Brands advertising their own products on Amazon have long been subject to conquesting from their competitors on key terms they should really own. But, following the launch of the new "Reserve share of voice" campaign type within Sponsored Brands this October 2025, we will start to see brands take back ownership of their brand keywords for pole position slots. This new capability fundamentally changes how we approach brand defense on Amazon, moving beyond the perpetual volatility of real-time bidding for those coveted top-of-search placements.
The Power of Fixed-Price Certainty
For too long, securing that critical top slot for branded keywords has felt like a high-stakes, hourly battle. The Reserve SOV model eliminates that uncertainty. By allowing advertisers to select a fixed list of branded keywords and a defined campaign duration (30 to 92 days) in exchange for a fixed, upfront price, Amazon has introduced a mechanism for guaranteed visibility.
- Guaranteed Presence: The core benefit is certainty. For the duration of the campaign, your brand is locked in for the top-of-search placement on those reserved keywords. This is invaluable for maintaining consistent brand messaging, especially during crucial moments like product launches, seasonal peaks, or when fending off aggressive competitor conquesting.
- Unparalleled Budget Control: The fixed, upfront pricing model provides absolute budget predictability. There are no unexpected spikes in CPCs eating away at your media budget—you know the exact cost for the entire campaign duration before it even starts.
- Simplified Management: While the initial setup requires careful keyword selection and pricing, the ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ nature once the campaign begins (keywords, duration, and budget cannot be changed) frees up our strategists. This allows us to focus our expertise on optimising the performance of other, more dynamic ad types.
This fixed-price inventory signals Amazon's commitment to providing sophisticated tools for major brands looking to establish and defend their territory. Locking in this top-of-search presence is no longer a luxury—it's quickly becoming a strategic imperative for brand equity on Amazon.
Our Recommended Approach to Mitigate Risk
- Test and Learn vs. Standard Bidding: We strongly advise running parallel testing against traditional, high-bid Sponsored Brands campaigns. The upfront fixed cost of Reserve SOV must be measured against the variable, lower-cost performance of standard bidding to calculate the true incremental value of the guaranteed placement.
- Leverage Unified Technology: A siloed view is a blind view. We use advanced platforms like Skai to monitor the true Share of Voice (SOV) across both paid and organic channels in a unified dashboard. This is crucial for:
- Holistic Monitoring: Tracking the total SOV on reserved brand terms ensures we can see if the guaranteed paid placement is genuinely incremental or simply pushing an already-dominant organic listing down the page.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: If the cost to reserve SOV on a brand term is significantly higher than the cost to simply bid aggressively to achieve near-100% impression share with a standard campaign, we will advise on the most efficient path.
This feature is a powerful defensive tool, but its true value is realised only when the guaranteed presence is proven to drive incremental performance, not just re-route existing organic traffic. We are treating Reserve SOV as a strategic investment that requires careful, incrementality-focused measurement to ensure maximum ROI for our clients.
Disclaimer: A minimum budget is required, and all reserved keywords must be mapped to an ad group within 14 days of the campaign start date, reinforcing the need for tight campaign setup.
