If you work in Amazon advertising, you've probably seen the unBoxed news by now. Amazon Ads' annual conference ran September 28 to 30 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and the theme was clear: AI agents, and a simpler way to buy.
Last year, Amazon unified its demand-side platform and ads console and added a conversational assistant. This year, it renamed that platform and made agentic AI the core of how campaigns get built. Here's what was announced and what we think it means for your account.
What Amazon announced
Amazon Ads Agent. This is the new name for the unified platform that combines the former ads console and Amazon DSP. It brings three campaign types into one place: sponsored ads, Full-Funnel Campaigns, and Display, Video and Audio (DVA+). Advertisers can build campaigns manually, let Amazon's AI optimize for them, or mix both. The conversational experience inside it is in expanded closed beta. Amazon's announcement
Full-Funnel Campaigns. One campaign covers sponsored ads, display, video and streaming TV. You provide the budget, products and creative, and Amazon's AI plans, runs and optimizes the campaign. It's now available to all US advertisers. In Amazon's beta, advertisers saw 67% higher long-term return on ad spend and 29% lower cost to acquire new-to-brand customers (figures reported by Amazon). Learn more
DVA+. It combines what used to be separate Sponsored Display, Sponsored TV and programmatic campaigns into one buying experience, with one objective and one budget. Experienced programmatic buyers keep full control through "advanced settings." DVA+ is in closed beta in the US and begins rolling out in late October. Learn more
A broader conversational experience. Amazon announced media planning, AI targeting, natural-language analytics and AI guidance for sponsored ads. Analytics covers nearly 1,000 metrics, with peer benchmarks. These roll out over the coming months. Learn more
AI creative tools. Generative creative tools now sit inside the conversational experience, so you can turn existing product assets into display ads and TV-quality video. Amazon reports that early users saw up to 71% more product coverage and up to 15% sales growth.
Branded Conversations. Brands can give Alexa for Shopping guidance on what makes their products different, who they suit, and which products go together. That way it has better information when shoppers ask for recommendations.
Amazon Ads MCP Server (Lite) and the AMC Expert Tool. The MCP Server (Lite) simplifies how AI agents work with Amazon Ads. It starts with three core tools that help agents discover and call more capabilities as needed. The AMC Expert Tool takes a plain-language request and generates the right Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) SQL query.
Amazon also announced Sponsored Services, with Yelp as an anchor partner, and Review Requests ads. See Amazon's full unBoxed 2026 roundup for the complete list.
Several of these are in beta or rolling out over the coming months, so not every account will see them yet.
What this changes for advertisers
1. Programmatic gets simpler to start. Many brands stayed on Sponsored Ads because DSP meant another tool, a separate setup and a learning curve. DVA+ and Full-Funnel Campaigns are designed to remove much of that. We expect more brands to test upper-funnel advertising in 2027.
2. What Alexa for Shopping knows about your products starts to matter. More shoppers are asking AI assistants for recommendations instead of scrolling results. Part of the work moves from bids and keywords to making sure the assistant has accurate, useful information about what you sell. Branded Conversations is Amazon's first dedicated tool for this.
3. The goal you set matters more than the bid you set. Full-Funnel Campaigns and DVA+ optimize toward the objective you give them, using Amazon's data. They don't know your margins, your stock position, or whether you'd rather protect profit than chase volume this quarter. You also give up some channel-level control, so the business context you bring becomes your main lever.
That third point is what we care about most at Aakaar AI, and it's the problem we build for. We were named a finalist for the Technology Innovation Award at the 2026 Amazon Ads Partner Awards for that work. Agents work best when a human sets the direction and the agent can see the whole business, not only ad data. Through the Aakaar MCP you can also connect Claude or ChatGPT to your account and ask questions in the tools you already use.
Why AMC is the next thing to learn
Amazon's AMC Expert Tool shows AMC moving out of the data-science corner. Understanding how DSP exposure leads to Sponsored Ads clicks and purchases, and building audiences from first-party signals, is becoming standard practice for Q4. If you're new to it, start with our guide to Amazon Marketing Cloud and why it matters this Q4.
Looking for the seller-side announcements? Read our Accelerate 2026 recap.
Frequently asked questions
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