The Insider View: What’s Next for Amazon Ads Live at Accelerate - Episode 445

🎙️Interview With Adam Rubens of Amazon

DESCRIPTION

Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Account Management.

Today’s episode is a special edition. Our colleague Matt Rosenfeld, who leads the accelerator team within Acadia’s retail business, was at Amazon’s Accelerate conference, where he recorded a live session with Adam Rubens, Product Marketing Lead for Sponsored Products, Brands, and Stores at Amazon. 

Matt and Adam cover a lot of ground, from Amazon’s newest advertising capabilities to the growing role of AI and automation, and what all of it means for brands and marketers trying to build sustainable growth on the platform.

It’s a quick conversation, but it’s packed with insights. So sit back and enjoy.

“One of the biggest mistakes is just shutting things down too early. Give it enough time to learn, especially with all the new AI tools. Give it enough time to ingest that data so that it can make good decisions.”
— Adam Rubens

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Matt and Adam discuss:

  • The evolving responsibilities of product marketing at Amazon Ads and how seller feedback influences product development

  • New features in Seller Assistant, including support for ad-related queries and campaign launches for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands

  • The effectiveness of video ads versus static ads, with emphasis on when and why video outperforms static creatives

  • The role of video ads in different stages of the marketing funnel and their impact on consumer awareness and decision-making

  • The increasing presence of AI and automation in Amazon advertising, and the importance of human skills like storytelling and data interpretation

  • Addressing concerns that Amazon’s AI primarily optimizes for Amazon’s benefit and how inputs from brand owners influence outcomes

  • Essential preparations for Prime Big Deal Days and Q4, including content optimization, audience building, and measurement baseline setup

  • Common mistakes brands make when adopting new ad products, such as stopping campaigns prematurely before allowing enough data to accumulate

  • Using metrics beyond ACOS to evaluate campaign incrementality, with a focus on “New to Brand” metrics and long-term sales

  • Underused Amazon Ads features, specifically audience bid boosting and Sponsored Brands Collections

  • The misconception that large budgets are necessary to succeed with Amazon Ads, and the value of starting small and scaling up

  • Predictions for the future of automation in reporting and campaign management, and how these changes will free marketers to focus on creative and strategic work

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Adam Rubens, Global Product Marketing Lead for Retail Media at Amazon

Learn more about Amazon Ads

Accelerate 2026 Official Recap

Connect with Acadia’s Accelerator Lead, Matt Rosenfeld 

Connect with our host, Julie Spear

Connect with our host, Jordan Ripley

Learn more about Acadia

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