Campaign Creation: How to create Sponsored Brands (SBs) in Ad Optimizer : metoda

This article provides an overview on how to create Sponsored Brands (SB) in Ad Optimizer.

For the onboarding of Sponsord Brands, click "Campaigns". This leads you to the campaigns section.

You can either:

Case 1: add SB campaigns for new products manually by clicking “New campaign” or

Case 2: import several new campaigns at once using “Import” and our onboarding template (the Excel template can be downloaded by clicking "Import", "Download example Excel")

In both cases, you need to fill in all mandatory information

Information	Mandatory/ Optional	Description
Portfolio name	Mandatory	The portfolio where you want to run the campaign in.
Campaign Name	Optional	Name of the SB campaign. The name must start with "m_". The field is optional - if no name was defined, Ad Optimizer will create a unique campaign name automatically. It can be adapted afterwards.
Headline	Mandatory	Max. 50 characters, the headline needs to be "appropriate" (avoid stating being "best" or "test champion"). Please refer to Amazon guidelines for more detailed information.
ASINs	Mandatory	ASINs you want to display in the SB (usually 3 ASINs will be displayed in the ad).
Brand name	Mandatory	Will be stated at the top of the SB, often differs from entity name.
Logo image ID	Mandatory	If you are creating a campaign via “IMPORT”, you only need the image ID. Make sure to upload the image/logo in our Image Library beforehand and use that exact ID. The ID can also be found in the example import sheet, on the assets (logos) tab.
Landing page type	Mandatory	Two options, SB can either be directed to: - Amazon Brand Store: insert the link to the brand store (sub) page and make sure that all ASINs you want to advertise are included on that page - List of products: a product list is created automatically out of the ASINs brief in the ASINs field. It needs to contain at least three products. Note: the campaign will be paused automatically if less than 2 products are available on the landing page.
Brand store Link	Mandatory if targeting is "brand store"	Link to your store in case the targeting is “store” or Amazon brand store. Note: the store needs to include all ASINs advertised in the SB. (Leave empty if you have chosen a product list)
TACoS	Mandatory	Target ACoS you want to achieve with your campaigns; only full percentage values are possible
Targeting Type**	Mandatory	You can choose between keyword (manual), product targeting & category targeting.
Start	Mandatory	Start date of the campaigns
End	Optional	Leave blank for unlimited campaign duration; fill in for setting an end date of the campaign
Custom Image	Optional	A custom image shows your brand or products in use or context. A custom image is not a brand logo or a standalone product image and does not include a logo or text on top of the image. Use the custom image asset ID when you are importing.
Metoda campaign category	Optional	You can set one category tag (useful for filtering in our reports, e.g "Tableware" or "Hairdryer")
Metoda campaign tags	Optional	You can set multiple product tags (useful for filtering in our report solution e.g. "New product launch", "Special offers January")
Negative Keywords (exact and phrase match)*	Optional	Use for blacklisting in order to make sure that your ad will not be displayed for irrelevant search terms. Limited to 1000 keywords/campaign, and each one of them may not exceed 4 words. They need to be separated by a semicolon (";"). Use exact match in case you want to exclude the exact search term. Use phrase match in case you want to exclude all search terms that include the negative keyword.
Negative brands	Optional	Use for blacklisting of certain brands in category targeting campaigns.
Positive Keywords (broad, phrase and exact match)*	Optional	Additional possibility to upload important keywords manually (white listing). Limited to 1000 keywords/campaign, and each one of them may not exceed 4 words. They need to be separated by a semicolon (";") Use broad match for lose targeting, meaning the keyword needs to be included in the consumer's search term. Use phrase match for more precise targeting, meaning that the exact order of the keywords needs to be included in the consumer's search term. Use exact match for highly precise targeting, meaning that the consumer needs to search exactly what you have defined as a keyword.
Positive Products	Optional	Additional possibility to upload important product detail pages which you would like to target with your ad.
Target harvesting	Optional	Enable or disable the automated target harvesting in Ad Optimizer. (if left blank, it will be enabled)

*According to our best practice, the keywords will be integrated with phrase as match type. The ads can be shown according to the phrase and close variations of it. This allows us to reach a lot of customers, while still keeping the targeting of shoppers precise. The same is true for negative keywords --> the campaign will not be displayed on all search terms that include the given negative keyword.

** There are three Targeting Types for Sponsored Brands:

Keyword: we include suitable keywords from our database and optimize them automatically. Additionally, well-working keywords from the auto campaigns will be added continuously.
Product: Select ASINs on whose product pages the SBs should be displayed.
Category: With category targeting feature, you can target your own product categories and brands on Amazon.

Case 1: Generation of new campaigns using "New campaign" leads you to the following screen

There are 5 major steps you need to complete one by one to set up your campaign. Once you filled in all mandatory fields you will be directed to the Launchpad where you can make some last adjustments before creating the campaign(s).

