Amazon.com says it is thinking outside the box, both figuratively and literally, when it comes to insert media.
Sam Wheeler, director of advertising and partnerships for the Seattle-based online behemoth said it has added insert opportunities such as on-the-box advertising as an option for marketers willing to ride along with Amazon, which ships about 80 million packages a year in the U.S.
Wheeler told attendees at the Direct Marketing Association’s Insert Media Day in New York on March 6 that Amazon is willing to have boxes printed up that include an advertiser’s logo, in black, alongside Amazon’s iconic smiley logo.
There is a catch though. The order has to be in the hundreds of thousands range of boxes, Wheeler said without revealing the price tag.
“It can get you in a lot of places,” Wheeler said. “Think about the holidays, when the news shows clips of UPS workers sorting packages or carrying packages into a building. The viewer gets exposed to the brand.”
For advertisers not willing to take the risk, Wheeler said Amazon will continue to offer traditional insert opportunities. Though 1 million used to be the magic minimum number for accepted inserts, Wheeler said Amazon has started allowing marketers to test with a minimum of 200,000 inserts.