ads-amazon

name	ads-amazon
description	Amazon Ads deep analysis covering Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands (incl. Sponsored Brands Video), Sponsored Display (audiences + contextual), and basic Amazon DSP. Evaluates campaign structure, ACOS/TACOS targets, search-term harvesting, negative keyword discipline, Brand Analytics signals, day-parting, bid management, auto vs manual campaign mix, ASIN targeting, and DSP retargeting. Use when user says Amazon Ads, Amazon advertising, Amazon PPC, Amazon search ads, Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Amazon DSP, ACOS, TACOS, retail media audit, Amazon Marketing Services, AMS, or Amazon seller advertising.
user-invokable	false
tested_date	"2026-05-17T00:00:00.000Z"
tested_with	claude-code v2.x

Amazon Ads Deep Analysis

Amazon owns 80% of US retail media ($56B in 2025). This sub-skill audits the three Sponsored ad types plus basic DSP visibility for sellers and vendors. Detailed Amazon DSP audit (programmatic / Twitch / Fire TV / Freevee / Prime Video) is queued for Wave 3 in ads-retail-media.

Note: This is a leaf sub-skill. The thresholds and rules below live inline. In Wave 3, once ads-walmart ships and the ads-retail-media orchestrator extracts the shared retail-media logic, a dedicated retail-media-specs.md reference file will replace these inline rules (planned, not yet created — do not link to it from other files).

Process

1. Collect Amazon Advertising export: Search Term Report (last 60 days), Campaign Performance Report, Targeting Report, Placement Report, Bulk Operations file
2. Collect Brand Analytics if available (Brand-Registered sellers / vendors): Search Terms, Repeat Purchase Behavior, Item Comparison
3. Verify Seller / Vendor Central context (vendor strategy differs from seller strategy on portfolio, coupons, and Sponsored Brands video)
4. Read ads/references/benchmarks.md for Amazon-specific benchmarks
5. Read ads/references/scoring-system.md for weighted scoring
6. Evaluate checks per category
7. Calculate Amazon Ads Health Score (0-100)
8. Generate findings report with action plan

What to Analyze

Campaign Structure & Portfolios (15% weight)

• Portfolio organization — campaigns grouped by funnel stage (Awareness / Consideration / Conversion) or by product line, not ad-hoc
• Campaign naming convention consistent (e.g., SP_Brand_Exact_USD_Conv / SB_NonBrand_HSA_Video_USD_Cons)
• Auto vs Manual mix: Sponsored Products has ≥1 Auto campaign per ASIN cluster for search-term harvesting (auto-mining workflow)
• ASIN-level coverage: every priority ASIN appears in ≥1 SP campaign (Exact, Phrase, or Broad) AND ≥1 Auto campaign
• Targeting type mix in SP: Manual Keyword + Manual Product (ASIN targeting) + Auto (for harvesting). Pure Auto is a learning-only state
• Sponsored Brands: at least one HSA (Headline Search Ad) campaign per brand storefront; SB Video tested for high-AOV products
• Sponsored Display: separate Audience (retargeting + lookalike) and Contextual (product / category targeting) campaigns — don't mix in one

Search-Term Harvesting & Negatives (25% weight)

• Auto → Manual harvest cadence weekly or bi-weekly: pull converting search terms from Auto, promote winners to Manual Exact in their target campaign, add as negatives to the Auto so spend redirects
• Negative keyword coverage: every Auto campaign has Manual campaign ASINs as negatives (prevents Auto cannibalizing Manual placements)
• Negative product targeting: irrelevant ASINs added at campaign level (prevents Sponsored Display contextual targeting from showing your ad next to incompatible products)
• Search Term Report harvested last 7 days — any high-spend, zero- conversion terms above $10 / 30 days should be negatives
• Brand defense: branded search terms are isolated in a separate campaign with exact-match brand keywords and competitor-name negatives
• Top-of-search visibility — branded search auction CPC vs default; flag if competitor bid is above your brand-defense bid

ACOS / TACOS Discipline (20% weight)

