Google Marketing Live 2022: Thoughts on the Keynote

I was really excited to have been invited to Google Marketing Live 2022 in Zürich, last week. I've written this blog as the first (of several) articles on the event, covering my thoughts on the keynote and what you need to do to survive the new age of privacy-centred marketingI have a lot to cover so I’m just going to dive straight in...Privacy was the headline product of the keynote. Google talked extensively about how it values the privacy of its users, and is building all future products to maximise business profitability in the context of protecting user data.Of course, this means that GA4, consent mode & enhanced conversions are all top of the list for role-out across the Google suite. For those that don’t know, consent mode and enhanced conversions changes the behaviour of the Google Tag to model the expected behaviour of a user when they decline cookie tracking.I expect that by this time next year, the most successful brands in the paid space will optimise their campaigns on modelled data through the above tools, severing their reliance on third party cookies. Everyone else will be forced to do the same when those cookies finally phase out.Google emphasised that to mitigate the impact of this change, they are investing in tools to make the management of first party data as easy as possible, so that modelled data can be produced in a timely fashion. These tools start with CRM partnerships:Beyond Salesforce, Google are expanding their CRM partner list to include Hubspot and Zapier. Hubspot in particular has integrations specifically for consent mode and modelled data. As Hubspot partners, we at Push will be digging into the specifics of this integration to make sure our customers have a solid, consent-mode strategy going forward.

Updates on the horizon

• Multi-search: you will be able to take a picture of a product you like and add a search modifier to find the exact kind you want online. For example, you can take a picture of some brown boots you like, add the search term “black” and Google will find a black pair for you to buy online
• Use your modelled first-party data proactively, not just reactively through conversion lift tests: discover how your ads would have performed in geographies you didn’t target, based on modelled data. This is great for any business looking to expand to new regions
• Image extensions will be pushed into immersive image ads, which put a heavier emphasis on the creative and will be interspersed within the organic results
• Ads are coming to YouTube shorts! Will they behave similarly to TikTok, or will they require a separate strategy?
• Video assets are coming to discovery. Google also referred to discovery as discover, which may mean a naming convention update is on the horizon
• Deeper insights on Performance Max campaigns are finally coming (sort of):

1. Experiments: you will be able to see how changing a creative affects results
2. Explanations: what is working in your campaign and why
3. Performance Max is also coming to Optiscore, so you can find what other improvement options are available
4. Optimise for store visits and physical conversions. This means Performance Max will operate from the top of the digital funnel, to bottom of the physical. A huge announcement that slipped under the radar for eCommerce.

I don't expect you'll be able to see the average CPC of your Performance Max video asset when it appears on a particular channel placement, but hey at least it's a step in the right direction...

Other points of note from Google Marketing Live

Google are aware that everyone is going omni-channel. What does this mean for the relationships between the advertising platforms? And if you aren’t going omni-channel, you’re about to be left behind.It’s a broad match world, you’re just living in it

• Google highlighted a case study of accounts transitioning exact keywords over to broad and seeing great results. This shouldn’t be surprising, but the surprise was that there was no mention of phrase match. Phrase is already dead, is it now exact’s turn?
• This was just one example of Auto-applied recommendation features being implicitly pushed...

Live chat and chat bots are being built for search ads as an extension. Chat to businesses directly without leaving the SERP. This is expected to be in open beta by the end of the yearAsset library is being revamped so you can access all of your creative from any campaign type all in one interface. This will be especially helpful for your future video creative, as Google roles out automated video creation.Augmented Reality is expected to be the next step for shopping, and 3D models will be available to test in your shopping feed ahead of Black Friday. If you're a Push customer in the eCommerce space, reach out to your AM and we will get you onto the betas as they become available.

Another win for shopping is the ability to proceed straight to checkout from a shopping ad, with the product already added to your cart, cutting the number of steps required to convert.

And that more or less wrapped up the key note! A heck of a lot of new toys coming out to play with, although I'm not sure if they quite convinced me not to just take a sabbatical when the cookie apocalypse finally hits...