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Happy Monday folks!
The oldest trick in media is to stand between the buyer and the thing they want. Amazon has done it again. This time the thing is a conversation.
On Thursday, Amazon told CNBC it is partnering with OpenAI to let select US brands run ads inside ChatGPT. Delta Vacations is among the pilot brands. The inventory is bought through Amazon DSP as a managed service, on a cost-per-click or cost-per-thousand basis, with Amazon's team setting up and optimizing the campaigns, per Marketing Dive.
Now the sentence that matters. An Amazon spokesperson said OpenAI will control all ad delivery decisions through its own systems.
Walk the money. You pay Amazon. Amazon's data shapes the buy. OpenAI's model decides which conversation your ad interrupts. Amazon, which neared $70 billion in ad revenue last year and has spent months keeping AI platforms out of its own store, calls conversational ads "one of the fastest-growing channels."
A company that wouldn’t let ChatGPT shop its shelves is now selling ChatGPT's shelf space. That is the whole story. The third-largest ad platform looked at the newest one and decided the better business was being the desk you buy it from.
Today’s sponsor:
Blu Dot surpasses 2,000% ROAS with self-serve CTV ads
Home furniture brand Blu Dot blew up on CTV with help from Roku Ads Manager. Here’s how:
After a test campaign reached 211,000 households and achieved 1,010% ROAS, the brand went all in to promote its annual sales event. It removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.
The results speak for themselves. As Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, ROAS jumped to 2,308% and more page-view conversions surpassed 50,000.
“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer,” said Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot. “Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS… and highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”
Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine for the brand.
TALK ON THE MARKET
Blake Emal, the former CMO of Copy.ai, on Saturday night:
The day before he described the stack he thinks actually works:
The platforms are adding layers between you and the customer as fast as you can remove them inside the building. One of those is in your control.
NUMBERS MATTER
12.3%. The IAB raised its forecast for 2026 US ad-spend growth on Wednesday, up 2.8 points from January's 9.5%, on a survey of more than 200 brand and agency decision-makers.
A stronger first half did it: the Winter Olympics, the World Cup, and buyers who stopped waiting for the economy.
DAILY PROMPT
You are an expert media strategist and advertising planner. Create a comprehensive multi-channel advertising plan based on the following business context.
## Business Context
- Product/Service: [DESCRIBE YOUR OFFERING]
- Target Audience: [PRIMARY DEMOGRAPHIC, PSYCHOGRAPHIC, AND BEHAVIORAL TRAITS]
- Campaign Goal: [SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE: AWARENESS, LEADS, SALES, RETENTION, ETC.]
- Budget: $[TOTAL MONTHLY BUDGET]
- Campaign Duration: [START DATE] to [END DATE]
- Key Performance Indicators: [LIST 3-5 PRIMARY METRICS]
- Current Market Position: [DESCRIBE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE AND YOUR POSITIONING]
## Required Deliverables
### 1. Channel Recommendation & Budget Allocation
For each recommended channel, provide:
- Channel name and rationale for inclusion
- Recommended budget allocation (percentage and dollar amount)
- Expected reach and frequency metrics
- Typical CPM/CPC/CPA benchmarks for this industry
### 2. Channel-Specific Strategies
For each channel, detail:
- Ad format recommendations (creative types, dimensions, specifications)
- Messaging approach and key value propositions
- Audience targeting parameters and lookalike strategies
- Bid strategy and optimization approach
- Content calendar (frequency and timing)
### 3. Creative Direction
- Overarching creative theme that ties channels together
- Headline and copy variations for A/B testing (minimum 3 variations per channel)
- Visual style guidelines and tone of voice
- Call-to-action recommendations by channel
### 4. Measurement & Optimization Framework
- Attribution model recommendation
- Weekly/monthly reporting metrics by channel
- Optimization triggers (when to pause, scale, or pivot)
- Testing roadmap for first 30/60/90 days
### 5. Risk Mitigation & Contingency
- Potential challenges and mitigation strategies
- Budget reallocation triggers
- Backup channels if primary channels underperform
Provide specific, actionable recommendations with industry benchmarks and data-driven reasoning. Format as an executive-ready document with clear sections and bullet points.Use this before the next rep pitches a managed service. The plan forces the question Amazon's announcement answers quietly: who decides where your ad goes.
CMO CORNER
Don't build habits that require constant consultation.
Every managed service is a consultation you have outsourced, and every approval layer is one you have built. Both feel like control. Both are the opposite. The team that must ask before it posts and the brand that must ask its DSP what its ads did are in the same position, waiting on someone else's answer.
Decide once what the team may do without you. Then hold your vendors to the same standard.
We provide consulting services for CMOs on AI strategy for marketing teams through our Teamless offering.
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LEARN THIS
A new channel arrives with a vendor's definition of success attached. Write your own first: AI Marketing Experimentation Framework.
It is built for testing a surface with no history, sizing the bet, and knowing what a result would have to look like before the managed service sends you its first report. For the leader who wants to walk into the ChatGPT pilot with a hypothesis, not a budget.
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BRAND SLOP
Artisan spent two years and roughly $2 million telling San Francisco and New York to stop hiring humans. This week it said sorry. With a cake.
The billboards read "Stop Hiring Humans", "Hire Artisans, Not Humans" and "Artisans Won't Complain About Work-Life Balance." They made the company famous well beyond anyone who would buy Ava, its AI sales rep.
On Thursday, CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack told the San Francisco Chronicle the slogan was retired. "We made a cake to apologize for saying 'stop hiring humans,'" he wrote on LinkedIn. "Artisan is a pro-human company."
The company blog, per KRON4, concedes "the billboards were a provocation" and says Artisan is now hiring its first human salesperson.
Rage-bait works right up to the day you need to be liked. Then the apology becomes the second campaign, and it is also a campaign. Somewhere in your plan there is a line that would get attention. Ask what you will need from the people it annoys in two years.
See What's Capping Your Growth
Revenue has plateaued. Your team is busier than ever. Sound familiar? Find out which of the four common growth ceilings is limiting your business and what to do next with BELAY’s latest report.