Sponsored Brands is the ad with your logo on it. It sits at the top of search results, above the first organic listing, with a headline you wrote and a row of products or a video. It is the format most sellers notice first and the one they should usually set up second, after Sponsored Products is running well.
This guide covers what the format is, the three creative types, what it does better than Sponsored Products, and the signals that tell you an account is ready for it.
What Sponsored Brands is
Sponsored Brands ads promote your brand and a set of products rather than a single listing. They appear mainly at the top of search results, and also in the middle and bottom of results and on some product pages. They require Brand Registry, which means a registered trademark, and they are priced per click like Sponsored Products.
Three creative formats are available. Product collection shows your logo, a headline, and three or more products, and sends shoppers to a Brand Store page or a product list. Store spotlight shows your logo, a headline, and sub-pages of your Brand Store, for brands with a catalog organized into categories. Video shows a short autoplay video with a single product beside it, and sends the click to that product's page.
Targeting works the way it does in Sponsored Products: keywords in broad, phrase and exact match, or product and category targets. The match type logic is identical.
What it does that Sponsored Products cannot
Brand presence at the top of search. A Sponsored Products ad looks like an organic result. A Sponsored Brands ad looks like a brand. For a shopper searching a category term, that difference shapes which results they consider.
Multiple products in one ad. A product collection ad shows several items, so a shopper who was not looking for the first one may click the third. This matters most for brands with a range of related products at different price points.
A headline. Sponsored Products has no copy; the listing is the ad. Sponsored Brands lets you say one thing. The best headlines name the use case or the buyer rather than restating the product title.
Video at the top of search. Sponsored Brands video is the only way to get a video into search results, and video ads in that placement tend to draw clicks at rates a static listing does not. This post on video results covers what the numbers tend to look like.
Defending your own brand name. When shoppers search your brand, Sponsored Brands on your own name keeps competitors from owning the top of that result page. It is often the cheapest and highest-converting Sponsored Brands campaign in an account.
What it does worse
Direct response. A Sponsored Products ad sends a shopper to a product page with a buy button. A Sponsored Brands product collection ad sends them to a Brand Store or a list, which is one more step before purchase. For a specific product search, that step costs conversion.
Cost per click. The top of search placement is competitive, and brand-registered sellers tend to be the more established ones. Clicks cost more. Whether the format pays depends on what the click lands on.
Learning. Sponsored Brands has fewer placements and less volume than Sponsored Products, so campaigns take longer to show a clear pattern. A new Sponsored Brands campaign needs several weeks before its numbers mean much. This post on how long ads take to work applies with extra patience here.
When an account is ready
Sponsored Products is running at an ACoS you can live with, and the search term work is current. Sponsored Brands on top of a leaky Sponsored Products program adds a more expensive leak.
You have three or more related products that make sense in one ad, or a Brand Store with real pages. A product collection ad with one product and two afterthoughts does not use the format.
Your brand name has search volume. If people search for you, a brand defense campaign is nearly always worth it, and it is the right first Sponsored Brands campaign.
You have category keywords where you want to be seen as a brand rather than a listing. These are the terms where the top of search banner changes the shopper's frame.
Structure that works
Separate campaigns by intent. A brand defense campaign on your own name. A category campaign on the broad terms where you want brand presence. A product-specific campaign for video, one video per product, on the keywords that product owns. Mixing these in one campaign makes the budget and the reporting unreadable, the same problem covered in the campaign structure guide.
Match the landing page to the search. Category terms go to a Brand Store page built for that category. Product terms go to the product. Brand terms go to the store home or a bestsellers page. Sending every click to the store home page is the most common Sponsored Brands mistake, and the fix is usually worth more than any bid change.
Write headlines for the buyer, not the product. "Everything for the home coffee bar" beats "Premium Stainless Steel Coffee Accessories." The product names are already in the ad.
Managing it
The maintenance is the same as Sponsored Products: search term harvesting, negatives, bid review, and scheduling. Sponsored Brands campaigns benefit from their own dayparting schedule, because brand and category searches often peak at different hours than product searches. Evening browsing windows tend to be stronger for Sponsored Brands, and the overnight hours tend to be weaker, which makes the format a good candidate for a tighter schedule than the Sponsored Products campaigns run.
Read the campaign at the keyword level and at the landing page level. A keyword that draws clicks but does not convert is often a landing page problem rather than a bid problem, and the fix is in the Brand Store, not the console.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Brand Registry for Sponsored Brands?
Yes. Sponsored Brands is only available to sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, which requires a registered trademark. Sponsored Products has no such requirement, which is one reason it comes first for almost every seller.
Are Sponsored Brands more expensive than Sponsored Products?
Clicks on Sponsored Brands often cost more because the placements are prominent and the format competes with other brand-registered sellers. Whether the ads are more expensive in ACoS terms depends on what you send the click to. A well-built Brand Store or a tight product list can convert well; a loose one usually does not.
Should Sponsored Brands send traffic to my Brand Store or a product page?
A Brand Store page built for the search term is the strongest landing for category and brand searches. A single product page is often better for a specific product search. Test both on your top keywords; the difference in conversion is frequently large enough to decide it.
Off Hours runs separate dayparting and budget rules for Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products, so each format gets the schedule its searches actually follow. Start a free 14-day trial.