Last week I attended the EMEA leg of Google Marketing Live, hosted at Google HQ in Dublin, where there was great excitement over some of the new features Google have announced, particularly in the AI space. I’ve compiled my top three announcements from the event, and evaluated what they could mean for marketers.
Conversational Ad Management
With the popularity and power of conversational generative AI chatbots like Bard and ChatGPT, it’s not surprising that Google have announced this new feature but it’s still incredibly exciting, nonetheless. By chatting to Google AI within the Google Ads platform, search practitioners will have the ability to seek recommendations, improve strength and generate new ad group content on the fly, something that is historically very time-consuming. The collaborative nature of the feature means we’re no longer in a world where Google dictates the agenda, but instead we can ask for changes to the tone, or for new features to be added to headlines: inevitably a huge plus for brands.
This is a fantastic tool for clients with relatively basic accounts or when there are little tweaks to be made; however, is this a viable solution for enterprise clients? As it stands, probably not, as it’s only able to manage one Responsive Search Ad at a time. Still, the product teams I chatted to were aware of this, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some scaled options in the future.
AI Generated Images
It’s no secret that creating imagery can be expensive and time consuming, so Google offering a solution for that is incredibly sensible when they are pushing the adoption of more visual formats such as Performance Max. Pop in your website and some relevant prompts, and Google will spit out generated images that can seamlessly work with your campaigns. No longer will you find yourself struggling for scale because all you’ve got is text – suddenly the whole Google ecosystem is within reach.
Will they be perfect representations of your product? Probably not. Will they be the ideal solution for those companies with strict brand guidelines? Doubt it. But the potential upshot here is incredible, and we’re super excited to get our hand on this and test it out.
New Video Campaign Formats
Demand gen campaigns are a new campaign type that will support driving actions across YouTube shorts and other Google platforms that support video content, while Video view campaigns are aimed at increasing view metrics. Tailored campaign types are a big win when you’ve got clear objectives in mind, and the inclusion of shorts shows how important these have become as a format.
It’s great to see new campaign types that cater specifically for video content. What I’m especially excited about here is that advertisers will be able to create lookalike segments from first-party and YouTube audiences, that have customisable reach. Want to keep things tight? A narrow segment will hit only 2.5% of users with traits like that in your seed list. Want to scale? Go for 10% with their broad reach option. Great for taking control in a world where it seems to slip away from us at times.
It will be a truly exciting time for us as these products start to launch over the next few months. If you’re interested in learning more about what these developments could mean for you, get in touch and let’s make the most of AI together.