TL;DR
- Amazon On-Box Advertising lets sellers customize delivery boxes with branded ads
- Upsides: Helps boost brand visibility and drives online engagement
- Downsides: Costly for smaller brands; sustainability concerns
- To start, check eligibility with Amazon, design engaging campaigns, and gain Amazon’s approval.
Amazon changing quickly, outside the scope of Amazon PPC advertising, brands are always looking for new ways to reach consumers. The retail giant Amazon has introduced a new kind of advertising solution, one that turns its shipping boxes into a dynamic advertising platform. They’ve named the strategy: “Amazon On-Box Advertising”. It allows the customer to experience a simple delivery turned into a compelling brand experience. Our blog details what Amazon On-Box Advertising is, the good and the bad, who stands to gain the most from this channel of advertisement, and how it’s even possible.
What is Amazon On-Box Advertising?
Amazon On-Box Advertising is a creative marketing strategy initiated by Amazon in 2015. It involves the customization of Amazon’s delivery boxes with branded advertising content. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, On-Box Advertising uses the packaging itself to catch the customer’s eye at the critical moment of receiving their order. This method converts ordinary cardboard boxes into personalized messages or interactive designs that create a memorable unboxing experience.
The concept is simple yet powerful. When a customer receives a package, the first thing they notice is the box. By embedding advertisements directly onto these boxes, brands can utilize them as mini-billboards that travel directly into the hands of consumers. These advertisements can range from high-quality prints of product promotions to QR codes that lead to interactive digital content. This approach not only enhances customer engagement but also boosts brand recall as the package provides a direct, tactile interaction with the brand.
Upsides of Amazon On-Box Advertising
Image ref: Amazon
This unique unboxing experience is a great advantage for any brand looking to boost its visibility. The design is tailor-made to be visually attractive for the customers, which can boost anticipation and satisfaction right from the delivery of the product. Brands, such as Whiskas and Nintendo, found a use for the platform in turning plain old boxes into an interactive themed experience that appealed well to the intended audience. For example, Whiskas used package boxes that customers were able to reuse as playhouses for their cats, thus involving the customers in interactive product delivery.
In 2020, Amazon delivered 4.2 billion packages, averaging over 11.5 million per day. The ability of advertisers to tailor ads to different audience segments could have exceptionally large effects on consumer welfare within households. According to Kantar analysis over Q4 2020 to Q1 2022, on-box/on-bag campaigns from Amazon Ads are 4.1x times more interactive and engaging compared to traditional media campaigns, registering an Ad recall rate. Also, Amazon On-Box Advertising is a great way to drive online engagement. It allows the possibility that QR codes and unique URLs on those boxes can be set up to drive the client directly to the landing pages, special offers, or other online content, ensuring there is a continuum from the product delivered to the door through to the online brand experience. This increases traffic to the brand’s website and enhances the possibilities for conversions and sales.
Downsides of Amazon On-Box Advertising
However, despite such out-of-the-box thinking approaches, Amazon On-Box Advertising has its set of challenges. Foremost in the line of these challenges is the cost factor. The truth is that uniquely designing hundreds or thousands of delivery boxes and adding interactive elements would, as a matter of fact, probably cost more than all of the traditional means of advertisement, including in-store and outdoor advertisements, put together, which might put smaller brands with fewer marketing expenses at a certain disadvantage.
On the other side, it points toward potential cons; on an environmental scale, the damage caused by the increased use of inks and materials in box designs might raise sustainability concerns. Besides, an excessive waste level has been linked to the elaboration of packages. This excessive waste may go against the green campaigns of some environmentally sensitive brands or exceed the expectations of their ecologically-minded clientele.
Besides, the effectiveness of On-Box Advertising can be highly determined by the delivery process. If the boxes are spoiled in the course of transportation, or poor ad placements are made where they are not easily visible, then this would limit the effect of the advertisement. This inconsistency in delivery quality can make it difficult to ensure a uniformly positive customer experience.
Main benefits of On-Box Advertising
However, some of the sectors have found Amazon On-Box Advertising very beneficial. For instance, exclusively online brands will be investing in a wider demographic of consumers for them to leave a remarkable effect on the brand. Few industries would be able to get the most benefit through such creative packaging; the difference is clear and direct in making their appeal to the product’s presentation.
And large companies—those with the kind of budget that they can risk experimenting with leading-edge advertising approaches—also stand to gain considerably. They can afford the high cost of custom packaging and generally have better capacity than smaller enterprises to handle logistics and scale of such campaigns effectively.
Added to that, On-Box Advertising is the best tool for hype and visibility creation that companies will find helpful while launching a new product or rebranding. They could make their statement at the customers’ doorstep by creating a strong design and adding interactive elements, thereby providing a strong visual and experiential positioning.
How does a brand start with advertising on Amazon On-Box Advertising?
Here is the clear and simple step-by-step procedure that should be adhered to when a brand wants to go for the On-Box ad campaign, which at the same time is, on one hand, effective and, on the other hand, corresponds to the advertising standards. This is how businesses can get access to this kind of unique advertising opportunity:
- Eligibility check: The very first step is to approach Amazon for an eligibility check of On-Box Advertising. This generally includes criteria around brand market presence, the volume of Amazon sales, and compliance with policies laid down by Amazon.
- Campaign design: Once you are eligible and have been granted access, you will be able to design your campaign. This would include Amazon product research, the artwork for the boxes, the type of messaging to be used, and optionally interactive components such as QR codes. Brands are supposed to focus on designs that are attractive and that speak of the essence of the message the brand would like to communicate to the customers.
- Approval process: Finally, Amazon examines the designs for compliance with their packaging guidelines and advertising standards. Such a step is very critical since it makes sure that the content is appropriate and the design is workable for printing and distribution.
- Manufacture and distribution: After brand approval, it gets ahead to the manufacturing of custom boxes. The boxes will be used afterward to ship the products of a particular brand. The distribution stage is of much importance too. This step would be where the custom boxes are transported to the right fulfillment centers and then used properly for the right orders.
- Tracking and optimization: Once the boxes are live, it is the responsibility of the brands to track how effectively the campaigns are working for them. This includes things from monitoring the rate of engagement to tracking website traffic sourced from QR codes, and up to general customer feedback. This can be a valuable input while optimizing the effectiveness of the campaign.
In conclusion
On-Box Advertising by Amazon seems a game-changer in how brands may reach their customers with packaging. Making the delivery boxes be converted into ad space that is branded, a customer’s experience with the brand becomes memorable and engaging. Still, such an alluring possibility gives some promise for most businesses in the world, despite some challenges like cost and sustainability issues. Especially at the moment when E-commerce continues to boom, new marketing strategies like Amazon On-Box Advertising, along with other conventional Amazon marketing services, will be indispensable to let your products and brand make a real difference among all the others.
