Google Marketing Live 2024 Summary
Google Marketing Live 2024 was held on May 21 in Mountain View, California. Every year, the event is a real treat for PPC professionals, this is where they present the novelties that could be obsolete in 2 years (🙂). All joking aside, it’s during this event that you can learn about the types of campaigns and tools that will be introduced. The central theme of the event this year was promoting business growth with the latest AI-based solutions and advertising innovations. Here is my summary of the main buzz coming your way. Article by Viktor Tóth, senior PPC manager.
Major announcements and developments
AI-based Ads
Performance Max improvements:
Use of generative AI for fast and high-volume production of creative elements. New reporting features are also available for YouTube ads and creatives to help advertisers optimize and achieve better results. AI makes it possible to automatically create the most relevant advertising elements during campaigns.
Whats new?
- Placement reports and disqualifications for YouTube videos.
- Element-level reporting: we’ll see conversion metrics for each creative element.
Immersive Shopping Ads:
New video and virtual ad types that allow interactive presentations of products, such as 3D filming and virtual trials. These ads are not only visually appealing, but also allow customers to get to know the products better before making a decision.
Whats new?
Video-based search ads
Merchants can now integrate short-format product videos into their ads. These can be brand-created or influencer-sourced. Shoppers using Search can interact with these videos, view style suggestions, and discover related products with one click. Underneath the videos, artificial intelligence summaries highlight the most important product data, helping you make informed purchase decisions.
Virtual Try-On:
Building on the success of last year’s Virtual Try-On (VTO) technology, which increased click-through rates and increased high-quality views by 60%, Google is now launching VTO for apparel ads. Customers can see how men’s and women’s tops fit different body shapes, increasing shopping confidence.
3D spin
Using advanced 3D technology, Google now creates 360-degree views of shoes from images provided by retailers. This function, which is well exemplified by the presentation of Adidas shoes, promises customers an immersive discovery experience beginning with the ad itself.
Visual Storytelling
Google is expanding visually engaging ad formats on YouTube, Discover and Gmail, including new YouTube Shorts ad formats. With more than 2 billion YouTube Shorts viewers per month, Google relies heavily on short-form video as a means of capturing consumer attention and demand.
Whats new?
- Expanding Demand Gen video ad campaigns to reach up to 3 billion monthly users across YouTube, Discover and Gmail inboxes.
- Introducing new YouTube Shorts ad formats such as vertical videos, stickers, and auto-generated animated image ads.
Testing Google Ads in AI Overviews
Ads integrated into AI-generated reviews that display search and shopping ads in “sponsored” sections on search pages. This feature helps advertisers reach potential customers in a more targeted manner while providing them with relevant information.
Whats new?
If an ad is relevant to both the search query and the AI overview, it will appear in a “sponsored” section within the overview section.
Ads Data Manager
While creating Ads Data Manager, the main consideration was the centralization and activation of primary data for more effective AI-based campaigns. This tool allows advertisers to better manage and activate their data, increasing campaign effectiveness and targeting. With Ads Data Manager, advertisers can easily connect their data with Google Ads platforms to achieve even more accurate results.
Whats new?
- Combining online and offline data sources.
- Analysis of audience insights.
- Create audience lists for targeting.
- Measuring campaign performance.
New Branding Tools
New tools to improve brand visibility, such as creating a brand profile in search results that includes brand images, videos, customer reviews and offers. These tools help advertisers build a stronger presence in search results, increasing brand awareness and customer trust.
Whats new?
- Google publishes visual “brand profiles” in Search to highlight the most important merchant information in one place.
- Profiles will include brand images, videos, customer reviews, offers, promotions, and shipping policies sourced from Google Merchant Center and the Google Shopping Graph.
- Ads will continue to appear alongside new brand profiles.
Complex Shopping AI ads
Providing an interactive experience with personalized advice and recommendations based on search results. AI ads provide recommendations tailored to complex buying journeys, helping users make decisions, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and conversions.
Whats new?
- Users can share details such as photos of the items and pricing.
- Google AI then analyzes this information to recommend the right size storage unit and packaging materials.
- The experience takes you back to the advertiser’s website to complete your purchase.
Summary
Google Marketing Live 2024 presented a number of innovations and developments aimed at making the work of advertisers easier and making more effective use of AI-based solutions. These new features significantly contribute to increasing business results and simplifying creative campaign processes. It will be important to consider the extent to which these tools will replace “manual” work, but visual innovations can help those who had a very difficult time producing medium or high-quality creatives.
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