Ten campaigns from across the globe have been named as winners of the 2023 Amazon Ads Partners Awards. The victors took to the stage at New York’s The Lighthouse in celebration of the innovative, imaginative and effective ways that partners use Amazon Ads for their clients.
In a first for 2023, the Partner Awards were open to all regions of the world where Amazon Ads is available. Judges from Kantar, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Amazon Ads evaluated 500-plus entries from 26 countries. Submissions this year were more than double those in 2022 when the awards incorporated the U.K. and the U.S.
Themes reflected in successful entries this year included: building strong consumer connections via documentaries and multimedia campaigns; strategies that work across the entire customer journey and attract new customers; campaigns adapted for international expansion; experimentation with new ad formats and placements; and a focus on performance-based campaigns to optimize limited budgets.
Each of the 2023 awards categories — Creative Brand Building, Performance, Challenger, Technology Innovation and Global Expansion — carried equal weight. However, Creative Brand Building had two awards — endemic and non-endemic — to cater both for brands that sell on Amazon and also for those that don’t. And three prizes were awarded in both the Performance and Challenger categories; one for each of the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions.
Eligible work for the 2023 awards ran between May 2022 and April 2023 and was delivered by partners who have Verified or Advanced status within the Amazon Ads Partner Network. The network was set up in 2021 to support agencies and tool providers through training, resources and by connecting them to advertisers.
And now, meet the winners!
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists who brought their clients’ campaigns to life while driving performance and growth.
Performance Award
The award recognizes …
A partner that leveraged multiple Amazon Ads products to help a brand optimize its campaign strategy, driving substantial business growth and engaging shoppers across the customer journey, from brand discovery, to purchase, customer loyalty and beyond. One winner is selected from each region — AMER, EMEA and APAC.
Performance Award — AMER
Winner
The campaign
Ad Advance used a full-funnel approach to help Tru Niagen attract potential new customers by spotlighting key products and employing a tentpole strategy to improve its visibility during promotional events such as the Homepage Takeover. Throughout the campaign, it relied on Amazon Marketing Cloud insights to learn more about the customer journey and optimize each touchpoint. As a result, Tru Niagen’s total sales increased by 40%, and NTB orders jumped by 93%.*
*Ad Advance, U.S., 1/1/23 - 3/31/23, n=225,530,090 impressions, 24,346,102 unique reach
Finalists
Performance Award — EMEA
Winner
The campaign
In 2022, Global Overview helped natural nut-butter brand Pip & Nut recover after it experienced a dip in sales. The full-service Amazon agency stepped in with a transformative remedy by introducing Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brand Video to increase category and new-to-brand (NTB) traffic and running Amazon demand-side-platform (DSP) campaigns during high-traffic seasonal events. Their efforts helped Pip & Nut achieve an 871% increase in total Ad-Attributed NTB customers, a 117% boost in the price Amazon paid it for the products (product cost of goods sold or PCOGS) and a 132% growth in repeat purchases.*
*Global Overview, U.S., 7/1/2022 - 10/31/2022, n=Sponsored Ads, Impressions: 53,162,546, Clicks: 201,984, DSP Impressions: 91,707,458, Cumulative Reach: 2,403,817, Clicks: 172,248
Finalists
Performance Award — APAC
Winner
The campaign
With a broad catalog of more than 50,000 SKUs (types of product sold), tough competition from competing brands and a diminished share of voice (SOV), lingerie brand Clovia was growing increasingly concerned about finding a path to profitability. Enter Adbrew, winner of the 2023 APAC Performance Award. The platform organised Clovia’s diverse catalog by grouping similar products, restructured Sponsored Products campaigns to gain better control over bids and budgets, and launched ranking-specific Sponsored Brands campaigns to boost SOV. Its efforts were successful: Clovia’s SOV soared past the category average, with 17.8% and 30.6% growth in repeat and new customer shares, respectively.*
*Adbrew, IN, 11/1/22 - 4/30/23, n=98,86,74,600 impressions, 99% increase in NTB sales
Finalists
Challenger Award
This award recognizes …
A partner that delivered an impactful strategy that exceeded its client’s business objectives despite a limited budget. The winner of this award demonstrates how it was able to use creative thinking, innovative tactics and overall efficiency to maximize resources and deliver results. One winner is selected from each region — AMER, EMEA and APAC.
