Re-inventing brand connections: Jonathan shares how Amazon is ‘closing the loop’

Meet Jonathan Cloonan, an Agency Group Head for Amazon Ads in the US, who’s seen a seismic shift in media buying since starting his marketing communications career. Here he shares his views on these changes, how Amazon Ads is ‘closing the loop’ for advertisers, and the opportunities available for anyone ready to join the team.

Sure thing. So many of the ads you see every day across any type of media – from posters at your local subway station to the 30-second ads on your favorite streaming service - are purposefully placed there by media buying agencies owned by one of seven major Holding Companies. I oversee a team of amazing agency development managers focused on business development, strategic partnerships and relationship management for Amazon Ads across several of these Holding Companies in the US.

I originally joined in 2019 as a ‘Principal’, to run the Amazon US relationship with a major advertising and media holding company. The following year, my role expanded to also take on the global partnership oversight with them. In 2021, I moved into a senior management role with responsibilities for a team of staff overseeing additional holding companies and a broader organization of agencies. It’s been a great ride.

I look at my job in two ways. Firstly, I try to educate, inform and inspire these major media buying companies to leverage our entire portfolio of ad solutions so they can deliver on their business goals. Secondly, I spend my days coaching, mentoring and leading my team, who I am confident are amongst the best in the industry, as they develop and grow their careers here at Amazon.

Can you explain what re-imagining advertising means to you?

"Re-imagining advertising", to me, means transforming the way brands connect with audiences. With the fragmentation of media, it’s more important than ever for advertisers to leverage innovation, creativity, and technology to create more engaging, personalized, and meaningful experiences. It’s about moving beyond traditional, one-way messaging to focus on audience-centric approaches, technology-driven innovation mixed with purposeful, authentic content. Blending all of this with accountability is the utopia for brands. Amazon Ads is well placed as we have a truly full-funnel solution ranging from Sponsored Ads, to Prime Video, Live Sports and Twitch. Seeing this all come together for an advertising customer is a great feeling.

I have confidence that, when I am speaking with any advertiser or agency executive, Amazon Ads has a solution that will help them drive their business forward. Whether their marketing goal is awareness, consideration or conversion, we have a way to help them accomplish it. I’m a big believer that a combination of art and science is crucial for a brand’s success in marketing communications. Amazon Ads is unique as we have the ‘art’ through our creative teams like Brand Innovation Lab and our Brand Partnership Studios unit who develop never-been-done-before campaign ideas. But we also have the ‘science’ through our ad tech and data approach, especially the Amazon Marketing Cloud. My team is filled with “ambidextrous thinkers,” who use both creative and analytical skills to deliver for our advertising and agency customers every day. It’s an exciting time to be in our industry and, specifically, to be on the journey at Amazon Ads.

I’m proud to be a Bar Raiser, which is someone at Amazon who is brought into all hiring decisions internally, to be an objective third party and help raise hiring standards across the entire company. I was nominated to become a Bar Raiser last year after I completed my 200th interview. It’s meaningful to me as I am invited to help make hiring decisions across every area of Amazon, from Ads to AWS. I have to make sure that all new hires have the potential to grow here and that they bring top-tier skills to the company.

I always recommend candidates read our Amazon Leadership Principles carefully. This set of guidelines offers a meaningful steer on how we think about behaviors within the business. The Leadership Principles are not just words on a wall somewhere; they guide everything we do. We hire, promote, and make decisions based on them. If these principles resonate, Amazon might be a great fit for you.

The first three months are all about learning. You’ll get tons of resources. We encourage you to ask questions and get to understand Amazon’s culture. The goal is to earn trust, learn the products, and spend time seeing the Leadership Principles come to life.

After that, it’s about delivering results and scaling your success.

I encourage all new hires to think about passion projects. If you identify something Amazon could improve, lean into it. It might be a 10-15% time investment, but if it aligns with our business needs and serves the customer, it makes a great impact.

Can you tell us about your passion project?

Three years ago, I joined the New York board of glamazon, Amazon’s LGBT+ affinity group. Glamazon is about raising awareness and educating employees on LGBT+ issues, building allies, and creating opportunities through mentoring and training. We enact this through community outreach, working with groups that support marginalized communities, like homeless LGBT+ youth going through tough times. Last year, I helped glamazon ring the NASDAQ bell for Pride Month and I organized a screening of Amazon Studios’ Red, White & Royal Blue at the LGBT Community Center in New York. I encourage everyone to find a project that brings them joy and dive in, whether through an affinity group or another avenue.