Demand Gen: Google’s new frontier in driving consideration

In 2023, Google unveiled Demand Gen, a ground-breaking campaign type that OMD UK has been at the forefront of testing and analysing globally. This full funnel campaign type naturally integrates with OMD UK’s award-winning Connected Performance team of planning and execution specialists, who expertly connect media channels as a full funnel proposition.

This harnesses the power of Google AI to create and convert demand across the best of YouTube and Google visual surfaces. This innovative campaign serves across YouTube in-stream, Shorts, Discover and Gmail, offering advertisers a powerful tool to drive consideration and sales. 

 Let’s take a closer look at the key features:

• Expanded reach: Extending beyond the Discovery Feed and Gmail, and encompassing YouTube in-stream and Shorts, significantly increases reach by tapping into short-form and long-form video content. Advertisers can include up to five videos alongside images, headlines, and calls to action for a rich and engaging ad experience
   
• Creative experimentation: Visualisation of creatives across different screens and placements, alongside A/B creative experiments to provide insights into asset performance
   
• Bidding options: Maintaining smart bidding options like "maximise conversions," Demand Gen introduces "maximise clicks," ideal for advertisers with complex conversion paths or traffic driving ambitions
   
• Enhanced measurement: Brand Lift, Search Lift, and Conversion Lift reports to gain a deeper understanding of the impact beyond direct conversions
   
• Audience targeting: While Similar Audiences are sunsetted, Demand Gen introduces "lookalike" audiences. These mirror the characteristics and behaviours of your existing customers, enabling targeted reach like social platforms, now only requiring 100 users as a seed list
   
• Generative AI assets: A recent innovation is Text Prompt to Image Generation, allowing the creation of assets directly within the platform. While a welcome addition, AI image generation is still under development, particularly for adding text overlays and calls to action
   
• Creative preferences: A new BETA that anchors video assets to specific placements. An extremely beneficial development for fixing bespoke vertical video on shorts to emulate social placements. It’s a great way to also utilise creator assets
   
• Partnership ads: A recent announcement made at Google Marketing Live and powered by YouTube’s Brand Connect, Partnership ads provide a way to connect ads with influencers’ authentic voice to performance
   

Is Demand Gen a social challenger? 

Demand Gen has been designed by Google with the social buyers' needs in mind, and firmly in the mid-funnel, it prioritises driving traffic, with an absence of secondary goals like video views. This focus sets it apart as truly unique. However at OMD UK, data guides our decisions, so we set about testing Google's claims, comparing Demand Gen to social performance for various clients.

• Cost efficiency: Demand Gen was significantly more affordable and outperformed social platforms in terms of CPC (-90%) and CPM (-74%) according to OMD analysis [Source: OMD Campaign Analysis 2024]
• Video delivery: Demand Gen optimised for traffic may not prioritise video delivery as heavily as social platforms. The AI optimisation will find maximum reach and maximum engagement, which may not be a video asset, but in our testing at OMD it delivered stronger and cheaper results 

Demand Gen presents a compelling opportunity for advertisers seeking cost-effective consideration. Along with performance driven outcomes, such as quality side traffic, clicks etc. Before you begin, consider existing social assets when creating content for Demand Gen, and leverage Google Analytics to provide a rich understanding of user behaviour beyond conversions. 
 

Demand Gen evolution & PMax integration 

While both campaigns leverage AI for optimisation, their functionalities differ. Performance Max (PMax) delivers ads across the Display Network and Search, inventory sources and optimisation techniques that are more suited towards true lower funnel campaign goals. Google is seeing on average 14% incremental conversions when running Demand Gen and PMax or Search together. With Demand Gen targeting specific audiences in the consideration phase while PMax pushes them towards conversion. However, running both simultaneously could lead to overlap on Discovery, YouTube, and Gmail. To mitigate this, strategies like Floodlight sharing, audience signal differentiation, and placement exclusions should be implemented. However, we recommend a test-and-learn approach, with data-driven reporting to assess the complementary nature of both formats. Google also offers a Titan Report to help advertisers verify the minimal overlap on every campaign.

While cost-effective, Demand Gen raises questions about integration with PMax, the role of video assets, and the impact of cookie deprecation. Future iterations will see Demand Gen integrated within DV360 & SA360, offering robust deduplication and potentially mitigating cannibalisation with PMax. Additionally, cookie-less targeting solutions are likely to emerge, ensuring the continued effectiveness of lookalike audiences.
 

Conclusion: A glimpse into the future

Demand Gen's performance advantages suggest potential budget reallocation from social and could become a preferred placement for advertisers focussed on video-first social platforms. However, the future of this dynamic will depend on:

• Reduced entry barriers: Not requiring video assets for functionality makes it accessible to advertisers with limited resources. Existing social media creative can often be repurposed with minimal resizing
   
• Optimisation enhancements: Introduction of video view and traditional reach targeting would significantly enhance Demand Gen's capabilities
   
• Advertiser levers: As advertiser control over targeting and optimisation grows and wanes, Demand Gen could become the preferred AI-powered campaign type for expanding reach beyond search

OMD UK believes Demand Gen holds immense potential for advertisers, offering a glimpse into the future of consideration-driven advertising. With continued development and optimisation, it has the potential to become a powerful tool for brands seeking to drive awareness, nurture leads, and achieve their marketing goals. 

A choice between PMax and Demand Gen may prove to be a false dichotomy, but it will depend on individual campaign goals. While PMax offers a comprehensive, automated approach for lower funnel goals, Demand Gen provides a more controlled environment with clear cost advantages for driving consideration. With further development and integration within the broader Google Ads ecosystem, Demand Gen has the potential to become a preferred choice for advertisers seeking a balance between AI-powered optimisation and granular control over their campaigns.