Amazon Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display: The Ad Types Most Sellers Ignore

The majority of Amazon advertising budgets flow almost entirely into Sponsored Products. Amazon Sponsored Brands and Amazon Sponsored Display - two ad types that operate in less competitive placements, often at lower CPCs - get a fraction of the attention and a fraction of the spend.

That imbalance is an opportunity. The brands allocating budget across all three ad types are building category presence that Sponsored Products alone can't create. The ones ignoring SB and SD are renting visibility one click at a time, with nothing compounding underneath.

Here's what those ad types actually do, when to use them, and how to make them work together.

Why Sponsored Products Isn't Enough

Every Amazon advertising strategy operates across three stages whether you've designed it that way or not.

Amazon Sponsored Products captures bottom-of-funnel intent - shoppers who are already ready to buy. It's the foundation of any Amazon ad strategy and the right place to start. But running only SP means you're competing for the same high-intent inventory as every other seller in your category, at the highest CPCs in the funnel, with no mechanism to build awareness or recapture shoppers who leave without buying.

Amazon Sponsored Brands fills the top of the funnel. Sponsored Display handles retargeting and defense. Together they change the economics of everything below them.

Amazon Sponsored Brands: Premium Placement, Underused

Sponsored Brands is the headline ad format that typically appears at the top of Amazon search results, securing prominent above-the-fold placement in search.

It's exclusively available to brand-registered sellers and currently offers several formats, including:

• Product collection ads: Feature your logo, a custom headline, and up to three products. This is the standard format and the right starting point for most brands.
  

• Store spotlight ads: Drive shoppers to your Amazon Brand Store sub-pages rather than individual listings - effective for brands with a well-organized catalog and a fully built store.
  

• Video ads: Autoplay in search results and link to a product page. They're among the most underused formats in Amazon advertising and tend to outperform static formats for products with a mechanism, transformation, or use case that a still image can't communicate. Show the product in use within the first three seconds - no logo cards, no slow builds. Check Amazon Advertising's current creative guidelines for up-to-date video length requirements.
  

• Headline search ads: Appear at the top and bottom of search results with a custom headline and product imagery.

When Sponsored Brands Works Best

Sponsored Brands earns its budget in three scenarios: new product launches before organic rank is established, competitive categories where brand differentiation drives the click, and cross-selling across a product family. The headline is the highest-leverage element - benefit-driven copy tied to the search term consistently outperforms generic brand messaging. Test two to three variations and let performance data decide.

Amazon Sponsored Display: The Retargeting Layer Most Sellers Skip

Sponsored Display follows shoppers rather than matching keywords. That's a fundamentally different logic from Sponsored Products - and why most sellers who try SD and abandon it were using it wrong.

Sponsored Display is available to brand-registered sellers, vendors, and book vendors in supported marketplaces. For third-party sellers, Brand Registry enrollment is effectively a requirement for access.

SD ads appear on product detail pages (yours and competitors'), in search results, and in eligible marketplaces, off Amazon on third-party apps and websites. Off-platform availability varies by region - check Amazon Advertising documentation for current placement options in your marketplace.

The creative is auto-generated from your listing. The targeting is where the work happens.

Product targeting: 

Places your ads on specific competitor ASINs or within categories - conquest advertising that intercepts shoppers actively evaluating alternatives.

Views remarketing:

Reaches shoppers who viewed your listing within Amazon's defined lookback window but didn't purchase. Check current Sponsored Display settings for available window options, as these are subject to change. Because these shoppers have already demonstrated intent, they tend to convert at higher rates than cold audiences - though results vary by category and listing quality. Views remarketing is also the targeting option most sellers never configure.

Purchase remarketing:

Targets existing customers for upsell, cross-sell, or replenishment on consumable products.

How to Run All Three Together

The most effective Amazon ad strategies treat SP, SB, and SD as a system - each format doing a specific job, with data flowing between them.

SP is the conversion engine. SB is the awareness layer that feeds it. SD is the retention and defense layer that recaptures what SP doesn't close and protects your listings from competitor conquest.

For brands new to SB and SD, a directional starting allocation - not a universal target - is 70-80% Sponsored Products, 15-20% Sponsored Brands, and 5-10% Sponsored Display. As campaigns mature, many accounts shift toward something closer to a 60/25/15 split - though this varies significantly by account. Your product economics, category competition, and margin structure determine the right mix.

