Amazon is cozying up to Madison St. as it opens up its customer data trove to test new advertising capabilities, AdAge reports. Geared towards agencies such as Omnicom, WPP, Dentsu Aegis and others, Amazon is hoping to create value on their platform through data-enhanced ad targeting and attribution.
"Amazon, for the first time ever, is starting to realize that monetizing the data they have and making it available for purchase, not personally identifiable information, could open a revenue stream that wasn't there before," said an agency executive privy to these discussions told AdAge.
Experiments with agencies and brands are already underway using Amazon’s emerging suite of data and analytics tools. Advertisers anticipate that these trials will culminate into a full-fledged data service that enable agencies and brands to bid for ads, purchase ad inventory, and import consumer data for more precise targeting than Amazon’s current self-serve ad platform.
Underpinning this technology is Amazon Web Services, the ubiquitous cloud computing platform used across virtually every industry. Maintaining privacy appears to be a key part of their strategy as advertisers say Amazon has invoked a “clean room” approach to prevent data leaks.
"What Amazon is building will enable brands to craft a full-journey, attributable marketing experience. The digital data 'clean room' will provide [insights] into behavior across consumers' purchase paths. This is very different than anything advertisers have been able to do with Amazon until now."
"What Amazon is building will enable brands to craft a full-journey, attributable marketing experience," Chris Apostle, evp and head of performance at Havas Media, told AdAge.
"The digital data 'clean room' will provide [insights] into behavior across consumers' purchase paths," Apostle added. "This is very different than anything advertisers have been able to do with Amazon until now."
This move is a natural progression of Amazon’s foray into data-driven advertising and plans to rival the current Facebook-Google marketing duopoly. According to Ad Age, revenue in Amazon advertising alone is expected to reach $4.6 billion in the U.S. this year. Their desire to create a more user-friendly platform informed their decision to work closely with agencies during these trials.
Amazon declined to comment for this story, and the exact details of any planned data products are still in the works. Advertisers said they were still in discussions with Amazon about how they could help develop these next-generation data services, and anything concrete would likely come next year.
While Amazon has declined to comment on these developments, their ambitions as an advertising platform appear to extend beyond driving sales in their marketplace. They plan to offer a way for brands to reach consumers throughout the web.
