Introduction: Why Amazon DSP is the Next Evolution of Amazon Advertising
For years, Amazon sellers have relied on Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands to capture shoppers already searching for their products. But as Brent Zahradnik, founder of Amazon Pathfinder, explains in his recent interview, this approach only targets the bottom of the funnel—people who already know what they want and are actively searching on Amazon.
Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform) represents a fundamental shift in how brands approach Amazon advertising. Unlike traditional sponsored ads that capture existing demand, DSP creates demand by reaching potential customers throughout the entire marketing funnel, both on and off Amazon.
The Funnel Game-Changer
Traditional Amazon advertising focuses on “solution-aware” customers who are already typing keywords into the search bar. As Zahradnik notes, “They’re already quite far along in their journey of shopping for something on Amazon.” But what about the millions of potential customers who don’t even know your brand exists?
Amazon DSP changes this dynamic by leveraging Amazon’s first-party data—information from millions of customers’ purchasing behaviors—to identify and target prospects at the top and middle of the funnel. This programmatic advertising platform serves display ads, video content, and audio advertisements across Amazon’s owned properties (like Prime Video and IMDb) and third-party websites throughout the internet.
Strategic Advantages Beyond Traditional Ads
The power of DSP lies in its ability to educate and nurture prospects before they become active searchers. For brands selling consumables like supplements, this means targeting customers who might be “in-market” for health products but haven’t started searching yet. For durable goods, it’s about building brand awareness that influences future purchase decisions.
Understanding traditional Amazon PPC basics provides the foundation, but DSP represents the evolution toward comprehensive customer acquisition strategies that smart brands are using to dominate their markets.
From Experience
In our experience managing Amazon advertising campaigns, implementing DSP has been a game-changer for brands looking to expand beyond just search-based tactics. We’ve tested full-funnel strategies that combine awareness and retargeting, and the results consistently show increased brand engagement and improved long-term customer value—especially for subscription-based products. Clients we’ve worked with often see the clearest ROI when creative assets are tailored to the funnel stage and advanced audience exclusions are used to avoid wasted spend. Real-world results show that integrating AMC data for campaign measurement gives an actionable view into how each touchpoint contributes to conversions, enabling more confident allocation of ad budgets.
What is Amazon DSP and How Does It Differ from Sponsored Ads?
Based on Brent Zahradnik’s expert insights from the interview, Amazon DSP represents a fundamental shift from keyword-based advertising to audience-driven campaigns that target shoppers throughout their entire journey.
The Core Difference: Funnel Stage Targeting
While traditional Amazon ads like Sponsored Products capture “bottom of the funnel” demand—shoppers already searching for specific keywords on Amazon—DSP operates at the top and middle of the funnel. As Brent explains, “If someone has never heard of your brand, it doesn’t matter if you’re going to tell them all the benefits… They don’t even know who you are.”
What Makes DSP Different
Amazon DSP is a demand-side platform that enables programmatic display advertising across two key areas:
- Amazon Owned & Operated Properties: Including Amazon.com, IMDb, Twitch, Prime Video, and Amazon streaming services—typically more expensive but highly targeted.
- Third-Party Networks: Broader reach across external websites and apps at lower costs, extending your brand’s presence beyond Amazon’s ecosystem.
Endemic vs Non-Endemic Campaigns
DSP supports both endemic campaigns (promoting products sold on Amazon) and non-endemic campaigns (services, insurance, or products sold elsewhere). This flexibility allows brands to leverage Amazon’s first-party data regardless of where they sell.
Advanced Audience Capabilities
Unlike keyword-based targeting, DSP uses sophisticated audience segmentation through Amazon’s customer data, custom audience building, and exclusion capabilities that sponsored ads lack. This enables precise retargeting and funnel progression strategies.
For supplement brands, Brent emphasizes tracking subscribe-and-save metrics rather than one-time purchases, demonstrating how DSP’s approach differs fundamentally from traditional Amazon advertising focused on immediate conversions.
Brent Zahradnik’s Guide to Amazon DSP Strategy
Amazon advertising expert Brent Zahradnik reveals a critical insight about modern advertising strategy: most Amazon advertisers are only capturing bottom-of-funnel demand through traditional sponsored ads. While these campaigns target shoppers already searching for specific keywords on Amazon, they miss vast audiences at the awareness and consideration stages.
Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform) changes this entirely. Unlike traditional Amazon PPC campaigns that rely on keyword targeting, DSP leverages Amazon’s first-party customer data to reach potential buyers across the entire internet—from major news websites to mobile apps, even extending to Amazon’s own properties like Prime Video and Twitch.