Sequencing matters:

Launch SP first. Add SB once you have 4-6 weeks of SP data and know which keywords are worth buying premium placement for. Layer in SD once your listing has enough traffic to make views remarketing worthwhile - it needs a meaningful visitor pool to generate returns.

Let SB inform SP:

Search terms converting in Sponsored Brands campaigns represent shoppers who engaged with a branded headline and clicked through. Those terms belong in your SP exact match campaigns. Most sellers never make this connection.

The Mistakes That Kill SB and SD Performance

Weak SB creative:

A generic headline paired with product-on-white imagery wastes the placement. SB earns its premium position with benefit-driven copy and visuals that stop the scroll.

Ignoring views remarketing:

Most sellers configure SD for product targeting only and never set up views remarketing. It's the highest-efficiency targeting option in SD and the most commonly skipped.

Measuring SB and SD with SP benchmarks:

ACoS targets built for Sponsored Products don't apply to upper-funnel campaigns. Where available, new-to-brand metrics are a better indicator of whether SB is building equity. Availability varies by marketplace, so check your Amazon Advertising console. Detail page view rates and branded search volume trends complete the picture.

Setting and forgetting:

Both ad types require active management. Creative fatigue is real in SB - the same headline running for months will see declining CTR. Quarterly creative refreshes aren't optional at scale.

Running Store spotlight ads to an incomplete Brand Store: 

If your store isn't built to the same standard as your best listings, fix that before allocating SB budget to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands?

Sponsored Products are keyword-targeted ads that appear in search results and on product detail pages, linking to a single listing. They capture existing purchase intent and are the primary conversion driver for most sellers. Sponsored Brands are headline ads that typically appear at the top of search results, featuring your logo, a custom headline, and multiple products or a Brand Store link. SP captures demand - SB builds it.

Do I need Brand Registry to run Sponsored Brands or Sponsored Display?

Yes for both, for third-party sellers. Sponsored Brands is exclusively available to brand-registered sellers. Sponsored Display is available to brand-registered sellers, vendors, and book vendors in supported marketplaces - for third-party sellers, Brand Registry enrollment is effectively a requirement for access to either ad type. You'll need an active trademark registration - or a pending application through Amazon's IP Accelerator program - to enroll in Brand Registry.

How much should I budget for Sponsored Brands vs. Sponsored Products?

A directional starting point for brands new to SB is 15-20% of total ad spend, with SP taking the majority. These are starting points, not targets - your product economics and category competition determine the right mix. As campaigns mature, many accounts shift budget toward SB and SD as their efficiency improves, though the right split varies significantly by account.

What is views remarketing and why does it matter?

Views remarketing is a Sponsored Display targeting option that reaches shoppers who viewed your listing within Amazon's defined lookback window but didn't purchase. Check current SD settings for available window options as these are subject to change. Because these shoppers have already shown intent, they tend to convert at higher rates than cold audiences - though results vary by category and listing quality - making views remarketing one of the highest-ROI options in SD.

How do I measure Sponsored Brands performance?

ACoS alone is insufficient for SB. Where available, new-to-brand metrics show the share of orders from customers new to your brand - a better indicator of whether SB is building equity. Availability varies by marketplace. Detail page view rates, branded search volume trends, and Brand Store traffic from SB campaigns round out a complete performance picture.

When should I add SB and SD to my strategy?

Add Sponsored Brands once your SP campaigns have 4-6 weeks of data and you've identified your highest-converting keywords. Add Sponsored Display once your listing traffic is sufficient to support views remarketing. For most established brands, SP launches first, SB follows within 30-60 days, and SD is layered in as traffic builds.

Final Takeaways

Sponsored Products captures demand. Sponsored Brands creates it. Sponsored Display recaptures it. Running all three as an integrated system produces results no single ad type can deliver alone.

The brands consistently outperforming their categories on Amazon aren't spending more. They're spending across the full funnel, with each ad type doing its specific job and data flowing between them.

Ready to build a full-funnel Amazon advertising strategy?

Amazon Growth Lab manages over $100M in annual ad spend across all Amazon ad types for 100+ brands. Unlike agencies that focus exclusively on Sponsored Products, our integrated approach ensures every dollar works as part of a unified strategy. 

If your advertising strategy begins and ends with Sponsored Products, there's meaningful ground to recover. Start with a free account audit from Amazon Growth Lab.