New Digital Age gathered reaction to this year’s Prime Day event, which commenced today…
Maor Sadra, CEO & Co-founder, INCRMNTAL
Prime Day 2026 feels like the first major shopping event of the LLM era.
For years, marketers prepared for Prime Day by optimising for search. Now consumers are more likely to discover products through AI assistants and conversational interfaces before they ever reach Amazon, Google or a retailer’s website.
It’s a huge opportunity, but also a measurement nightmare if you’re not using the right tools. Most attribution models were built around clicks and last-touch signals. LLM-driven journeys are far less visible, making it harder to understand which channels genuinely influenced a purchase and which simply happened to be nearby when the conversion occurred.
As Prime Day spending ramps up, the biggest risk isn’t underinvesting – it’s confidently investing in the wrong places. The marketers who come out on top won’t necessarily be the ones spending the most – they’ll be the ones who understand what’s actually driving incremental sales, rather than what’s getting credit for them.
Matt Bahr, CEO and co-founder, Fairing
Prime Day is often viewed as a test of promotional performance, but it’s really a reminder of how difficult it is to understand what actually drives demand. Most attribution models will tell brands which channel captured the sale, not what influenced the purchase in the first place.
What we’ve consistently seen in Fairing’s data is that discovery happens long before a customer clicks ‘buy’. Word of mouth, creators, podcasts, communities and increasingly AI-driven discovery all shape purchase decisions, yet many of these influences never appear in traditional reporting. As competition for consumer attention intensifies around events like Prime Day, brands that understand where demand is being created, not just where it’s being captured, will be in a much stronger position to make smart investment decisions.
Natalie Hollands, Client Partner, Bauer Media Outdoor UK
Prime Day has become one of the biggest moments in the retail calendar, but for many retailers, trying to compete with Amazon on price alone is a battle that’s difficult to win. Rather than getting drawn into a race to the bottom, brands should focus on what can’t easily be replicated: being distinctive and memorable, while creating preference long before consumers reach the checkout page.
Out of Home (OOH) plays a critical role in this. As consumers navigate a crowded retail landscape, OOH provides the scale, visibility and trust needed to keep brands front of mind. Crucially, its impact doesn’t stop at awareness. OOH is a proven driver of online behaviour, prompting consumers to search, research and engage with brands in the moments that matter most. By creating mental availability before and during key retail events, OOH helps ensure that when shoppers go online, they’re searching for your product rather than simply hunting for the lowest price.
At a time when digital channels are increasingly saturated, and attention is fragmented, OOH offers a powerful way to cut through. Its public, unavoidable nature builds credibility and reinforces brand presence at scale, helping retailers maintain value and protect margins rather than relying solely on discounting to drive demand.
Prime Day may dominate headlines, but retailers can leverage the moment to strengthen their own brand equity, as well as drive short-term sales.
Phil Acton, Country Manager UK, Adform
Retail moments like Prime Day are no longer just about pouring budget into a single environment and hoping for the best. Success now depends on how well advertisers can coordinate signals across the full spectrum of channels, making them perform as part of a unified advertising experience.
This is where programmatic channels like DOOH and CTV have a massive part to play. Sometimes left out of the Prime Day conversation for being traditionally top-of-funnel-focused, they can increasingly be synced with omnichannel data. When integrated with mobile and display, they become a crucial reinforcement layer that strengthens impact across the journey, right down to the point of purchase.
We’re also entering the agentic era, where autonomous AI can handle the heavy lifting of optimisation. This isn’t about replacing hands-on buyers, but reducing friction to instantly adapt campaigns to real-world Prime Day volatility, such as removing deduplicated reach or reacting to inventory shortages or pricing shifts. For these high-intensity periods, connecting with consumers wherever they are and responding intelligently is what drives game-changing outcomes.
The companies listed above are clients on Bluestripe Group, the publisher of New Digital Age.
