Amazon Sponsored Brands Guide: Launch Video and Store Ads in 2026
The amazon sponsored brands guide most sellers need does not exist on Seller Central — it stops at “click create campaign.” This guide goes further. Sponsored Brands is the ad format that puts your logo, a headline, and up to three products at the very top of search results, above every organic listing. Done right, it compresses the distance between a buyer’s first search and your product detail page to a single click. At Miraflores Marketing, we manage Sponsored Brands campaigns across dozens of seller accounts and the pattern is consistent: sellers who treat Sponsored Brands as an afterthought lose the top-of-page position to competitors who have figured out the format. According to Amazon Ads’ 2025 benchmarks, Sponsored Brands ads achieve an average click-through rate 22% higher than Sponsored Products for branded keyword terms — primarily because they occupy the premium placement before organic results begin.
“Sponsored Brands is not just an awareness play. When you pair a video ad with the right keyword and a compelling store landing page, it functions as a full-funnel conversion tool. We have seen TACoS drop 8 percentage points for mature products after shifting budget from Sponsored Products to Sponsored Brands video on branded terms.” — Brian, Miraflores Marketing
What the Amazon Sponsored Brands Guide Covers: The Three Ad Formats
Sponsored Brands offers three distinct creative types and understanding which to deploy first is the most important decision you will make. The formats are Product Collection, Store Spotlight, and Video. Each serves a different intent and requires different creative assets.
Product Collection ads display your logo, a custom headline, and up to three ASINs. They appear in the top banner above search results and in the middle of the results page. These are the entry-level format and the fastest to launch. A seller with three products in the same category can have a Product Collection ad live in under 30 minutes.
Store Spotlight ads link to three different pages within your Amazon Brand Store rather than individual product pages. These drive browsers deeper into your catalog and work exceptionally well for brands with five or more SKUs. Our clients who run Store Spotlight see per-session value 15–25% higher than Product Collection because buyers who land in a store browse multiple products.
Video ads auto-play a 6–45 second video in the middle of search results and link to a single ASIN’s product detail page. Video ads consistently deliver the highest CTR of the three formats — often 1.5–2x the CTR of Product Collection for the same keyword. The caveat is that video ads are single-ASIN focused, so they work best for a hero product rather than catalog-building campaigns.
Every format requires Brand Registry enrollment. If your brand is not yet registered, read our guide on Amazon Brand Registry benefits and requirements before proceeding.
How to Set Up an Amazon Sponsored Brands Campaign Step by Step
- Enter Campaign Manager from Seller Central → Advertising → Campaign Manager. Click “Create Campaign” and select “Sponsored Brands.”
- Name your campaign clearly. Use a format like SB_[Brand]_[Format]_[Keyword theme]_[Date]. Consistent naming saves hours when managing 50+ campaigns.
- Set your budget and duration. Start with $25–$50/day. Individual campaign budgets must be set carefully since Portfolio-level daily caps are not available in all markets.
- Choose your ad format. Select Product Collection, Store Spotlight, or Video based on your creative assets and campaign goal.
- Select targeting type. Choose keyword targeting (most control) or product/category targeting (competitor and complementary product placements).
- Build your keyword list. Add 20–40 keywords for a new campaign. Mix broad, phrase, and exact match types.
- Set bids. Start at the suggested bid midpoint. For top-of-search placement, expect to bid 30–50% above Sponsored Products CPCs for the same keyword.
- Build your creative. Write a headline under 50 characters. The best-performing headlines include the main keyword, a benefit, and a brand name.
- Submit for review. Amazon reviews Sponsored Brands ads within 72 hours. Video ads sometimes take longer. Check Campaign Manager the next day.
After your first 14 days, pull a Search Term Report and check actual queries triggering your ads. Add negatives aggressively in weeks 2 and 3. Our Amazon negative keywords tutorial walks through the exact filtering logic we use across client accounts.
Common Amazon Sponsored Brands Mistakes That Kill Performance
Mistake 1 — Running all three products from one category without testing them individually. When a Product Collection ad performs poorly, you do not know which product is dragging it down. Run individual Product Collection campaigns for each ASIN for the first 30 days, then promote the top performer into a combined campaign.
Mistake 2 — Sending Store Spotlight traffic to the homepage. Your Brand Store homepage is a category page, not a landing page. Create a dedicated sub-page for each campaign theme and link there. Sellers who do this consistently see conversion rates 18–30% higher.
Mistake 3 — Using the same keywords as Sponsored Products without adjusting bids. Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products compete in the same auction but for different placements. Sponsored Brands should own branded terms and high-intent category terms; Sponsored Products should own long-tail and ASIN-targeted placements.
Mistake 4 — Ignoring the New-to-Brand metric. This Sponsored Brands-exclusive metric shows how many orders came from buyers who had not purchased from your brand in the past 12 months. Benchmark it monthly. Below 30% new-to-brand means you are mostly recapturing existing customers.
Mistake 5 — Not testing video ads out of fear of production cost. Amazon’s Creative Builder lets you create a Sponsored Brands video from product images and text overlays — no video production required. Our clients routinely produce compliant videos in under an hour. A simple slideshow often outperforms elaborate produced videos.
Sponsored Brands Metrics, Benchmarks, and Budget Strategy
Sponsored Brands performance looks different from Sponsored Products. Here are the metrics and targets we track for Miraflores Marketing clients:
| Metric | Target Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CTR (Product Collection) | 0.35–0.60% | Below 0.3% → test new headline or swap ASINs |
| CTR (Video) | 0.50–1.20% | Video CTR varies by niche; beauty & apparel highest |
| Sponsored Brands ACoS | 25–45% | Higher than SP is acceptable — factor in New-to-Brand orders |
| New-to-Brand % | 40–65% | Below 30% means you’re retargeting existing customers |
| CPC vs. Sponsored Products | +20–40% | Top-of-search placement commands a premium |
A common starting budget allocation is 60% Sponsored Products / 30% Sponsored Brands / 10% Sponsored Display. As brand equity grows, shift toward a 50/40/10 split. We cover the full optimization framework in our guide on reducing Amazon ACoS.
Final Thoughts on the Amazon Sponsored Brands Guide
Sponsored Brands is the format that builds brand equity while generating revenue — the only Amazon ad type that does both simultaneously. The sellers we see win long-term on Amazon own the top of the search results page with Sponsored Brands, build customer relationships through their Brand Store, and use the New-to-Brand metric to track actual audience growth. If you are ready to build a Sponsored Brands strategy tailored to your catalog and budget, contact Miraflores Marketing and we will build it with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need Brand Registry to run Sponsored Brands ads?
Yes. All three Sponsored Brands formats require active Amazon Brand Registry enrollment. You must have a registered trademark linked to your brand before applying.
Q: How long does Sponsored Brands ad review take?
Most Sponsored Brands ads are reviewed within 72 hours. Video ads occasionally take 3–5 business days. Rejection emails specify the exact policy violation — read them carefully and resubmit the same day.
Q: What is the minimum budget for a Sponsored Brands campaign?
The minimum daily budget is $1.00, but campaigns with less than $10/day rarely generate enough data to optimize. Start at $25–$50/day and scale up once ACoS and CTR benchmarks confirm the campaign is working.
Q: Can I run Sponsored Brands on every keyword type?
Yes. Sponsored Brands supports broad, phrase, exact, and negative keyword match types, plus product targeting by ASIN or category.