Challenger Award — AMER
Winner
The campaign
Despite both a tight deadline and budget, Lab 916 guided the KOBO soy-candle brand to bright success. The agency enhanced KOBO’s listings with unique images and keyword-rich content, created an eye-catching Amazon Store and launched Sponsored Products ads, followed by Sponsored Brands ads after the Store was live. Its tactical approach brought in sales of $107,132 from a $5,098 ad spend and achieved an ACoS (advertising cost of sale) of 11.9% and TACoS (total advertising cost of sale) of 4.5%. Lab 916’s strategy surpassed KOBO’s targets.*
*Lab 916, U.S., 11/1/22 - 4/30/23, n=2,557,258 Impressions and 6,073 Clicks
Finalists
Challenger Award — EMEA
Winner
The campaign
Venture Forge wins this award for adding its own special sauce to ZENB’s pasta product. ZENB had a bold mission: to spice up the traditional pasta sector with its gluten-free yellow-pea alternative while also maintaining a limited budget. Venture Forge shaped a recipe for success, employing Sponsored Display to run ads to reach gluten-free diet shoppers, Sponsored Brand Video to serve custom video content tailored to product-specific keywords and Sponsored Brands ads with custom messaging and imagery to explain ZENB’s unique product. The strategy led to a sales surge of 355% and the hero product secured the No. 2 spot on Amazon’s bestseller list for pasta during the campaign period.*
*Venture Forge, U.K., 1/6/23 - 4/30/23, n=79,000,000 Impressions and 159,000 Page Views
Finalists
Challenger Award — APAC
Winner
The campaign
When lingerie brand VNH Naidu Hall decided to start selling on Amazon, a one-size-fits-all solution wasn’t going to suffice. To make the most out of a tight budget, as well as optimize its vast product catalog and increase visibility with its audience, it needed a tailored approach. O3M Directional Marketing used Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display campaigns to spotlight VNH Naidu Hall’s bestsellers and Sponsored Products ads to promote the rest of the brand’s offerings. This approach resulted in a 40% rise in clicks, a 98% boost in orders and a 23% decrease in ACOS.*
*O3M Directional Marketing, IN, 3/1/23 - 3/30/23, n=9,190 Clicks
Finalists
Global Expansion Award
This award recognizes …
A partner that helped a client reach its global growth objectives. Successful entries provide evidence of advertising in three or more countries and demonstrate how a partner developed a strategy to help drive scalable and sustainable business growth for its client across territories.
Winner
The campaign
Having achieved star status in the U.S., makeup brand e.l.f. cosmetics wanted to amplify its allure in new geographies: the U.K. and Canada. Podean decided on a palette of digital strategies. Using Sponsored Brands custom creatives, the agency reinforced e.l.f.’s brand messaging and built awareness in the U..K and Canada. It also expanded Amazon DSP campaigns to increase visibility and drive traffic across the three target territories. This campaign led to a 167% YoY surge in impressions and a 220% YoY increase in ad-driven revenue in all territories.*
*Podean, U.S., U.K., Canada, 5/1/22 - 4/28/23, n=+167% YoY Impressions
Finalists
Technology Innovation Award
This award recognizes …
A partner that built on Amazon Ads Advanced Tools or ad tech products to develop a scalable technology solution that solves an advertiser need. The winner of this award demonstrates how it was able to integrate and build with product(s) in an innovative and differentiated way to improve efficiencies.
Winner
Xmars, powered by SparkXGlobal
The campaign
Xmars, powered by SparkXGlobal, understands the hurdles facing advertisers and brands: seasonal demand surges, intricate ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) portfolios and ever-present resource constraints. To overcome those, it developed Smart Creation, a new campaign-management solution that incorporates AI Autopilot Integration to quickly plan launches with automated budget, advertising cost of sales, keywords and bidding recommendations. When Sunnydaze Decor, an importer and multichannel marketer of home décor, needed support, Xmars’ technology helped it achieve impressive results. Using Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display and the Amazon Ads API, it saw a 408% increase in ad-attributable sales and 50,000-plus hours of campaign management saved in two months.*
*Xmars, U.S., 3/1/2023 - 4/30/2023, n=288,111,926 (SA+DSP) Impressions, 859,088 Clicks, 1,361,296 DSP cumulative reach
Finalists
Creative Brand Building Award
This award recognizes …
A partner that leveraged Amazon Ads’ brand-building capabilities to deliver an effective and cohesive marketing strategy telling a brand’s unique story and helping drive sustained engagement and awareness. This is a newly enhanced category that recognizes two winners, one for success with an endemic advertiser and one for success with a non-endemic advertiser, from anywhere in the world.
Creative Brand Building Award — Endemic Advertiser
Winner
The campaign
Winning duo VMLY&R Commerce and Stackline crafted a General Mills campaign for Earth Month that fostered connections between consumers and nature. They invited viewers to watch curated nature documentaries on Prime Video, running separate campaigns that targeted each stage of the funnel. Fire TV ads were used to spread awareness, while display and custom technologies encouraged conversions via the Amazon DSP. For every hour watched, General Mills donated a dollar to the National Park Foundation (NPF). The campaign bloomed, generating a 47% sales growth in General Mills products and a $100,000 donation to the NPF — all thanks to 102,000 hours of streamed content.
*VMLY&R Commerce and Stackline, U.S., 4/1/2023 - 4/26/2023, n=Impressions: >500M, New-to-Brand: >55%, Donations: $100K combined donation from Amazon and General Mills to National Park Foundation
Finalists
Creative Brand Building Award — Non-Endemic Advertiser
Winner
iProspect Spain, a Dentsu company
The campaign
iProspect wanted to capture the elusive attention of young millennials and adult Gen Zers with the launch of ING’s entirely digital bank account Cuenta NoCuenta. It promoted the ING-produced, Prime Video documentary Nomads across Amazon Ads video offerings and a Twitch campaign via the Amazon DSP, blending branded content with high-quality audiovisual output. The campaign generated more than 220,000 visits to the documentary and 912,000 visits to the product landing page, successfully reinforcing ING’s position as a young digital bank.*
*Iprospect, ES, 9/5/22 - 11/20/22, n=98% unique reach
Finalists
A word from Amazon: The case studies, insights, figures, results and other data presented here were based on the extraordinary performance of the winning campaigns featured in the 2023 Amazon Ads Partner Awards. The information provided is intended as observation and commentary, not as a recommendation or advice. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.
Learn more about finding a partner and the Amazon Ads Partner Awards.
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