory with the right strategy focused on establishing and maintaining strong connections with consumers. BrandZ analysis proves that perceived difference is a key predictor of share growth; promoting any sense of difference and making it more known and more relevant to consumers will boost brand value in the long-term,” said Guerrieria 

The pandemic initiated a landslide shift towards digital consumption, which lead to a permanent change in consumers’ consumption habits online. Brands, advertisers, and marketers are continuously working on optimizing experiences while anticipating and responding to new consumer needs and behaviors.

Gemma Spence, Global Vice President for Transformation at VMLY&R Commerce is at the forefront of commerce transformation for over 12 years now. In her leadership, Spence, with her depth of knowledge across FMCG, automotive, electronics, and beauty brands has been empowering brands, marketers, retailers, and agencies to navigate across the full e-commerce value chain of management and strategic channel planning.

In the image above: Gemma Spence, Global VP for Transformation at VMLY&R Commerce

In an exclusive interview, Communicate discusses with Spence the converging nature of various offerings in commerce and how businesses today can work for success through it.

Creative Commerce = connected culture + connected experiences

Last year, Cannes Lions dropped the ‘e’ in one of its most recognized categories among entrants – Creative Commerce. It’s no news that this commerce whirlwind is growing. But what does it mean for brands across the globe?

When we asked Spence to look into her crystal ball and underline a faint prediction on where commerce is headed, she said, “It’s worth noting that we witnessed 10 years’ worth of development across digital commerce in just mere 10 months, when the pandemic hit. We’ve also seen recalibration and rebalance, and today the world is heading towards connected commerce and curating connected experiences. A lot of the technology, whether it's in physical stores or on a consumer’s phone is very addressable. Eventually, connecting, resonating, and driving that emotional connection from a brand, but also from an experience and moment perspective is going to become a priority to drive physical experiences.”

Spence anticipates that it’s all going to be based on capturing attention. “That’s where creativity comes in,” she added. “It’s about taking the insights from data, and then connecting and nudging people to action. So, for me, I know, the future is going to be truly connected. Brands will need to focus on connected experiences that are addressable and focused on attention.”

To further explain connected experiences, Spence cited VMLY&R Commerce’s work for Corona, the beer, in Latin America.  To tackle the issue of pickpocketing in Mexico’s football stadiums, the agency created a new and innovative contactless payment method that turns team jerseys into digital wallets, allowing fans to show their passion for their teams while allowing Corona to capitalize on this most important consumption moment.

Focus on the ‘why behind the buy'

In a recent study, Deloitte finds with an expected 5 billion social media users in 2023, the social commerce market worldwide is growing faster than traditional e-commerce. With that stated, retailers of the future need to expand into service businesses and build ecosystems that attract and retain loyal customers.

“Being a marketer today is no joke, and it’s always going to be challenging. But, what will form the core of every experience is the balance between efficiency and effectiveness,” explained Spence. So, how can marketers and brands strike the right balance between both these metrics?

First, driving effective communication across the right channels. “We're seeing that the echo chambers of social media are becoming great filter bubbles. The algorithms of META and TikTok becoming stronger. It’s very polarising for consumers and brands. So, from an effectiveness perspective, focusing on one can drive effective communication, but it won’t necessarily be efficient, because there will be a repetition of the entire process of executing a strategy on another platform. I’ve noticed today, brands are starting to push towards an interoperable way of traversing the echo chambers in a more consistent and efficient manner. It can be done through campaign management or creative rendering,” explains Spence.

“The second thing is, everything's becoming shoppable. Brands and marketers need to account that retail media is on fire and growing exponentially. We’re seeing in the region, retailers are pushing hard in this space moving from static into more dynamic and biddable approaches. They’re able to have control and entirely manage the customer decision journey through disruptive techniques, and that can help brands evolve and move with the flow,” she adds.  

“The commerce sun rises in the east and sets in the west”

Amazon is a dominant force among existing retail media, with a whopping 37% market share in a space estimated to be worth $100 billion. According to Spence, the Middle East, being a service-based economy is set to become the incubator for disruptive models of commerce.

