Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 delivered big numbers, but not in the way many brands expected.

In Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2025 Results: Shopper Trends & AI’s Impact, host Maarja Hewitt is joined by Ad Advance VP of Operations, Erik Swenson, to break down how the holiday shopping season really played out. They look at traffic, conversion, and sales trends, why the events felt softer even as total volume grew, and how an elongated deal season changed shopper behavior.

They also dig into the growing role of AI in holiday shopping, from Amazon’s Rufus price tracking and deal guidance to third party AI shopping assistants that help consumers compare products and marketplaces in seconds.

Key takeaways:

• Traffic was up, but conversions spread across more days instead of spiking on two events
• Early deal cycles and “holiday all season” messaging softened the traditional Black Friday and Cyber Monday peaks
• AI made shoppers more price aware, more informed, and more comparison driven
• Brands that ramped budgets early, refreshed creatives, and coordinated off Amazon channels saw stronger results
• 2026 will reward earlier planning, stronger first party audiences, and clear value messaging

A focused, practical breakdown for ecommerce and retail media teams planning their next Q4.

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Recorded live at Amazon Ads unBoxed, Joe Shelerud talks with Meredith Goldman, Director of Media Enablement at Amazon Ads, about the newest innovations across DSP, AMC, AI-driven creative, and audience expansion.

They explore how Creative Agent and Ads Agent are lowering barriers for advertisers, how advertisers can use AI without replacing human expertise, and how AMC is becoming the central hub for measurement and optimization across the full funnel.

Key Takeaways:

• How Amazon is using AI to democratize advanced advertising tools
• Creative Agent’s role in scaling personalized, high-performing creative
• Ads Agent’s natural-language recommendations for audience and campaign optimization
• Why Deal Builder will accelerate access to premium supply
• How AMC connects signals across sponsored ads and DSP for deeper measurement
• Why human strategy + AI execution creates the strongest results
• What these updates mean for brands planning 2025–2026 retail media strategies

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In Episode 173 of The Ad Project, Joe Shelerud continues the AI conversation with Ad Advance Software Engineer Roger Branham — expanding on how OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol could transform not just shopping, but advertising itself.

They unpack:

• How ChatGPT and Gemini could evolve into major ad platforms
• What happens when generative AI gains deep insight into user behavior
• The tension between monetization and user trust
• The future of pay-per-conversion models and hyper-personalized creative
• How these shifts could impact Amazon’s dominance in retail media

As AI transitions from tool to “agent,” Joe and Roger explore what the next era of digital advertising might look like — and how brands can prepare for it.

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