Difference Between Amazon Ads: Sponsored Products vs Sponsored Brands
If you are selling on Amazon and want to increase your sales, you know that advertisement is very important. But how do you know that your ad spend gets you maximum return and sales. To know the result of your ad spend, you have to understand the concepts of Amazon PPC Campaigns types. Amazon offers three main campaign types: Amazon Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brand. But today in this guide, we will only discuss two most important and popular ad types on Amazon which are Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands.
Both campaign types work on the PPC model, meaning that you have to pay when someone clicks on your ad. This makes an effective way for Amazon sellers to scale and grow on Amazon. Along with benefits, PPC Campaigns has some challenges which amazon sellers have to face, because they do not have expertise of Amazon PPC Campaigns types like EcomVanguards have.
Each PPC Campaign type has its Features and Use Cases. Let's start with.
Sponsored Products:
It is the most common ad type, it is used to get immediate clicks and sales for a specific product. It shows the product organically in product listings with the “Sponsored” tag.
Features:
Helps to increase product visibility.
Product appears in top locations.
Used to get immediate clicks and sales.
When to Use Sponsored Products
New Product Launch: To get instant product visibility and sales for newly launched products.
Product Deranking: Use your ads to showcase your product in top results and organic ranking.
Potential Keyword Targeting: Target Potential Customers by strategically bidding on highly specific and high converting keywords.
Sponsored Brands:
It is a primary PPC Campaign type for Brand Building, long-term growth, and New-to-Brand customer acquisition. It displays your Brand Logo, a Custom Headline, and highlights different subpages within your Amazon Brand Store.
Features:
Showcase products with store branding.
Products appear in prime spots with branding.
Used to increase store visibility along with products.
When to Use Sponsored Brands
Brand Building: To establish brand awareness and market presence in a crowded category.
Cross-Selling: To drive shoppers in your brand store and explore all your products.
Competition: To showcase your store brand banner over competitive search terms.
Performance Metrics: ACoS vs. RoAS
Amazon advertising strategies require the understanding of the campaign's financial metrics. Every campaign type has different goals, you should have to measure each campaign success separately.
1. Sponsored Products & ACoS
Focus:ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
Why: Since Amazon Sponsored Products are so focused on immediate conversions, ACoS is the most relevant metric. It tells you the direct profitability of the ad spend for the revenue generated by that single product. A low ACoS is often the primary goal.
2. Sponsored Brands & RoAS
Focus:RoAS (Return on Ad Spend) and New-to-Brand Metrics
Why:Sponsored Brands drive traffic to your brand store, which often leads to the sale of multiple products or a higher average order value. RoAS (Revenue/Spend) provides a better picture of the overall return. Most Importantly, focus on the New-to-Brand metric, which confirms the ad is successfully expanding your customer base, a long-term strategic win that justifies a potentially higher upfront ACoS.
Combining Amazon PPC Campaign Types
A successful PPC strategy requires more than one campaign type.
Discovery: You have to use Sponsored Brand Campaign type for brand building and product discovery. Because when a shopper searches for a generic term like “running shoes”, your sponsored brand ad shows at the top of results, builds your brand awareness.
Conversion: To drive immediate clicks and sales of your product, you have to use the Sponsored Products campaign type. Because when a shopper searches for a specific product, it means they are ready for purchasing. When your ad appears at the top of search results, your product has high conversion chances.
Amazon’s ads policies change rapidly, that’s why you have to master PPC campaigns to avoid ad spend wastage. You have to optimize your campaigns to achieve goals. You also have to decide which ad campaign you have to run for your product to get maximum return, avoid ad spend wastage and control ACoS and ROAS.
Sellers who face difficulty in managing PPC ads for their brand and want a data driven Amazon PPC Strategy, checkout EcomVanguards who helped more than 100 brand owners to reduce wasted ad spend and get maximum return from PPC Campaigns by selecting the right PPC Campaign type at the right time.
We’re on a mission to help Amazon brands grow smarter—not harder—through data-driven systems that streamline ads, optimize catalogs, and scale performance with precision.