Zahradnik emphasizes two critical strategic decisions when building DSP campaigns. First, determine if you’re running endemic (selling on Amazon) or non-endemic (selling elsewhere) campaigns. Second, classify your products as durable goods or consumables, as this fundamentally changes your targeting approach and success metrics.
For consumable products like supplements, Zahradnik focuses on Subscribe & Save conversions rather than one-time purchases. “Maybe it costs $70 to get someone to subscribe to your vitamins pack, but if they retain for two and a half years spending $25 each time, the math works out great,” he explains.
The creative component proves crucial for DSP success. Unlike sponsored products where your listing serves as the creative, DSP requires strategic ad development for different funnel stages. Top-of-funnel creative should focus on brand introduction and storytelling, while mid-funnel content drives consideration.
Advanced features like audience exclusions allow sophisticated funnel progression. You can exclude users who’ve seen awareness campaigns and target them with consideration-focused messaging, ultimately setting them up for capture through traditional sponsored campaigns.
With Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) integration, advertisers can track complete customer journeys from initial DSP exposure through final purchase, providing unprecedented insights into multi-touchpoint attribution that transforms how brands approach full-funnel advertising strategies.
Endemic vs Non-Endemic DSP Campaigns: Choosing Your Path
When launching Amazon DSP campaigns, the first critical decision you’ll face is choosing between endemic and non-endemic strategies—a choice that fundamentally shapes your targeting approach and success metrics.
Endemic vs Non-Endemic: Understanding Your Path
Endemic campaigns target customers for products you sell directly on Amazon. Think supplements, electronics, or household goods with existing Amazon listings. This approach leverages Amazon’s powerful first-party customer data to reach shoppers already in buying mode.
Non-endemic campaigns promote services or products sold outside Amazon—like insurance, software solutions, or your own e-commerce site. As Brent explains in the interview, “You can do DSP even if you are not selling on Amazon. You can do it for your own services.”
The Product Type Decision Tree
Once you’ve chosen your endemic/non-endemic path, product categorization becomes crucial:
- Consumable Products (supplements, food, beauty items) optimize for Subscribe & Save subscriptions. The key metric shifts from single purchases to lifetime value. If acquiring a vitamin subscriber costs $70 but generates $25 every 30 days for 2.5 years, that’s profitable math worth pursuing.
- Durable Goods (electronics, appliances) focus on one-time high-value conversions. With these products, DSP primarily drives brand awareness and consideration before customers eventually convert through traditional Amazon PPC campaigns.
Creative Strategy by Funnel Stage
DSP’s power lies in reaching customers throughout their journey. Top-funnel creative focuses on brand introduction and storytelling—”where do you come from? What’s your history?” Middle-funnel content builds consideration, while bottom-funnel ads drive conversion.
Understanding these fundamental distinctions helps optimize your DSP investment for maximum campaign ROI, whether you’re building subscription revenue or driving one-time purchases.
Creative Strategy and Audience Targeting for Maximum ROI
As Brent emphasizes in the interview, “DSP, it’s super important. Super important because you have to consider what stage of the funnel that person is in.” The key to DSP success lies in creating stage-appropriate creative content and precise audience targeting.
Funnel-Based Creative Strategy
Unlike traditional Amazon ads that rely on product listings, DSP requires intentional creative development. For top-of-funnel prospects who’ve never heard of your brand, focus on brand introduction – your history, story, and core value proposition. “They don’t even know who you are. Like where do you come from? What are you offering?” Mid-funnel creatives should emphasize product benefits and social proof, while bottom-funnel assets drive immediate conversion with compelling offers.
Advanced Audience Management
DSP’s most powerful feature is audience exclusions – something Sponsored Display lacks entirely. You can create sophisticated targeting sequences: exclude customers who’ve already seen your awareness campaign, then target them with consideration-focused messaging. This prevents ad fatigue while systematically moving prospects through your funnel.
AMC Path-to-Conversion Tracking
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) revolutionizes campaign measurement by revealing complete customer journeys. As Brent explains, “when we use AMC and we look at what’s called PDC like a path to conversion report we can many times see someone was exposed to DSP and then they clicked sponsored products and then they clicked the sponsored brands and then they purchased.”
This visibility allows you to optimize each touchpoint and justify DSP investments by showing how top-funnel exposure drives bottom-funnel conversions. For supplement brands targeting subscribe-and-save metrics, AMC data becomes invaluable for calculating true customer lifetime value and optimizing acquisition costs accordingly.
Understanding ROI calculations becomes crucial when implementing these advanced DSP strategies across multiple funnel stages.
Sources
- Amazon Advertising – Amazon DSP Overview
- Amazon Advertising – Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) Documentation
- Amazon Pathfinder – Brent Zahradnik (Referenced expert in article)
- PPC Assist Blog – Amazon PPC Basics: How It Works
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