Google Marketing Live 2024

Alright marketing folks, advertising gurus and technology geeks – the time has come again! The annual Google Marketing Live event was last week, and while it’s no Eras Tour, it did include various talks in person, off-site gatherings and live streaming. Our very own CEO, Alex Porter was fortunate to be invited to attend the LA event held at Google’s spectacular Spruce Goose Hanger Office. From technology advancements, to feature rollouts, and a special appearance from the “super cool” Carmelo Anthony, the day was packed with the New Era of AI – following suit from last year’s AI theme.  

While B2B seemed to be overlooked, announcements around Google’s AI improvements peaked marketers’ interest. Topics included AI-Enhanced Shopping Ads, Ads in AI Overviews, AI-powered ads for complex purchases, new visually immersive ad format and features, and new brand profiles for merchants.

For PMax, we have new mass AI Creative Asset Production as well as new profit optimization goals, plus maximizing performance with Paid Search.

And on the YouTube front, Demand Gen campaigns will provide more variety including Discover and Gmail ads – and while Shorts continues to grow in popularity, we now have the ability to utilize creative fun with stickers and auto generated animated image ads. 

You can watch Google’s 7 minute video recap for an overview on all things discussed or continue scrolling as we highlight below our top three takeaways from #GML2024: 

 

THE POWER PAIR 

Batman and Robin. Mario and Luigi. Taylor and Travis. PMax and Search? Yup!
Google emphasized ‘The Ads Power Pair’ which uses the best of AI-powered solutions by combining Performance Max efforts with Paid Search ads. 

By providing comprehensive inputs across ad assets, conversion values, and first-party data to steer the machine learning effectively, this dynamic duo can drive results and help achieve digital marketing success. With PMax getting so much attention over the past few years, it’s great to see the focus shift to matching up the newer unknown with the tried and true. Read more on Unlocking Success With Performance Max, or reach out to our team with questions on how you can utilize The Power Pair in your media mix. 

 

SERVING 1P DATA 

While cookie deprecation has been delayed, the importance of first party data is still on the main stage. Google’s focus on first-party data unification through the new Ads Data Manager empowers businesses to gain a holistic view of their marketing performance and make data-driven decisions. This new feature aims to improve workflows and support advertisers in making better use of 1P data. 

Ads Data Manager has been in beta testing for a few months but is now being made widely available across Google’s advertiser base. With this feature, you can import consented first-party data directly into the Google Ads platform, utilizing it more effectively within campaigns, improving audience insights and targeting. It will also aggregate data from various sources like YouTube, Google Ads, HubSpot, and Shopify, to make it more visible and actionable for advertisers. 

Such tools are making it easier to access and effectively harness the power of data, which in turn makes the cookie-less world a little less intimidating. Connect with our team to make sure you are prepared for the new way of marketing. 

 

ADS IN AI OVERVIEW 

Google’s new AI Overview is certainly getting attention since it is a significant shift in how search results are presented. Instead of showing traditional site links, AI Overview scrapes information from the web and displays it directly to users. This transformation aims to provide more relevant and concise content in a prominent location above the fold… pushing down the placement of paid ads. But not for long!

Google is now introducing Ads within the AI Overview experience. These ads may appear below the fold but still within the AI Overview box. The overview box itself is already a large, screen-filling container, and the addition of ads makes it even longer so users may need to scroll. In early testing, users reportedly found the ads appearing both above and below the AI-generated overview helpful, so it’ll be interesting to see the final paid spotlight. AI Overviews are rolling out to everyone in the US, and nothing is required to participate! Google will handle the inclusion of ads in the Overview box automatically via existing active Search, PMax and Shopping ads based on the search. 

 

To wrap things up, Google Marketing Live 2024 was a whirlwind of AI-powered innovations, insightful discussions, thought provoking approaches and exciting announcements. As marketers, we find ourselves with a ‘Blank Space’, at the intersection of our ‘Wildest Dreams’ of creativity and data-driven decision-making! 

As we embrace these advancements, let’s continue to explore, adapt, and drive success in the ever-evolving world of digital advertising – at Location3 and LOCALACT, we have excelled with our people + technology approach and are ready to partner with you to provide a new era of digital marketing solutions. Contact us today!