The 11 biggest takeaways from unBoxed 2026

AI is reshaping how customers discover, research, and buy. They're asking assistants for recommendations, making purchase decisions inside conversations, and engaging with brands in moments that look nothing like a traditional search. For brands, that shift raises the stakes. When customers are moving between more screens, channels, and formats than ever before, standing out in each of those moments and staying relevant across all of them takes real work. But the basics of what works haven't changed. Reaching the right customers with relevant messages still drives performance. The complexity is in doing it everywhere, all at once. That's the opportunity Amazon Ads explored during unBoxed 2026 in San Francisco.

"With AI, we have a new set of powerful tools to extend these unique capabilities," said Paul Kotas, SVP of Amazon Ads, during his opening remarks. "Our goal is to deliver even better advertising and performance, while making it all as simple as possible."

Day 1 focused on the products, the tools, and the intelligence behind them. Day 2 shifted from product to perspective with "Reimagine," a series of conversations exploring what becomes possible when transformative technology meets original human thinking. The vision across both days is clear: It's in AI and advertising solutions that simplify full-funnel advertising for brands of every size, meet shoppers inside the conversations they're already having, connect the dots from first impression to verified purchase, and free up the human time and creative energy to reimagine what advertising can do. Here are the 11 biggest takeaways.

1. Branded Conversations keep your brand in the dialogue

Shoppers are increasingly turning to Alexa for Shopping to research products, compare options, and make purchases. With Branded Conversations, brands can highlight what makes them different, what sets their products apart, how they address customer needs, and how their products complement each other for the best results.

For example, a skin care brand might provide information on which cleanser is best for oily skin, which is best for sensitive skin, and which is best for beginners building their first routine. They could also provide information on complementary products, such as toners, serums, moisturizers, and sunscreens. When a shopper clicks a prompt such as, "Help me build a daily routine," Alexa for Shopping can provide pertinent information to that specific customer.

"Shopping is rarely resolved with just a single prompt," said Muthu Muthukrishnan, VP of Sponsored Products and Brands, during the unBoxed opening keynote. "There's questions, discovery, more questions. Shopping is a back-and-forth conversation. To guide that well, a brand needs to stay in the conversation, not just show up at the start of it."

Muthu Muthukrishnan, VP of Sponsored Products and Brands, debuts Branded Conversations during the unBoxed opening keynote.

2. Sponsored Services extends Amazon's closed loop to local service providers for the first time

You buy a smart touchless faucet. Weeks later, it's still sitting in the garage because installation requires a professional. Sponsored Services closes that gap by connecting shoppers with qualified local service providers directly on Amazon. Yelp is the anchor partner for home and local services. "The Sponsored Services ad is conversational and agentic, focusing on the details specific to that service, and it completes the task directly," Muthukrishnan said.

3. Amazon Ads Agent unifies the buying experience

Think about what advertising actually requires day to day. You're figuring out who to reach, creating content, setting budgets, planning placements, tracking results, and adjusting, across potentially dozens of platforms in different formats. Amazon Ads Agent is the unified buying experience that brings together what was formerly the DSP and Ads Console, so advertisers can achieve full-funnel objectives regardless of business size or goals. Sponsored ads, Full-Funnel Campaigns, and DVA+, all connected in one platform.

"Amazon Ads Agent understands your end-to-end business, and all your advertising activity," Kotas said. "You can ask questions, gain insights, consider detailed recommendations, or simply give instructions. It makes your Amazon Ads experience simpler, yet more powerful."

Amazon Ads Agent also features a conversational AI experience, now available in expanded closed beta, that helps advertisers find answers, make decisions, and take action across their advertising through natural dialogue.

4. Full-Funnel Campaigns let every brand think bigger

Advertisers who sell on Amazon already know sponsored ads can help them achieve their business goals. Now imagine extending that momentum to new customers who haven't discovered you yet, across video, display, and audio, without building each campaign from scratch. That's Full-Funnel Campaigns. You set your goal and AI handles the channel mix, creative, audiences, and optimization. Beta testers saw 67% higher long-term return on ad spend and 29% lower cost to acquire new-to-brand customers.

Canine Naturals tested the experience early. "41% of sales from Full-Funnel Campaigns were new to our brand," said Brenda Quintana of Canine Naturals.

Amit Bhattacharyya, Vice President of Agentic Intelligence and Models, put it simply: "It's an advertising solution built for you."

Amit Bhattacharyya, Vice President of Agentic Intelligence and Models, explores Full-Funnel Campaigns at unBoxed 2026.