Step 1: Campaign selection

Select Sponsored Brands.

Choose for the ad format product collection

Step 2: Campaign settings

Define the start date (end date optionally)
Select the right portfolio (use the drop-down list to select an existing portfolio or create a new portfolio via "+ New portfolio")
Set a TACOS
optional - Choose a metoda campaign category (the existing categories are displayed in the selection list after entering. Select one of them or create a new category)
optional - Choose one or several metoda campaign tags

Step 3: Items to advertise

Step 3.1: Product list

Enter the ASIN(s) of the product(s) you want to advertise.

Step 4.2: Brand Store

Add the Brand store link

Step 4: Targeting

Step 4.1: Keyword (manual)

Click on "Customize" to add positive or negative keywords.

"Allow metoda target harvesting" -

Please make sure that you have added manual targets, if you deactivate "metoda target harvesting". Otherwise, the campaign will be "incomplete" and cannot be shown.

Important note: If you disable automatic target harvesting after creation, the targets already added by the system will remain. However, no new targets will be added by our target harvesting logic.

Positive Keyword

Broad: Displayed if the keyword is included somewhere in the search term.
Phrase: Displayed if it has the same order in the search term.
Exact: Displayed if the keyword has an exact match with the search term.

Negative Keyword

Phrase: Any search term containing the word you’ve added as a negative phrase will be blocked
Exact: Only exactly matching search terms are blocked.

Step 4.2: Product targeting

Click on "Customize" to add target ASINs, whenever necessary from a strategic point of view:

Basically, in terms of targeting strategy, we differentiate between the following tactics:

Defend strategy: use product targeting and defend your own ASINs with your own ASINs (e.g. for cross-selling or up-selling purposes). With this tactic, we try to protect your own product detail pages from competitors.
Narrow attack strategy: use product targeting and attack relevant competitor products (e.g. close substitutes of your products, complementary products). With this tactic, we try to steal traffic from relevant competitor product detail pages.
Broad attack strategy: use category targeting in order to attack all other products in the same category. This is a very broad approach but does not require as much research from your side.

It is possible to set up the same targeting type multiple times. In the case of product targeting, this could be useful for defend and attack campaigns, for example.

Step 4.3: Category targeting

Select "Category" in the drop-down

For category targeting, Ad Optimizer automatically uses Amazon's suggested categories.

Click on "Customize" to add negative targets

It is possible to set brands negatively. To do this, enter the brand name and select it from the drop-down list. It is also possible to set products negative. To do this, enter the ASINs.

Negative targets added

Step 5: Creative

Select a Brand:

Step 5.1: Logo and headline

Choose a brand name
Add a headline (max. 50 characters).
Select a logo or upload a new one.
Logo Specs

Step 5.2: Products

Here you can manage the ASINs.

For the product list, the ASINs from step 3.1 will be added automatically.
If a brand store was selected in step 3, three ASINs must be added, which are available on the respective brand store page.

Step 5.3: Custom Image

Enable Custom Image and select a Custom Image from your assets or upload a new one.

When everything is set, click on "Create" and the campaign will be created.

It is always possible to go back to the individual steps and change something there.

If everything has worked, the following message will appear. Then refresh the page to see the created campaigns in AdOptimizer.

If something didn't work, you can download an Excel with the error report.

IMPORTANT NOTE: setting a budget period is the necessary requirement for your campaigns to be displayed. Only if a budget period for the selected portfolio exists, will your campaigns be running.

Set a budget: make sure to set a budget in Ad Optimizer (ideally within separated/dedicated portfolios, e.g. "m_sb"). The Ad Optimizer will take over the budget management. Setting a budget period in the respective portfolio is the necessary requirement for your campaigns to be delivering. Otherwise, the campaign does not have any budget to be spent and will be paused accordingly.

Case 2: import several new campaigns at once using “Import” and our onboarding template (the Excel template can be downloaded by clicking "Import", "Download example Excel")

Step 1: Download the example Excel and fill in all mandatory information.

Open the "SB (product collection)" spreadsheet.

The Excel template has instructions on how to fill in the cells.

Campaign name: The automatically generated campaign name has the following structure: m_sp_ASIN_targeting-type
TACOS: Target ACoS is 15% by default

Step 2: Save the Excel and drag it into the "Import campaigns" screen.

Download error report if it fails

In case something is not filled in properly, you will receive error messages in a Excel report, indicating in which row adjustments are necessary (Column U). Common mistakes: e.g. not all mandatory fields were filled, start date in the past, wrong formatting of the cells. Please read the instructions in the template carefully and follow the guidelines. Do not add or delete any columns or change the order of the columns!

Attention: Amazon limits the number of campaigns per entity to 10,000 campaigns → workaround for vendors: generate separate entities under your organization.

Campaign Creation: How to create Sponsored Brands (SBs) in Ad Optimizer Print