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5 Things Marketers Should Know about Google’s AdWords Rebrand

1 August 2018
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock in Antarctica (no offense to any penguin marketers out there…), you’ve heard that Google has retired its AdWords and DoubleClick brands. The rebrand comes long-overdue; AdWords launched in 2000, and a lot has changed since then. DoubleClick is even older having had its inception in 1996.  The rebranded versions will reflect today’s evolving approaches to advertising and ultimately make navigating the platforms easier for marketers.  

Here’s what you should know about the Google Rebrand:

 

  1. There will be three new Google brands

Google AdWords will now be Google Ads.  DoubleClick products and Google Analytics 360 will be integrated as the Google Marketing Platform; other popular Google products like Data Studio and Tag Manager will also be a part of the new Google Marketing Platform brand.  DoubleClick for publishers and DoubleClick for advertisers will be combined into one platform called Google Ad Manager. There has ultimately been a lot of name changes and integration to better reflect where Google is and where it will be in the future.

 

  1. Google is thinking about relevancy and innovation… as always

The core of the products will be mostly the same.  Google deems the name changes as more reflective of the advertising world today, saying that AdWords made users relate the platform to search and text alone causing a “slight cognitive dissonance to all the other things that [Google is doing] in terms of both the format and surfaces these ads can be shown,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s director of ads and commerce.

 

One change to the Google Ads platform is the introduction of Smart Campaigns.  This feature will be the default for small businesses that don’t have the time or resources to manage a large Google Ad campaign.  This is an automatic solution for advertisers that uses machine learning to create ads, target specific audiences, determine ad delivery across Google channels and will soon offer automatic landing page creation based on the advertiser’s goal.  Smart Campaigns goes along with Google’s ultimate rebrand goal of simplifying its platforms for marketers. Smart Campaigns is similar to a Facebook “Boost,” and was built with Adwords Express technology.

 

  1. Google is making it easier to integrate and collaborate

With the second new brand, the Google Marketing Platform, DoubleClick and Analytics are married making the process more efficient for users.  Google realized that advertisers had been integrating DoubleClick products and Google Analytics 360 to hone their campaigns in one place. Google also noticed that this strategy helped these advertisers see better results.  Check out this great collaboration effort by Adidas using Google products.  The fragmented nature of Google has been a consistent annoyance among marketers for years.  In a recent press event, Ramaswamy explained that Google had been getting constant feedback that the array of ad products (most of which were brought under the Google umbrella by acquisitions) could make it confusing to advertisers.  The tech giant still has a ways to go to completely bring its offerings together, but this rebrand is a step in the right direction.

 

The third new brand is Google Ad Manager.  With this, Google has integrated the publisher and ad exchange sides of DoubleClick to make the platforms easier to navigate.  This integration alone has been a three-year process. Ad Manager is more programmatic than the traditional versions offering features like “Optimized Competition” that assists in maximizing yield across reservations, private marketplaces and open auction.  Other notable changes with this platform are terminology-based, including “AdX Buyers” being called “Authorized Buyers.” This is another branding effort on Google’s part to highlight the relationship aspect between partners. Check out other features of the new Google Ad Manager here.

 

  1. This entire rebrand is a focus on Google’s future growth

All of the branding and features are largely focused on driving more growth for Google by allowing marketers to spend more time focusing on improving outcomes and less on the overall setup of their campaigns.  The platform has been really successful with ad product features, integrations and acquisitions. AdWords– now Google Ads has been specifically successful with the implementation of new advertising formats.  AdWords isn’t just for search text ads alone anymore. Google Ads gives you access to placement all over the internet with its various format options, including popular sites like Youtube. But it’s not stopping there.

 

“Advertising is very nascent on Youtube,” Ramaswamy said in an interview with searchengineland.com, “We have a set of formats, but I think there is so much more we can do for things like direct response.”

 

Some things marketers can look forward to in Google’s growth are ad expansion on Youtube, apps, Gmail, image search and Google feed (btw, Google Feed is great).

 

  1. Rest assured there will be more changes as Google irons out the details

With everything technology, especially where Google is concerned, there will be changes as advertisers interact with the new platforms. So don’t get too comfortable with the new amendments just yet.  “Google” is basically a synonym for change. That’s why Google is so great– constant innovation. From an estimated 350 advertisers during AdWords’ early days to millions worldwide 18 years later, Google has changed quite a bit: Additional formats, improved targeting capabilities, etc.  You can expect more of that kind of change and much more product integration in the coming years. As the platforms and data get more sophisticated, Google just keeps getting more innovative.

 

SISDigital is monitoring the changes as they happen, and we’ll keep you updated with the latest by making edits to this post.   

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5 Things Marketers Should Know about Google's AdWords Rebrand
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5 Things Marketers Should Know about Google's AdWords Rebrand
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Google rebrands AdWords and other products to better reflect advertising today and prepare for the future.
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SISDigital

About Tiffany Odem-Rodriquez

ABOUT TIFFANY ODOM-RODRIQUEZ Ole Miss graduate and friend of all dogs. Tiffany is an avid marketing blogger and part-time yogi. When she's not blogging about marketing or on her yoga mat, you can probably find her at the dog park, a local wine bar or somewhere outside on a patio living her best life in Wilmington.

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