This blog is officially GoogleTechRadar. (We’ve been covering Google quite a bit lately.)
Last week, in conjunction with DMEXCO, one of Europe’s top digital marketing events, Google announced several updates for its AI-powered ad products, addressing user feedback: “More controls and insights remain your top request when it comes to using AI in your advertising,” reads its blog post about the new features.
Those updates include:
- Expansion of the conversational experience for creating Search campaigns using Gemini models to German, French, and Spanish languages.
- Extension of AI-powered image editing to Search, Demand Gen, App, and Display campaigns, with asset generation now available in six additional languages.
- Introduction of new features for generating and controlling creative assets, including the ability to provide reference images for AI image generation, brand guidelines for Performance Max, and creative preferences for Demand Gen campaigns.
- Improvements to Performance Max creative reporting, such as conversion metrics for assets, asset coverage reporting, and enhanced performance insights.
- Launch of new media management features, including campaign-level negative keywords in Performance Max (beta), omnichannel bidding for Demand Gen campaigns (beta), and support for buying Demand Gen campaigns in Display & Video 360.
Why This Matters:
Next to AI, control and transparency are two of the most critical concerns for advertisers right now. While AI can automate and optimize processes that were previously manual to improve efficiency and performance, that can come with reduced control for marketers. That’s the trade-off. This shift has led to a demand for greater visibility and influence over AI ad services.
Google’s updates work to address that balance as their tools becomes increasingly AI-centered. Ultimately, this gives its advertisers greater confidence in the tech, supporting broader adoption.
Other interesting aspects of the news (at least to us): Google’s focus on Demand Gen is apparent here, which comes right after their decision to phase out new Video Action Campaigns by Q2 of next year in favor of auto-upgrading them to Demand Gen. This change has received mixed reactions from some. Demand Gen lets marketers run campaigns across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail using video and images. With the DMEXCO announcement, advertisers will soon be able to AI enhance images for these campaigns, more deeply integrating AI into… AI.
Control and transparency, especially in attribution, have been hot topics for advertisers using AI tools like Performance Max (P Max), so Google is addressing this, too.
For creative control, brand guidelines for Performance Max will be available next month. This lets advertisers define and upload specific brand elements like fonts, colors, and logos, for more consistent brand identity across formats. Demand Gen creative preferences will also be available to all advertisers.
For attribution, Google is expanding creative reporting and performance visibility. They’re doing this by streamlining performance insights for P Max, introducing pacing insights to track progress against CPA and ROAS goals, and adding impression share reporting.
Experts React:
Google’s Ginny Marvin has a thread on X about the news from the search perspective:
Our Take:
Again, these changes seem to reflect Google’s efforts to balance more AI with the control and transparency that advertisers are asking for. This really feels like a “show me the work” situation, where, to trust a solution, more insight into what the hell is going is key. (Think OpenAI or Anthropic adding footnotes to search results.)
Other thought: given some of the DC/antitrust ongoings around Google, even if unrelated, “hearing advertiser feedback” and responding to it directly, with clear product updates or launches, is a good strategy.
