- Amazon unveiled a brand new solution that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to quickly convert product images into video ads, as detailed in a blog post.
- The video generator, currently in beta, is a component of Amazon’s Sponsored Brands campaign suite and available to ad partners at no additional cost. Gellé Frères, the French skincare company, has been testing the offering because it prepares for the Black Friday rush.
- Amazon also announced a brand new live image capability for its existing image generator feature that permits brands so as to add flourishes, like steam rising from a coffee cup, to what were previously static pictures. These tools come as large digital platforms go all-in on generative AI to draw more promoting spend.
Amazon’s recent AI-powered video generator goals to broaden access to an upper-funnel channel that may be prohibitively costly to small- and mid-sized marketers. The videos themselves are fairly rudimentary, being based off of product images, however the one-click aspect of technology, which comes at no extra charge for advertisers using Sponsored Brands, might draw interest. Amazon made the announcements as part of its Accelerate event last week.
Gellé Frères has already been experimenting with the video generator as holiday marketing campaigns get underway. In a press statement, a spokesperson for the French skincare company said that the answer “significantly reduced the time required to provide a video ad” and has opened the door to video promoting for a wider range of products in its portfolio.
To use the video generator, a marketer on the Sponsored Brands platform can submit their product page and go to a drop-down menu, choosing “select an AI-generated video.” The tool will then show several video options to select from that the marketer can edit to their liking. In a demo video, a lavender-scented lotion is fed through the video generator, creating ads that show sprawling fields of the flower. The user then adds additional copy to spotlight the product’s qualities.
Availability of the video generator and live image capability is proscribed at first, and Amazon will fine-tune the technology based on advertiser feedback.
The e-commerce giant began ramping up its generative AI offerings for advertisers last fall, when it debuted an AI-powered image generator. Appliance maker Whirlpool leaned on the image generator for its holiday marketing last yr with a campaign that drove greater than 2 million impressions and a click-through rate of 2%, above category benchmarks. Extending the concept into the video realm is a component of Amazon’s efforts to draw more upper-funnel promoting spend.
Other digital platforms, including Meta and Google, have made generative AI a spotlight, with a pitch around production efficiency and scale.
Amazon’s ad segment grew revenue 20% yr over yr in Q2 to $12.77 billion, a figure that missed Wall Street’s estimates and marked a deceleration in growth from prior quarters.
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