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Playbook: Defend Brand & Market Share (Always-On)

Goal: protect branded demand, defend against conquesting, and sustain repeat purchase.

Inputs (before you adjust bids)

Brand defense essentials

  • Confirm the brand’s “must win” branded terms (brand name + hero SKU names)
  • Confirm initial impression share baseline (if available)

Retail readiness

  • In-stock + stable fulfillment
  • Winning/consistent buy box for hero SKUs

Toolkit: - Campaign Brief - Budget & KPIs

1) Own branded terms (non-negotiable)

  • Sponsored Products: branded exact match for hero SKU terms
  • Sponsored Brands: branded exact match + category headline to protect top-of-search real estate

Measurement focus: - Branded impression share (target high, often >90% on core terms) - ROAS (should be among your best-performing campaigns)

2) Competitive defense + conquest counterpunch

  • Sponsored Products (Buy Box / Carousel): target top competitor PDPs
  • Maintain a light Sponsored Products (Auto) campaign to stay eligible for My Items / reorder behavior

Measurement focus: - ROAS, units sold - Halo impact (directional)

3) Retention / winback

  • Onsite Display (Brand Audiences): recent buyers / lapsed buyers / loyalists

Audience notes: - Start with Audience Selection

Measurement focus: - Repeat purchase rate and retention outcomes

Budget + bid posture

  • Branded defense should have a daily budget that does not run out.
  • Bid high enough to consistently win priority placements; this is “rent” for your branded demand.
  • Use bidding rules-of-thumb in:
  • Tactics & Ops

Suggested tests

  • Brand defense audit: exact-only vs expanded match types (with tight negatives)
  • Competitor PDP split: isolate top 3 competitors into separate campaigns to control spend

Template: - Experiment Plan

Common failure modes

  • Branded impression share down: budget capping, bids too low, or eligibility issues
  • Conquesting campaign spending but weak ROAS: wrong competitors, weak differentiation, PDP mismatch

Start here: - Performance Triage

Read next: - Objective →→→→→ Stack - Benchmarks & Guardrails