WPP agencies POSSIBLE and Mindshare are launching a new offering to help brands leverage their media and ecommerce investments across the entire Amazon ecosystem. The new offering is a first-of-its-kind combination of the media planning and buying, data analysis and strategy expertise of Mindshare with the ecommerce, data analysis and creative expertise of POSSIBLE. 

The new offering includes:

•    Media planning, buying and optimisation on Amazon (AMS, AAP, AMG) integrated across a client’s broader media investments

•    Ecommerce services synchronized with a client’s Amazon media investments, including channel strategy, assortment optimization, content development and optimization, and shelf management

•    Innovation services focused on building new brand experiences within the Amazon ecosystem (Dash, Alexa, etc.)

•    Measurement, reporting and analytics that provide a holistic understanding of a brand’s presence and performance within the Amazon ecosystem

•    A centralized source of knowledge and insight focused on Amazon Prime members

Managed collectively, these services unify sales, brand marketing, shopper and ecommerce efforts for greater efficiency and impact. The new solution is being offered now because Amazon has become central to the lives of both consumers and brands and there is a need for an integrated solution across media and ecommerce.

•    55% of US consumers now begin an online product search on Amazon, compared to 28% who use a search engine and only 16% who use a retailer’s site – making mastering the Amazon ecosystem a vital component of a modern marketer’s arsenal.*

•    Spend with Amazon – including sales from first- and third-party sales, Amazon.com and Prime Now – accounted for 43% of all the revenue generated in the US online market in 2016 and 53% of all online sales growth in the US.**

•    64% of US households are now Amazon Prime members, making Amazon not just a retail giant, but also one of the world’s largest media owners. eMarketer predicts Amazon will generate $1 billion in advertising this year, and that number will grow to over $20 billion by 2020, making Amazon the third horse (alongside Google and Facebook) in the digital advertising race.

“If brands aren’t thinking about Amazon as a media platform, they run the risk of becoming obsolete,” said Joe Migliozzi, Shop+ Lead at Mindshare. “Understanding where and how to spend media dollars on Amazon is important, and integrating that spend into the rest of your media strategy is where brand loyalty and greater demand are achieved. But in the end, if brands aren’t optimized on the platform, it doesn’t matter how much money you spend, that’s why I’m excited by our relationship with POSSIBLE.  Together, we can provide a brand everything they need to succeed on Amazon.”

“The potential for brands and retailers on Amazon is enormous, but they need a holistic strategy to succeed. That strategy needs to cover everything from retail fundamentals to media buying and planning,” remarked Frank Kochenash, Global SVP of Commerce at POSSIBLE. “Our clients consistently ask POSSIBLE to be their one-stop-shop for Amazon, and now this partnership allows us to bring brands the deepest expertise across all the levers they need to pull. Mindshare are media experts and we are thrilled to partner with Joe and his Shop+ team.”

The combined offering will leverage the full media and ecommerce capabilities of both agencies and the wider WPP ecosystem. 

POSSIBLE brings several formal partnerships with Amazon, proprietary tools for shelf and AMS campaign management and dedicated employees providing expertise in strategy, content, AMS/Amazon Ad Platform (AAP) and analytics to the new service. In addition, POSSIBLE’s recent acquisition of Marketplace Ignition deepens POSSIBLE’s expertise and experience in all aspects of the Amazon ecosystem from supply chain and operations, to assortment planning, operational marketing, content optimization and search management.

Mindshare will bring its Shop+ media and commerce capability, which is already an established Amazon Media Group (AMG) partner and includes: SEO/SEM, content development, analytics and reporting as well as its status as one of a handful of approved Amazon Alexa developers – allowing Mindshare to create Skills for Amazon’s voice-activated AI assistant. Mindshare will also leverage GroupM’s mPlatform capability for programmatic services and will incubate this first-to-market, full-service solution for GroupM clients globally.

The offering will be available through POSSIBLE and Mindshare in Seattle, New York, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, London and Singapore.