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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In this episode of The Ad Project, Joe Shelerud talks with Ad Advance Developer Roger Branham about how AI is disrupting eCommerce.

They explore:

• ChatGPT’s new instant checkout and what it means for sellers
• How the OpenAI x Stripe commerce protocol could reshape online transactions
• Why Walmart might adopt AI faster than Amazon
• How data ownership, ads, and trust evolve in an AI-driven world
• What smaller sellers should do to stay ahead of the next wave of online shopping

This is a forward-looking, technical, and strategic discussion that every brand should hear as AI becomes part of the customer journey.

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Live from Amazon Accelerate, Joe and Adobe’s David Devisser unpack the new Adobe Express integration with Amazon Ads. You will see how to discover policy-ready templates, connect your Creative Asset Library, run real-time checks, and export to the right specs in one flow.

Key takeaways

1. You can start from Amazon Ads templates inside Express, then customize quickly.
2. Real-time policy checks and safe-zone guidance catch issues before export.
3. Export automates spec fitting for video, including bitrate and frame rate, then saves back to your library.

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Episode 170 of The Ad Project was recorded at Amazon Live Studios in New York City, where Joe Shelerud sat down with Destaney Wishon (BTR Media) and Jennyfer Guone (Amazon Ads) to discuss the launch of Creative Studio, announced at Amazon Accelerate.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Creative Studio streamlines ad creation from concept to final video or image asset.
• Why AI + Amazon retail insights help brands produce more authentic, relevant creatives.
• Practical use cases for small businesses, mid-market brands, agencies, and enterprises.
• How advertisers can accelerate speed-to-market, scale creative production, and unlock personalization.

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In this special episode, recorded live at Amazon Live’s NYC studios, Joe Shelerud sits down with Destaney Wishon of BTR Media to explore:

• The rapid evolution of the Amazon Ads ecosystem
• How AMC unlocks new insights like path to purchase and ad type overlap
• Why audience targeting + analytics are reshaping strategy
• Practical ways brands can prioritize AMC without feeling overwhelmed

Destaney is the CEO of btr media - check her LinkedIn for updates, new features, and helpful videos!

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In this episode of The Ad Project, Joe and Maarja discuss the latest Amazon Ads algorithm changes shaking up Sponsored Products

Key takeaways:

• Auto campaigns now account for nearly 40% of impressions, with broad match also climbing.
• Exact match still drives the highest conversion rates (>20%), but its share is shrinking.
• CPCs are rising on broad (+20% YoY) while auto remains cheapest.
• Amazon is weighting “Loose Match” and “Substitutes” more heavily within auto targeting.
• Advertisers should balance discovery and efficiency: run auto/broad with strong negatives, harvest winners into exact/phrase, and monitor impression share shifts.

Adapt your strategy now—the balance between efficiency engines (exact) and discovery engines (auto/broad) is the new reality of Amazon Ads.

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