GroupM deal with Amazon to use influencer content in ads sees 300% uptick in CTRs

Dafydd Woodward, chief operating officer of Goat, tells The Drum the deal will allow the agency to “close the loop” between creator-made content and sales performance.

From this week, Goat’s proprietary creator ad formats will be enabled across Amazon’s demand-side platform (DSP), while influencer content will feature in Amazon’s ‘Sponsored Brands’ format. Creator content for GroupM clients can also run on product pages and branded stores on Amazon.

“Creators can put a product in situ and speak to the audience in a way they can understand how that product might fit in with their own life,” says Woodward. Through the DSP, such content could feature on a plethora of sites across the web.

The WPP specialist influencer shop, which was acquired earlier this year and folded into media network GroupM, will also be able to access data insights from Amazon Ads to inform future campaigns.

“We’re looking to close the loop between creator content, which may have traditionally been seen as a PR or top-of-the-funnel activation, and sales for clients,” explains Woodward. “We know, and empirical evidence shows us, that influencer content tends to grab attention and holds attention and drives consumer behavior.”

Woodward claims that initial A/B testing using the new formats resulted in an increase of over 300% in click-through rates. He says the tests prove the benefits of creator content for advertisers can be exported to other areas of the web.

“That isn’t massively surprising because we’ve seen similar performance using creative content in paid social… we were expecting to see the same sorts of results in other channels, but early testing is proving that out,” he adds.

“When we take creator content outside the walled garden of a social platform and across the web, it’s the genuine nature of the content that grabs attention. Between [this and] the features that Amazon has around targeting audiences, we can create content that’s going to really resonate with our audience.”

His colleague Nilam Atodaria, global product director at Goat, adds that the partnership between Amazon and Goat “allows us to deliver greater value for our clients by deploying more engaging and intelligent campaigns that drive measurable business outcomes.

“This unique combination brings an alternative version of Social Commerce, one which puts consumers and their shopping habits at the heart of product development.”

Woodward says initial tests suggest the formats can drive down cost-per-click for brands. “For us, it’s about proving performance first and foremost and maximizing the return on ad spend and content investment. If we can make content work harder for clients, we absolutely should be doing that,” he says. “We see this as a way of generating a really engaging piece of content. As well as using it in the influencer in the social space, why not give clients the opportunity to leverage that engaging piece of content in other spaces?”

GroupM and Goat expect “endemic” clients that already rely upon e-commerce sales channels to use the formats. In the long run, however, the agency hopes to bring more creator content into e-commerce adjacent channels, including retail media.

He says: “Ultimately, any clients selling online, we want to be able to work with them.”