5. DVA+ streamlines Display, Video, and Audio campaigns

Running separate campaigns for display, streaming TV, and audio has meant separate setups, separate budgets, and separate optimizations. DVA+ brings the power of programmatic advertising to all advertisers in a single buying experience inside Amazon Ads Agent. One objective, one budget, one campaign across all media types. For teams that want speed, it's streamlined. For those that want full control, advanced settings put every programmatic lever at their fingertips.

"Not every advertiser is starting from the same coordinates," said Kelly MacLean, VP of Engineering, Science, and Product. "You have different objectives, and you want to reach people in different places—whether that's through sponsored ads, on streaming TV, or across the open internet. Some of you want full control over every decision. Others want us to optimize for you. We now make it easy to do both."

DVA+ meets you where you are.

Kelly MacLean, VP of Engineering, Science, and Product, reveals DVA+ at unBoxed 2026.

6. AI creative tools now live inside the conversational experience in Amazon Ads Agent

Here's something that used to take weeks: briefing creative, producing assets for every format, and getting everything approved and running.

Now, generative AI creative tools live directly inside the conversational experience in Amazon Ads Agent. Use your existing product assets to generate display ads and TV-quality video tailored to your brand. Advertisers using these capabilities drove up to 71% more product coverage and up to 15% sales growth versus their results before adopting the suite. "And when you're spending less time on the mechanics, you get to ask the better question: what else is possible for my brand?" MacLean said.

7. Nearly 1,000 metrics, one question away

It's Monday morning. You've got campaigns running across sponsored ads, display, and video, and you need to know where to focus. Amazon Ads Agent puts nearly 1,000 metrics at your fingertips through natural language. Ask for your top campaign drivers, new-to-brand breakdowns, or Long-Term Sales trends and get a business review with visualizations and peer benchmarks in minutes. "It's less time churning through data, more time actually thinking about what to do with it," said Paula Despins, VP of Ads Measurement.

Paula Despins, VP of Ads Measurement, breaks down how Amazon Ads Agent unlocks simplicity for advertisers.

8. Amazon Ads MCP Server (Lite) and the AMC Expert Tool

Two announcements, one theme: making powerful capabilities easier for agents to use. Amazon Ads MCP Server (Lite) simplifies how agents interact with Amazon Ads, starting with just three core tools that help them discover and invoke additional capabilities as needed, without loading the full toolset upfront. Separately, the AMC Expert Tool brings specialized Amazon Ads expertise to complex analytics tasks, interpreting natural-language requests, reasoning across AMC schemas and advertising context, and generating the appropriate SQL query. "The Expert Tool generates the right AMC query, your agent keeps moving, and the workflow never breaks," Despins said.

9. The real AI advantage isn't efficiency

Most organizations have fallen into a familiar pattern with AI, using it to do existing work faster and cheaper. Day 2's "Reimagine" series opened by challenging that instinct. Every major tech wave follows the same arc. Companies start by cutting costs, then realize the real opportunity was in using the technology to reimagine what's possible. AI is no different. The organizations that treat it as a tool for innovation, not just optimization, will be the ones that find growth others can't see yet. "AI for efficiency is just the starting point," said Claire Paull, VP of Amazon Ads Marketing, in her Day 2 remarks. "The real promise is in carving out time for innovation, where AI might open doors we cannot quite yet see."

Claire Paull, VP of Amazon Ads Marketing, shares how new Amazon Ads solutions help brands connect with their customers.

10. When technology meets real human stories

AI is extraordinarily good at producing content at scale. What it can't do is know what's worth making, or why it matters to the person on the other end. Martha Stewart joined Paull on stage to talk about what has kept her brand relevant for nearly five decades. Her answer wasn't about chasing platforms. It was about taste, judgment, and knowing what people need before the data catches up. Four-time Olympian Chaunté Lowe brought the same conviction from a different angle, sharing how she partnered with the Ad Council and Amazon Ads on "The Mind Set," a campaign that connected more than 2.5 million people with mental health resources. The technology carried those stories further than any one person ever could. But the stories had to be real first. "Technology only matters when it helps people connect with something meaningful," Paull said.

11. It all comes back to the customer

Across two days, unBoxed 2026 covered a lot of ground. New products, new measurement, new creative tools, new ways to show up inside conversations. But zoom out, and the thread connecting all of it is simpler than any single announcement. "Today was about reimagining how we think about AI, with leaders who are already turning that thinking into growth," Paull said in her Day 2 close. "Thank you for showing up, for pushing creative boundaries, and for proving that the best ideas are still ahead of us."

Technology changes. Customer expectations change. But the work of building real connections between brands and the people they serve? That doesn't.