Building on that, Spence concluded, “We know that creativity is the single most important factor that helps brands stand out. But, what they need to do is seriously consider how commercially viable creativity is to their brand. We’re moving into a space where everything is directly or indirectly shoppable. Hence, every touch point is a conversion opportunity.”

“Brands are looking for new ways to reach and engage audiences at scale,” said Alan Moss, Amazon Ads’ Vice President of Global Ad Sales. “At unBoxed 2022, we’ll share how we are inventing on behalf of our advertising customers to help them navigate the changing advertising industry and create meaningful connections with audiences.”

Ahead of the event, Amazon Ads leaders discuss some of the trends top of mind with advertisers and marketers.

1. Navigating Uncertainty

Economic changes are affecting consumers and companies. During this time, marketers want to ensure their budgets are helping them launch effective and scalable campaigns. Marketers are focusing on insight-driven strategies to maximize their return on ad spend (ROAS) and justify every ad dollar they invest.

“Being able to measure the impact of their advertising is always top of mind for marketers, but it’s especially critical in times of economic uncertainty,” said Paula Despins, Vice President of Ads Measurement. “Brands and agencies need to understand the value of their efforts and investments and have the insights to make their marketing budget count. That’s why measurement across channels, at every stage in the funnel, is especially important right now.”

During unBoxed 2022, Amazon Ads will share ways of increasing channel efficiency and campaign optimization. This could help brands better measure their campaigns, increase the impact of their ad spend, and create more engaging campaigns for audiences.

2. Standing out in the attention economy

From TV to laptops to tablets, phones, and more, audiences are dividing their time and attention across screens and content to shop, play, and stream. In a recent Adweek poll, 84% of surveyed audiences said they use a second screen while watching TV or streaming content.[2] With multitasking on the rise, how can brands best connect with audiences across these screens with relevant messages in a way that enhances their experiences?

“At Amazon Ads, we have been inventing exciting new creative products and services to fit any marketer’s needs,” said Heather Kehrberg, Director of Global Creative Success at Amazon Ads. “We know marketers care about quality creative, and we want to delight them with accessible and cost-effective creative solutions that help elevate their campaigns.”

At unBoxed 2022, Amazon Ads will dive into additional ways brands can enhance their ad experiences through agile messaging and creativity.

3. Finding relevancy in a changing landscape

Marketers know that ongoing changes in the ad-addressability landscape are impacting how campaigns reach relevant audiences at scale. These changes present an opportunity for the advertising industry to continue inventing durable solutions that help benefit customers and marketers alike.

“As new channels pop up online and offline, brands are left trying to understand the impact of their multichannel touchpoints and increase efficiencies,” said Srishti Gupta, Director of Media Measurement at Amazon Ads. “Having the right signals and technologies can help brands get better insights and reach their performance goals.”

At unBoxed, we’ll discuss how our durable solutions can help brands connect with relevant audiences and build meaningful connections at scale.

4. Reaching audiences at scale

Marketers want to not only create campaigns that reach the right audiences, inspire consideration, and increase conversion, but they also want to help build authentic connections with audiences that result in brand love and loyalty.

An always-on approach is important during a time of audience fragmentation, especially as consumers diversify their overall media consumption and change how long and how much time they spend on different channels. Being where audiences already are can help brands stay top of mind with audiences who are either at home, browsing in-store, or on the go. At unBoxed, we’ll show how brands can create campaigns with the accurate reach that they can trust.

Register for unBoxed 2022 today to attend virtually or in-person.

“We are pleased to inaugurate our new office in the capital of the Kingdom, confirming our commitment to serving Amazon customers, vendor partners, and employees in the Kingdom, as well as supporting its social and economic growth in line with the Saudi Vision 2030,” said Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in a statement. “We will continue to develop our investments in the Kingdom across various sectors, including e-commerce, smart devices, and Amazon Payment Services, among others.”

