Google Marketing Live is officially wrapped, bringing into focus a number of important takeaways that serve as catalysts for marketers moving forward after getting a first-hand look at where Google is taking advertising and marketing.
As we look ahead, the team at MERGE offers up some key thoughts to keep mind to help guide businesses in staying ahead of the curve:
AI Is Everything
While this isn’t exactly new—we’ve been using AI in Google Ads for a while—one key insight is how quickly the AI ecosystem continues to evolve. We saw this in three important ways:
1. AI-Powered Ad Products: AI is deeply embedded in products like Demand Gen, Performance Max, and creative development tools. These AI-driven solutions are expanding in capability and delivering stronger outcomes for advertisers.
2. AI Across the Full Marketing Ecosystem: Beyond Google Ads products, and really beyond Google itself, advertisers need to be utilizing AI to better fuel data, measurement, and creative across their marketing ecosystem. This will ultimately have a big impact overall, but will also fuel the Google Ads specific products as well. Some products that Google is developing to support this are NotebookLM, Flow, Imagen, and Veo.
3. Consumers Interact With AI Differently Now: Search behavior is changing, with users increasingly relying on AI-powered experiences across Google Search and YouTube. This means marketers must rethink how they engage users—AI-powered ads are now being served within AI Overviews, bringing the user journey and ad delivery full circle.
Key Product Announcements
As expected, several big product reveals point to an exciting future of ad automation, performance insights, and creative formats:
- AI Max for Search: A fully automated campaign type that uses Google’s AI to optimize across all Search inventory with minimal setup.
- Smart Bidding Exploration: A new tool to test and compare different Smart Bidding strategies, enabling faster, data-backed optimization decisions.
- Performance Max Channel Reporting: More transparency with new reporting that breaks down PMax performance by channel (e.g., Search, YouTube, Display).
- Shopping Ads on CTV: Shopping ads are now available on connected TV surfaces like YouTube, reaching users in high-attention, living room environments.
- Video Ads in Search + Shopping: Short-form video ads are coming to Search and Shopping results, giving brands a more immersive way to stand out.
The User Journey Isn’t a Funnel Anymore
The classic funnel model is outdated. With today’s advanced tools and AI-powered platforms, marketers need to build durable strategies that drive incremental growth across all stages of the user journey. This shift highlights the importance of omnichannel measurement, creative, and audience intelligence, pointing to a future where the user path is dynamic and AI-enhanced.
Final Thoughts
Google Marketing Live delivered, and we’re energized to bring these insights and tools back to our clients. While AI and ads product innovation were center stage, the event also underscored the growing importance of creative and measurement in driving sustainable performance. The future of marketing is here—and it’s smarter, more connected, and more dynamic than ever.
Ready to harness the power of AI and advanced marketing tools to transform your strategy? Connect with MERGE today and stay ahead in the evolving digital landscape.