• ACOS targets set per portfolio based on contribution margin (target ACOS = (1 - contribution_margin) × buffer). Sloppy "30% across the board" ACOS targets cap performance
• TACOS (Total ACOS) trending down quarter-over-quarter — TACOS measures total ad spend / total revenue including organic; downward trend means paid is lifting organic, not replacing it
• ROAS reported alongside ACOS for the team that thinks in ROAS
• Coupon + Lightning Deal stacking — when on, ACOS targets relaxed to capture lift; auto-flag campaigns that need temporary ACOS uplift
• Day-parting: bid adjustments by hour for ASINs where add-to-cart hours differ from purchase hours (frequent for high-AOV electronics)

Bid & Budget Management (15% weight)

• Dynamic bidding strategy: Up and Down for Manual Exact converting campaigns; Down Only for Auto campaigns or Sponsored Display contextual (avoid bid escalation in learning campaigns)
• Placement bid multipliers: Top-of-search placement adjusted based on ROAS by placement (Placement Report); often +50-100% for top-of-search, -30% for product page placements
• Budget caps appropriate — no campaigns capped at <2x current daily spend (caps strangle algorithm learning)
• Bulk bid adjustments — bid optimization runs weekly via Bulk Operations not ad-hoc in the UI

Sponsored Brands (10% weight)

• HSA (Headline Search Ad): brand logo + 3-product showcase + landing page (Store, custom URL, or product list)
• SB Video: 6-45s; 15-30s sweet spot. Hook within 2s. Captions on. Required for high-AOV products
• Brand Store linked as landing destination where available (higher CVR than product detail page)
• Negative keywords on SB include competitor brand names if you don't want top-of-funnel competitor traffic; remove if you do

Sponsored Display (10% weight)

• Audience targeting: Views Remarketing, Purchase Remarketing, Cross- Sell, and Lookalike audiences each scaled with appropriate bids
• Contextual targeting: relevant categories AND specific ASIN targeting (your own complementary products + competitor ASINs you can win)
• Display creative quality: at minimum, the default product creative; custom creative tested for top SKUs
• Off-Amazon Sponsored Display (Twitch, IMDb, third-party sites) audited separately — different CPC dynamics, different attribution windows

Brand Analytics & Reporting (5% weight)

• Brand Analytics accessed (Brand-Registered only): Top Search Terms, Item Comparison, Repeat Purchase Behavior
• Top Search Terms report used to identify share-of-voice gaps vs competitors on category keywords
• Repeat Purchase Behavior informs subscription / replenishment ad strategy
• Amazon Attribution (off-Amazon traffic) tracked if running external ads driving to Amazon listings

Key Thresholds

Metric	Pass	Warning	Fail
ACOS (vs target)	Within ±10% of target	10-25% over	>25% over
TACOS trend (90d)	Decreasing	Flat	Increasing
Auto / Manual mix	Both active per ASIN	Only Manual or only Auto	Single campaign / ASIN
Negative keywords on Auto	Manual ASIN keywords added	Some missing	None
Search term harvest cadence	Weekly	Monthly	Ad-hoc
Branded campaign ACOS	<5%	5-15%	>15%
Dynamic bidding strategy	Up-and-Down on converters, Down-Only on learners	Mixed inconsistently	All campaigns same strategy
Sponsored Brands video tested	Active on top 10 ASINs	Active on 1-3 ASINs	Not tested
Brand Analytics accessed	Weekly	Monthly	Never

Output

Amazon Ads Health Score

Amazon Ads Health Score: XX/100 (Grade: X)

Campaign Structure:     XX/100  ████████░░  (15%)
Search-Term Harvesting: XX/100  ██████████  (25%)
ACOS / TACOS Discipline:XX/100  █████████░  (20%)
Bid & Budget Mgmt:      XX/100  ████████░░  (15%)
Sponsored Brands:       XX/100  ███████░░░  (10%)
Sponsored Display:      XX/100  ███████░░░  (10%)
Brand Analytics:        XX/100  █████░░░░░  (5%)

Deliverables

• AMAZON-ADS-REPORT.md: Full per-category findings
• Search-term harvest plan: keywords to promote to Manual + keywords to add as negatives, ranked by spend recovery $
• ACOS-by-ASIN matrix highlighting unprofitable SKUs
• Sponsored Brands video opportunity list (top 10 ASINs without SB Video)
• Pre-launch checklist when entering a new product category
• Amazon DSP entry recommendation (yes / no based on total monthly spend and audience size)