Turning Amazon ads into sales with data-driven strategies

Across the e-commerce landscape, brands are trying to figure out which ad strategies resonate with audiences and which ones waste ad spend. Brands need deeper insights to fine-tune digital marketing and connect more effectively with customers.

For marketers charged with growing sales of Oral-B, a household name and key Procter & Gamble (P&G) brand, the goal was to make ads work harder on Amazon. They needed a clearer picture of which ads were driving sales, how to better target the right customers, and how to maximize return on ad spend (RoAS).

The P&G team partnered with Slalom to help dive deep into Oral-B’s Amazon signals, uncovering key insights and delivering a strategy that improved ad performance, audience targeting, and overall engagement.

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is a secure, privacy-safe clean room solution that allows advertisers to glean insights from signals across Amazon properties, advertisers, and onboarded third-party providers. Our Slalom team leveraged AMC to dig into a year’s worth of Oral-B campaign data. The goal was to figure out which ad formats and audience segments delivered the best results. The analysis extended beyond surface-level metrics—it involved understanding user behavior, path-to-purchase dynamics, and audience segmentation on a granular level. 

"It wasn’t just about looking at past performance; our insights allowed us to create real solutions—more effective and efficient campaigns,” says Abby Placido, a customer data consultant at Slalom.

We also identified specific use cases that would improve both client acquisition and engagement with current Oral-B customers. For example, frequency caps were introduced to limit how many times a customer would see the same ad, preventing ad fatigue. Keyword overlaps were also cleaned up to prevent multiple ads from competing for the same terms.

“We found the AMC analysis was thorough, precise, and strongly linked to the business questions we were seeking to explore,” says Celeste Burke, Senior Brand Manager, Digital & eCommerce at Procter & Gamble, Oral-B.

Benefits of the new Amazon strategy were quickly evident, with 56% of purchases happening within just 24 hours of ad exposure. By streamlining its ad approach and targeting audiences across all four Amazon ad products, 63% of new sales came from customers exposed to the ad strategy. Our analysis also helped identify new, high-value audiences for Oral-B to target.

Strategic targeting really worked—82% of total Amazon sales came from customers exposed to ads, and 54% of those were new to the brand. Additionally, 68% of sales came from users who searched branded terms after seeing the ads. 

Beyond the numbers, the Oral-B ad transformation made the experience better for customers too. Instead of bombarding shoppers with irrelevant ads, marketers were able to show the right products to the right people, at the right time—creating a smoother, more satisfying shopping experience.

This entire project took less than two months from start to finish. The Slalom team worked collaboratively across time zones, keeping the momentum going. 

“It was amazing to wake up and see updates from the Australia team,” shares Drew Myers, a customer strategy consultant at Slalom. “Our workdays flowed together, making the process smooth and ensuring we hit our goals on time.” This seamless collaboration allowed the Slalom team to deliver quick, impactful results without missing a beat.  

This partnership with Slalom has set Oral-B marketers on a path for ongoing success on Amazon. By leveraging data insights and making strategic adjustments to ad campaigns, they are now better equipped to connect meaningfully with customers. And this is just the beginning.

“The insights uncovered from the analysis led to highly actionable recommendations, which we will use to take the business forward,” says Burke.

This transformation has opened the door for P&G to keep evolving and stay ahead of the curve.