Advancements in technology are constantly changing the marketing landscape. Despite these changes, one thing has always remained the same — our commitment to connecting people and businesses online.
This week we announced major changes to our advertising products to make them easier to understand and use. For a closer look at the strategy behind the new products, I sat down with Matt Lawson, VP of ads marketing at Google, to learn more about why we’re making this shift and what it means for you.
Bethany Poole: Can you recap what you just announced and why?
Matt Lawson: Over the years, a top request from customers has been to simplify our portfolio of products to make it easier for them to choose the right solution for their businesses. Our new products help achieve that. Google AdWords is becoming Google Ads. Our DoubleClick buy-side products and Google Analytics 360 Suite are coming together to become Google Marketing Platform. And, finally, DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange will become Google Ad Manager.
Why did you decide to rebrand AdWords, and what does this shift mean for today’s advertisers?
More than anything, this change signals that our ad offerings are about more than search. The new Google Ads brand represents the full range of advertising capabilities we offer today.
It’s important to note that keywords aren't going away — people will continue to buy search ads that way. Search is always going to be foundational to our media offerings. But we found that the AdWords brand didn’t always resonate with display, video, and apps buyers that use our products. The new Google Ads brand is more reflective of everything we offer today and where we are going in the future.
Can you talk more about the decision to rebrand DoubleClick and Google Analytics 360 Suite and share how businesses can benefit from the new Google Marketing Platform?
Many of our customers have already been using DoubleClick Digital Marketing and the Google Analytics 360 Suite, and those customers have been asking us to do more to bring our ads and analytics technology together. The reality is, when you combine advertising and analytics you get better insights into the customer journey and are able to drive better results.
Google Marketing Platform builds on existing integrations between these products and makes it easier for marketers to plan, buy, measure, and optimize digital media — in one place.
‘Platform’ is an interesting choice of words. Why ‘platform’ specifically?
We chose this word because Google Marketing Platform is a technology offering — its not tied to our proprietary media. Customers own their advertising data and control who has access to the platform. And, importantly, the product is open. We are committed to providing choice to our customers over what they buy, how they buy it, and how they measure it. Today the Google Marketing Platform maintains 100+ integrations with exchanges, measurement solutions, and other technology providers.
How did you build the justification for the rebrand internally?
Picking a name for a product can be emotionally charged, especially when you have iconic brands like AdWords and DoubleClick, which have decades of history. Making a change is no easy feat, but like everything at Google, it started with the customer. We conducted research globally around how advertisers and publishers perceive our brands, and used insights from that research to inform our strategy. For example, we found that executives were more likely to trust a technology platform’s ability to scale if it were branded “Google” as opposed to “DoubleClick,” even though the parent company was the same. It’s that type of insight that helps convert even the most challenging skeptics.
What are some of the more unique challenges you’ve faced?
Changing a brand like AdWords, which has millions of customers and users, requires a lot of coordination. We updated more than 50 websites, over 7,000 help center and Think with Google articles, and a lot of sales decks. And because these products are available globally, it’s critical that the new names be easily understandable. For countries where they weren’t, we had to make some tough calls on how to localize. And of course, we had to do all of this while ensuring that the new logos embraced the heritage of AdWords and DoubleClick but also gave a nod toward the future of these new products.
Join Sridhar Ramaswamy to learn more about Google Ads — and many other new Ads, Analytics, and Platforms solutions — at Google Marketing Live.
