unBoxed 2022: Four advertising trends to watch

20 September 2022 | By Jareen Imam, Sr. Content and Editorial Manager

A woman holding a tablet on a purple background

This blog post is a part of Amazon Ads’ unBoxed 2022 coverage. At Amazon Ads’ annual unBoxed conference, we’ll announce new features, insights, and solutions to help brands big and small connect with customers, grow their business and prepare for the future.

Registration is now open.

Whether it’s the economy, shifting consumer behaviour, innovation in technology or audience fragmentation, the advertising industry is in a state of transformation. Marketers today need to be well equipped with the knowledge and tools to nimbly navigate a matrix of new challenges to achieve their business goals.

From 25 October to 27 October, Amazon Ads’ annual conference, unBoxed, returns to the Jacob Javits Center in New York City where we’ll announce new advertising solutions and hear from business leaders to learn how marketers can approach the evolving industry.

“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. Registration is now open for unBoxed 2022, where we’ll explore these topics in depth.

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.1 Marketers are focusing on insight-driven strategies to maximise their return on ad spend (ROAS) and justify every dollar they invest.

Beyond spend management, marketers are also navigating continued global supply-chain issues and changing consumer sentiment. Eight in 10 consumers say they are planning to rethink or reduce their product spending in the next three to six months because of rising costs, according to a June report from market research firm the NPD Group.2

“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 optimisation. This could help brands better measure their campaigns, increase the impact of their ad dollars and create more engaging campaigns for audiences.

2. Standing out in the attention economy

From TV to laptop to tablet, phone 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.3 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?

When ads are relevant and entertaining, audiences tend to enjoy them more, according to a 2022 survey that Amazon Ads and Omnicom Media Group commissioned with Latitude. In this poll, 73% of consumers said their overall viewing experience is more enjoyable when ads are relevant to the viewer.4

By using engaging creative assets and understanding what content resonates with audiences, brands have the opportunity to break through the noise and stand out. A recent Amazon Ads and Kantar analysis looking into brand lift insights found that 88% of top-performing creatives contained video.5 And in campaigns that included both video and display, brand awareness was 2X higher than campaigns with display alone.6

“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 creative.

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 touch points 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 can help marketers create important connections with audiences throughout their daily lives,” said Claire Paull, Head of Global Marketing at Amazon Ads. “By showing up where audiences already are, whether they are shopping online or listening to music, your brand can stay top of mind for busy consumers.”

In addition, 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, by using Streaming TV ads, audio ads, display ads and more, 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 accurate reach that they can trust.

We’ll discuss more trends and insights and announce new products and services at unBoxed 2022 that can help brands reach their marketing goals and connect with their customers. Be a part of the experience.

1 “Global economic crisis sparks reappraisal of online ad spending by brand marketers,” Digiday, US, 2022
2 “How America is coping with inflation: Buy what’s needed, nothing more,” CNN, US, 2022
3 “What Is Everyone Doing on Their Second Screens?” Adweek, US, 2021
4 Latitude, “The New Ad Value Exchange”, Amazon Ads and OMG, 2021, US
5–6 “Creative meta-analysis”, Amazon Ads and Kantar, April 2022, US