The Amazon media account, said to be the world’s biggest, is up for pitch.
The giant online retailer in 2022 spent $US20.6 billion in advertising and other promotional costs, up from $16.9 billion the year before, according to financial statements lodged by Amazon.
Multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, which had long been regarded as the world's biggest spender on advertising, has slipped behind. Its latest financial filings show advertising costs, including television, print, radio, digital and in-store expenses, were $8 billion in 2023, from $7.9 billion in 2022 and $8.2 billion in 2021.
IPG Mediabrands has been Amazon’s media buyer since 2017 but the account is now up for review.
“As part of our regular course of business, we routinely review existing business relationships with third-party vendors and partners, and based on those reviews, may decide to solicit proposals from vendors interested in working with us,” Amazon said in a statement, first reported by Marketing Brew.
“We look forward to the proposal process in this case and will evaluate the right next steps for our businesses once we’ve reviewed submissions.”
Amazon spends big to get buyers to its platforms, using sponsored search, social and online advertising, third party customer referrals and television advertising.
“Our marketing costs are largely variable, based on growth in sales and changes in rates,” according to Amazon in its 2022 results announcement.
“To the extent there is increased or decreased competition for these traffic sources, or to the extent our mix of these channels shifts, we would expect to see a corresponding change in our marketing costs.”
Amazon is also a significant player in selling ad space, and is now the world’s third largest digital advertising platform, behind Google and Meta.
Its advertising services grew 22% to $US10.68 billion in the June quarter.
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