If you've been running Sponsored Brands campaigns and wondering when Amazon would give the format a meaningful upgrade, that day arrived in May. Amazon launched Sponsored Brands Collections, and it's one of the more interesting ad format changes for brand sellers in a while.
The short version: you can now show up to 10 products in a single Sponsored Brands ad unit. Shoppers see price, star ratings, any active deals, and the Prime badge right in the ad. No clicking to a storefront first. Products are right there.
Two Ways to Run It
Collections works in two modes. In automatic mode, Amazon's AI selects which products from your catalog to display based on the shopper's search intent, browsing behavior, and product context. You set the campaign, Amazon picks the lineup. It's the same general philosophy behind a lot of Amazon's newer ad features: let the machine figure out relevance, you focus on budget and bids.
In manual mode, you choose up to 10 specific ASINs yourself. You get control over which products appear and in what combination. For brands with a hero product lineup or a curated seasonal bundle, this is the more predictable option.
One useful detail: even in automatic mode, you can exclude specific ASINs. So if you've got a product that's temporarily out of stock or running a separate campaign you don't want to cannibalize, you're not completely at the mercy of the algorithm.
Why This Matters for Prime Day
Timing is relevant here. Amazon announced Collections availability for Prime Day sellers in Japan on June 16, which is a good signal that the format will be front and center heading into the June 23-26 sale window. If your brand has a catalog with multiple related products, this format was built for that moment.
Consider what a shopper sees: they type in a query, and your brand occupies a larger footprint with multiple products showing at a glance, each with its own deal badge, star rating, and Prime indicator. That's a lot of buying signal in one ad unit. For brands that have historically lost clicks to competitors because a single product ad didn't match exactly what a shopper wanted, Collections gives you more at-bats per impression.
It also changes the math on catalog coverage. Instead of running separate Sponsored Brands campaigns for each product line, you can potentially consolidate into fewer campaigns with broader coverage. That's not a reason to abandon your existing structure, but it's worth modeling out.
What to Think About Before You Launch
A few things worth working through before you turn this on. First, in automatic mode, Amazon is going to surface whatever it thinks is most relevant. That means products you'd rather not lead with could show up. Audit your exclusion list before you go live.
Second, in manual mode, you're locked into those 10 ASINs. If one goes out of stock mid-campaign, that slot goes dark. Plan for inventory continuity or lean toward automatic for evergreen campaigns.
Third, creative still matters. The ad unit shows product imagery, so if your main images aren't consistent and clean, the collection looks like a flea market. This is a good time to check that your product content is doing its job.
Finally, measurement. Collections is a newer format, so baseline performance data is thin. Run it as an incremental test alongside your existing Sponsored Brands structure, not as a replacement. Let the data accumulate before you shift budget.
The Bigger Picture
Sponsored Brands Collections fits into a broader pattern: Amazon is giving advertisers formats that mirror how shoppers actually browse. A shopper comparing blenders doesn't think in individual SKUs. They think in brands and product families. An ad unit that reflects that reality has a better shot at converting.
The AI-curated mode, specifically, is a bet that Amazon's intent signals are good enough to pick the right product for each shopper in real time. For brands with clean catalog data and strong main images, that's a reasonable bet to take. For brands with messy listings, the algorithm will just surface your messiest products automatically. Which is its own kind of feedback.
If you want to talk through whether Collections fits your current campaign structure, or if you're preparing for Prime Day and need a fast assessment, we're happy to take a look. Schedule a call and we can walk through your catalog and ad setup together.