Sponsored Products ads mostly look like the listing they promote. Sponsored Brands ads do not. They carry a headline, a logo, a custom image or a video, and a choice of products, all written by you. That makes the creative the biggest lever in a Sponsored Brands campaign, and the one most often left at whatever was uploaded on launch day.
This playbook covers each element of Sponsored Brands creative, what tends to convert, how to test changes so the result means something, and the mistakes that waste clicks. Amazon's creative policies and character limits change, so check the current rules in the console before you write.
Start with the job of the ad
Sponsored Brands ads do one of three jobs: winning category searches from shoppers who have not picked a brand, defending your own brand searches, or introducing a range to shoppers who know one product. The creative should match the job.
A category ad needs a reason to choose you over the listings below it. A brand defense ad needs to look unmistakably like you and show the products people searching your name usually want. A range ad needs to show variety. Running one creative for all three usually means it fits none of them well. The Sponsored Brands guide covers how to split campaigns by job.
Headlines
The headline is the only line of copy a shopper reads. Specific beats clever. A headline that says what the products do, who they are for, or what sets them apart tends to outperform a slogan or a repeat of the brand name, which the logo already shows.
Write in the shopper's language. If the campaign targets a search for a kitchen tool, the headline should use the words people search for that tool, not the internal product line name. Avoid claims you cannot support on the listing, such as "best" or "number one," which Amazon's policies restrict without evidence.
Custom images
The custom image sits beside the products in product collection ads. The best ones show the product in use, in a setting the shopper recognizes, with little or no text. Lifestyle images tend to work better here than another white-background product shot, because the products already appear as white-background tiles beside it.
Check how the image crops on mobile. Much Sponsored Brands traffic is on phones, and an image that looks good on a desktop preview can lose its subject when cropped small.
Choosing the products
Product collection ads show several products. Put your best converter first. Choose products that make sense together for the search being targeted: three sizes of the same item for a generic search, or three complementary items for a broader one.
Leave out products with low stock, weak reviews or poor detail pages. A click that lands on a weak listing is wasted, and Sponsored Brands clicks often cost more than Sponsored Products clicks on the same term. Listing optimization before ads covers what a page needs before it deserves paid traffic.
Video
Sponsored Brands video ads play in search results and tend to stand out among static listings. What works is simple: show the product in the first second or two, make it understandable without sound, and keep it short. Many shoppers scroll past with the sound off, so on-screen text and visual demonstration carry the message.
Video does not need a production budget. Clear footage of the product in use, well lit and steady, often does as well as polished brand film. Amazon also offers creative tools that help produce simple videos from existing assets. The video ads guide covers formats and specifications.
Store destinations
Sponsored Brands ads can send traffic to a Store page or a product page, depending on the format. A Store destination works when the ad promises a range, and the landing page should deliver exactly that range, not the Store homepage. Build a Store page for each major product group your ads promote. Brand Stores and ads covers how to structure it.
Testing creative properly
Change one element at a time. If you change the headline and the image together and results improve, you will not know which one did it.
Keep everything else equal: same targets, same bids, same budget. Amazon offers built-in experiments for some Sponsored Brands creative, which split traffic for you. Where that is not available, run two campaigns side by side with identical targeting.
Judge by click-through rate first, because creative mostly affects whether people click, then by conversion rate, because a misleading creative can raise clicks and lower orders. Give each test two to four weeks and enough clicks that the difference is not chance. PPC split testing covers sample sizes and reading results.
Mistakes that waste clicks
Promising something the landing page does not show. Using a creative made for brand searches on category searches. Showing a product that is about to go out of stock. Leaving a seasonal headline running after the season. Each one buys clicks that cannot convert.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a good Sponsored Brands headline?
A specific benefit or reason to choose the brand, written in plain words a shopper would recognize from their own search. Headlines that repeat the brand name or use vague slogans tend to do less than ones that name what the products do or who they are for. Keep within Amazon's current character limit and creative policies.
Should I use video or product collection for Sponsored Brands?
Test both if you can. Video tends to stand out in search results and works well for products that need demonstrating. Product collection works well for showing a range and sending traffic to a Store. Many brands run both, with separate campaigns so their results can be compared.
How long should a Sponsored Brands creative test run?
Long enough for each version to collect a meaningful number of clicks and orders, which for most accounts means at least two to four weeks. Change one element at a time, keep targeting and bids the same, and compare click-through rate and conversion rate rather than ACoS alone.
Off Hours logs every change its rules make across the account, so during a creative test you can confirm nothing else moved. Start a free 14-day trial.