The holiday season keeps starting earlier and stretching longer. That means brands can’t just focus on Black Friday and Cyber Monday anymore — they need a strategy that carries through continuous deal weeks. In this episode of The Ad Project, Joe Shelerud and Maarja Hewitt walk through a 7-step Q4 checklist:

• Budget pacing across a longer season
• Inventory planning and forecasting
• Creative testing with urgency messaging
• Strengthening full-funnel advertising
• Monitoring competitors and share of voice
• Expanding beyond Amazon to Walmart & Target
• Measuring and adapting with AMC

👉 Follow, subscribe, and connect with us on LinkedIn and at adadvance.com to catch future episodes.

DSP can feel like a big leap—but it’s becoming a must-have for growth-oriented brands. In this episode, Maarja Hewitt welcomes Tony Miller, Director of Programmatic Strategy at Ad Advance, to break down what Amazon DSP actually is and how it works. You’ll learn:

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• What makes DSP different from Sponsored Ads
• Key benefits like audience targeting and creative flexibility
• When a brand is ready to layer on DSP
• Real success stories and recent updates (like AI tools and Disney/Roku inventory)
• How DSP ties in with Amazon Marketing Cloud for better attribution

Whether you're DSP-curious or ready to scale, this episode lays the foundation.

👉 Follow, subscribe, and connect with us on LinkedIn and at adadvance.com to catch future episodes.

AI is changing advertising—and fast. In this episode, Joe and Maarja break down how AI is impacting the world of Amazon and retail media, from generative creative tools to AI-driven customer journeys and predictive campaign optimization. They explore what’s real, what’s hype, and what it all means for brands and marketers.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Amazon’s creative tools and generative AI are speeding up campaign execution and testing.
• Conversational AI is changing how consumers shop, moving discovery beyond traditional search.
• AI is pushing retailers toward campaign automation, shifting human focus to strategy.
• Traffic is dropping from search engines, but AI is boosting high-intent site visits.

👉 Follow, subscribe, and connect with us on LinkedIn and at adadvance.com to catch future episodes.