In this year’s annual Google Marketing LIVE, everything from creative enhancements to immersive shopping ads and reporting features were discussed. It’s not a surprise that AI was the highlight of the announcements at GML2024.
Here is a round up of all the updates and new developments
Performance Max
When combining the power of AI search campaigns with Performance Max you can drive the strongest conversions and ROI performances across Google’s channels. You can now rapidly produce high-quality creative assets at scale for Performance Max campaigns.
Utilising Generative AI, you can accelerate ad creation, customise ads to your brand, engage in advanced image editing, and automatically display product feeds in AI-generated creatives.
Brand Standards
Advertisers will soon be able to upload brand guidelines, including colours and fonts, for Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns. Google’s AI will use these guidelines to create matching images or generate variants for testing. This feature ensures consistent branding across sites and platforms.
New Brand Profiles
Google is launching visual ‘brand profiles’ on Search to consolidate key merchant information in one place. These profiles will showcase brand imagery, videos, customer reviews, deals, promotions, and shipping policies sourced from Google Merchant Center and Google’s shopping graph data. Ads will still appear alongside the new brand profiles.
Product Studio Updates In Google Merchant Centre
Google has unveiled new image editing features that empower advertisers to experiment with incorporating new objects, expanding backgrounds, and cropping images to suit any format, size, and orientation.
Moreover, retailers can now showcase their products from their Google Merchant Center feeds and leverage these editing tools. As advertisers explore creative ideas, Google’s AI will provide additional suggestions by showcasing products in various contexts and scenarios. This enables advertisers to choose their preferred assets and utilise them across their marketing platforms.
Product Studio also now includes enhanced brand alignment features. Merchants can upload reference images to ensure generated visuals align with their brand’s aesthetic and style. For instance, an apparel brand can create new campaign visuals by combining real product shots with lifestyle scenes. Additionally, the tool now supports video generation from a single product photo.
New Image Capabilities
Google is introducing new image editing capabilities, enabling advertisers to add objects, extend backgrounds, and crop images to fit any format, size, or orientation. Retailers can also highlight products from their Google Merchant Center feeds and utilise these editing features.
Immersive Ad Experiences
Immersive Ad Experiences are on the horizon, as advertisers will soon be able to enhance Shopping ads with immersive visuals like Virtual Try-On and 3D ads. Google is also introducing a feature that allows shoppers to explore product videos, summaries, and similar items within an ad.
Dynamic Search Ad Experience
Google is experimenting with offering consumers an interactive experience with Dynamic Search Ad Experience.
AI customises advice and recommendations based on user needs and context. This aims to enhance user experience on the SERP and ensure a more conversion-ready consumer upon reaching the brand landing page.
Visual Storytelling
Visual Storytelling has been enhanced to reach potential customers using vertical videos, stickers, and automatically generated animated image ads. These video ads are accessible to over 3 billion users across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail via Demand Gen campaigns.
Ads Data Manager Tool
Google has launched its Ads Data Manager tool, enabling advertisers to centralise and activate first-party data for AI-powered campaigns with greater efficiency.
By utilising Ads Data Manager, organisations can integrate diverse first-party data streams into a unified analytics platform. This tool streamlines the process, potentially motivating brands to enhance their data management practices.
Experimenting With AI Overviews
Google is currently testing the integration of Search and Shopping ads within the AI Overview boxes that often appear at the top of search results for complex queries. If an ad is relevant to both the search query and the AI Overview, it will be featured in a “sponsored” section within the overview.
Profit Optimisation for Search and PMAX
Profit Optimisation for Search and PMAX allows for deriving profit data from either cart-level conversions or the cost of goods sold. Google reported that this new bidding approach typically results in a 15% increase in campaign profit. Switching between profit and revenue goals is easy and does not disrupt campaign performance.
New Video Features
Several new features have been introduced to video by Google, including the rollout of Demand Gen to Display & Video 360 and Search Ads 360, lowering the Lookalike Audience threshold from 1000 to 100 users, launching new YouTube Partnership Ads, and expanding YouTube Shopping to include Shopify Merchants.
