What are Google Demand Gen campaigns

In 2023 Google announced that Google Discovery Ads were going to be replaced by Google Demand Gen campaigns, and that transition has come with some significant changes. 

Like Discovery Ads, Demand Gen Campaigns are optimised by machine learning, which experiments with different images and text combinations to determine which perform best. This AI is also used to reach shoppers before they even start shopping, anticipating a user’s needs placing your products in front of them at the right time. 

Where do Demand Gen ads show up? 

Demand Gen campaigns span across a number of different Google products and services, and the company says that Google Demand Gen ads can actually reach up to 3 billion customers. 

The ads appear predominantly in three places. 

Google Discover

This is a personalised content feed where users find content related to their interests. It’s accessible from the Google app on mobile, on the google.com mobile homepage, or by swiping right from the main home screen on certain Android devices, including Google’s range of Pixel devices. 

Gmail

The Social and Promotions tabs in Gmail can house Demand Gen adverts, reaching users as they check their emails

YouTube

Demand Gen adverts can appear on a number of touchpoints on the YouTube platform. They can appear on YouTube Shorts, in-feed and in-stream. 

How are Demand Gen campaigns different from Discovery Ads?

Everything that you loved about Discovery Ads remains the same in Demand Gen ads, just with new enhancements for further reach and conversion potential! 

Video assets means new YouTube placements

Unlike Discovery Ads, Demand Gen allows you to create video ads, putting your brand in motion and attracting new audiences. These video assets mean you can now advertise in-feed and in-stream on YouTube, as well as appear on YouTube Shorts. 

Bid Strategies

As with Discovery Ads, you can run campaigns that maximise conversion or maximise conversion value, but you also have a new bid strategy: Maximise Clicks. This is really helpful if you’re looking to boost site traffic rather than conversions, or if you expect a lot of touchpoints before conversions. Maximise Clicks is also a useful bidding strategy if you have a long sales cycle. 

Testing functionality

Demand Gen introduces new A/B testing functionality for your ad campaigns, essential if you want to establish what resonates best with your audience. Coupled with the new ad previews feature, you’ll be able to quickly see how your ads appear across touchpoints, what messaging is most effective, and see how to better optimise your campaigns to get a better return on investment. 

Lookalike targeting

Demand Gen campaigns now allows for you to do lookalike audience targeting using first-party data. Using the behavioural signals it identifies from across your campaigns and websites, Demand Gen campaigns can then target people who meet the profile of your existing audience to get your product in front of them. 

Enhanced reporting

In addition to all the reporting you received in Discovery Ads, you can also get key insights into Brand Lift, Conversion Lift and Search Lift, each documenting how your ads have impacted the relevant areas.

When would I use Demand Gen?

Demand Gen is the evolution of Discovery Ads, so all of the reasons you might use Discovery Ads are applicable to Demand Gen campaigns. Here are some of the key ones:

Drive conversions at scale

If you want to reach a lot of people and then generate conversions, be that sales, newsletter sign-ups, clicks, or even just more visits to your website, Demand Gen campaigns are a great way to do it due to the significant reach

Reaching new customers

With up to 3 billion people seeing Demand Gen campaigns across Google’s feeds, you’ll be able to execute a successful campaign that reaches the demographics you want. By creating visually rich and exciting creatives, you’ll be able to tap into the customers that are keen to discover new solutions to their pain points. 

Reconnecting with your customers 

Demand Gen campaigns are a great way of putting your brand back in front of customers who already love what you offer and are likely to engage with it again. And, because of Google’s ability to accurately assume customer’s intent, your brand will appear in front of people when it’s most relevant

How do I get started?

Account requirements

There are a few prerequisites before you can get started with Demand Gen campaigns. You will need to ensure that sitewide tagging is enabled in your account, and that you’ve set up conversion tracking. Your account must also comply with Google’s Personalised advertising policies. You must also ensure you have a budget sufficient to account for at least 10 times your target CPA bid.

Creatives

Because Demand Gen ads appear across a number of different surfaces, and uses machine learning to put different assets together depending on context and performance, you will want to spend a bit of time beforehand planning and designing your campaign creatives. 

Pull together all of your headlines, descriptions, images, videos and logos, and have them all to hand when it’s time to upload. To get the best performance from your ads, you want to use high quality images that feature minimal text. Don’t forget you can repurpose images and messaging from other high-performing campaigns. 

For the actual process of creating a Demand Gen campaign, Google has created a very comprehensive guide, which you can find here. 

If you want some help with managing your Discovery Ad campaigns, we’d be more than happy to assist! Just reach out and let’s start a conversation!