Since the launch of Amazon.sa in 2020, the company has recruited more than 1,400 talents in its various sectors, and the new office aims to attract more local talent to join the company.

With the opening of the new office, Amazon is also working to launch an initiative to empower and train Saudi talent by meeting with employees working in various functions across the company. Details about the initiative will be announced later this year.

“At Amazon, we talk about hiring builders who will help us invent and innovate on behalf of our customers. This means investing in the right talent and people who are equipped to be customer-obsessed and to continuously improve the customer experience,” said Abdo Chlala, Director of GCC. “With our new office, we look forward to welcoming not only our existing builders but attracting and developing new talent through our upcoming talent program.”

Since its launch in Saudi Arabia in 2020, Amazon has boosted its investments across the Kingdom and expanded its activities in various business sectors, launching different local programs and products such as the first Alexa with an Arabic language option in Khaleeji (Gulf) dialect.

Last March, Amazon.sa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Investment (MISA) and the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha'at). The MoU will enhance Amazon's presence in the local market, enable small and medium enterprises to sell their products to customers across the Kingdom, and help entrepreneurs set up their logistics businesses.

Despite all these issues, one retailer continues to prevail: Amazon. Considered the gold standard in retail, the e-commerce giant has managed to maintain customer loyalty due to its variety of products, competitive prices, and overall great customer experience (CX).

To understand how Amazon customers perceive the brand and critical CX aspects other retailers should consider, Sitecore commissioned a new Advanis survey. In April 2022, the survey polled 1,000 US web users who have shopped at Amazon at least once in the past year and revealed consumers’ perceptions and shopping behaviors and how they have evolved since 2021.

Amazon remains dominant in the retail market

• More consumers are subscribing to Amazon Prime memberships – 77% of those polled currently have a subscription, compared to 68% in 2021
• More than two-thirds (69%) said Amazon is the first website they choose to browse when shopping online, compared to 54% in last year’s survey
• Millennials are Amazon’s biggest fans with 70% saying they go to this website first, followed by Baby Boomers and Gen Z (68% for both) 
• Almost half of the shoppers (46%) say they shop at Amazon a few times per month – a steady increase from just 38% last year

So, what keeps Amazon customers coming back? Here are the primary attributes shoppers love:

• Delivery speed – 70%
• Prices – 65%
• Personalized shopping experience – 54%
• Item variety – 50%
• Inventory – 46%
• Low cost of delivery – 44%
• Ease of return – 37%

Shoppers’ loyalty to Amazon isn’t unbreakable

One in three (33%) consumers want to shop less at Amazon, and many respondents expressed that there are several tipping points that would cause them to ditch the brand and consider other websites, such as:

·      A purchase experience that matched Amazon’s (e.g., delivery speed, item availability) – 51%

·      Better choices from other retailers (e.g., discounts, free shipping, inventory variety) – 27%

·      Receiving counterfeit or low-quality items that don’t match website description – 26%

·      Poor employment practices – 8%

Unionization is a hot topic for Amazon

• Most are in support of Amazon workers unionizing (78%), even though over half think it would increase prices (52%)
• The reason behind their support for unionizing is that almost half (48%) believe it would improve Amazon’s services — such as inventory, shipping times, and customer service

This signals that consumers are willing to sacrifice higher prices for an optimal customer experience throughout their e-commerce journey

• Two-thirds (67%) say they would think more highly of Amazon if the company was in favor of unionizing in their warehouses (or other areas)

There are numerous reasons consumers choose to give their loyalty to one brand over another – and it’s more than just price and offerings. Today’s customers want to purchase from brands that are doing good for their workforce, customers, and the world (as seen in the unionization data above).

However, that doesn’t mean CX can fall by the wayside. As more than half (54%) of consumers say Amazon’s shopping experience is more personalized compared to other retailers – and as Amazon’s ratings continue to improve (up from 43% in 2021) – it is critical that brands pick up the pace with personalization. To reach Amazon-levels of customer loyalty in 2022 and beyond, retailers must prioritize enhancing CX to anticipate and align with every customer’s needs.