Tag: google

Fast Forward: Everything From Google’s Hardware Event That Brands Need To Know

Posted on by Lab Team

Your guide to tech-driven changes in the media landscape by IPG Media Lab. A fast read for you and a forward for your clients and team.

Editor’s note: This is a delayed posting of the Lab’s hot take on the latest tech events. For a more timely delivery, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to join our Fast Forward mailing list.

The highlights:

• Updated Google Assistant service brings AI-powered convenience to a wide-range of Android devices
• Google readies push into smart home space as it sets release date and pricing for its Echo competitor
• Daydream View VR headset looks to bring immersive media to more Android users

What Google Announced

Google unveiled a series of new hardware products at its much-anticipated “Made by Google” event on Tuesday in San Francisco. The Verge has great coverage of all the product announcements that Google made today. The announcements that are particularly relevant to brands and marketers include:

• Google debuted the Pixel phone with built-in Google Assistant, Google’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, capable of both voice-based and text-based conversational interactions.
• Google announced the release date and pricing for Google Home, a smart speaker powered by Google Assistant, that it introduced at this year’s Google I/O event.
• Google introduced its first VR headset, the Daydream View, which is designed to work seamlessly with Pixel phones and will come with a handheld motion-sensing controller.
• Google launched a developer platform for creating “Actions” for Google Assistant for both smart home tasks and conversational apps.
• Google also announced that an SDK for embedding Google Assistant into third-party devices is in the works.

What Brands Need To Do

Build Google Assistant Actions To Reach Android Users
Kicking off the presentation, Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage to introduce updates to Google Assistant, an evolution of Google’s predictive search service Google Now. Looking ahead, he commented, we are be moving from “mobile-first” to “AI-first,” a future where AI-powered digital assistants will handle most tasks and interactions across devices and platforms. For brands, this fundamental shift will have significant implications to brand-customer interactions across all digital touchpoints.

For now, however, it means brands need to finetune their digital strategies to add digital assistant services into the fold. The Google Assistant integration that was demoed today shows that Google is going to bring the more transactional aspects that are now completed in apps into Assistant as much as possible. It’s a great time to think about how your brand can help consumers in this way, even if it’s complementary to your typical goods or service, rather than a core offering. For example, auto brands could help consumers understand car maintenance best practices in addition to making sure that information about their latest models, dealership locations, and customer service phone numbers are all correctly indexed by Google.

Brands should also take advantage of Actions to integrate their services into Google Assistant. Starting in December, brands can work with developers to build Google Assistant Actions to reach Android users across many devices and contexts. For instance, an entertainment brand may consider building an Action that enables Google Assistant to surface movie trivia and trailers when Assistant users ask for it. Details on how this developer platform is scarce at the moment, so stay tuned to find out more.

Develop A Brand Voice For Smart Home
The smart home market is set to heat up again with the impending arrival of Google Home. Amazon has been conquering the market with its Echo lineup, pushing its digital assistant service Alexa into many a living room. Compared to Alexa, Google Assitant has the advantage of Google’s vast Knowledge Graph it accumulates from its search service, which allows it to answer a wide-range of questions with ease. Competitively priced at $129, Google Home may just have what it takes to convince customers to pick up a smart speaker come the holiday shopping season.

Although smart home devices have so far remained ad-free environments, that doesn’t mean brands can’t leverage branded content and functions, especially Alexa Skills for Amazon Echo devices and Google Assistant Actions for Google Home, to reach customers at home. As voice-based smart home devices continue to proliferate, brands will need to figure out a brand voice that is authentic to the brand image and appealing to the target audience. For example, a mass fashion brand should make sure their brand messaging appears approachable and universal, whereas a niche fashion brand may consider making theirs a bit quirky and tailored.

The home environment presents new contexts and challenges that brands will need to navigate mindfully. For example, a healthcare brand is able to reach customers at home with audio content such as wellness tips or instructions for taking medications, but it needs to be cautious in dealing with personal medical information given the social nature of such devices.

Use VR To Craft Engaging Brand Narratives
While it is too early to tell if Google’s Daydream will make a dent in the consumer VR market, it signals Google’s ambition in pushing affordable, mobile-powered VR experiences into the hands of more Android users. As more and more brand marketers rush into VR to capitalize on the booming popularity of the emerging medium, some fail to come up with a brand narrative that truly utilizes the immersive and interactive advantages that VR offers. And instead of coming up with a sustainable, long-term VR strategy, many brands dove into the medium with a one-off piece of VR content, distributed it across all channels regardless of behavioral differences.

To avoid this kind of rather short-sighted approach, brands need to work closely with content creators to develop VR content that truly enhances brand messaging and contributes to the campaign objectives. For example, American Family Insurance recently struck a content development deal with AOL, which allows the insurer to tap into creative resources at AOL’s Partner Studio and HuffPost RYOT to develop a three-part, branded VR series as well as a number of 360-degree video ads that will appear across AOL’s ad network in tandem.

How We Can Help

Please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) if you would like more detail or want to schedule a visit to the Lab to discuss how your brand may benefit from integrating with Google Assistant to surface brand messaging and developing branded immersive content to engage consumers.

For previous editions of Fast Forward, please visit www-stage.ipglab.com. Please reply with any constructive criticism or feedback. We want these to be as useful as possible for you and your clients, and your input will help us immensely.

NYC AdWeek 2016: Google Unleashes Four Major Additions To Its Ad Network

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On the first day of the 2016 NYC AdWeek, Google announced four noteworthy additions to its ad products:

• Cross-device retargeting: Google updated its Google Display Network and DoubleClick Bid Manager to help brands retarget Google users across devices based on their Google profiles.

• Mobile ads get more local: mobile ads on Google Display Network can now include a business address and pull directions and photos from Google Maps. Home Depot tested the feature and reported an eight-time improvement on its ROI compared to its regular mobile ads.

• Online-to-store attribution: Google updated the offline measurement tools in its Google Display Network to bring more data to the table. The search giant says its measurement tools will also employ a five-million-user panel to gauge whether the display ads drive retail purchases with 99% accuracy.

• TV and YouTube ads comparison: With an upgraded version of its Brand Lift measurement product, Google now lets marketers compare the frequency of Google searches that viewers carry out after seeing a YouTube ad versus a TV ad. Google claims that the measurement tool has “seen YouTube generate almost two times the searches per impression than [sic] TV generates.”

What Brands Should Do
All together, these four additions aim to make Google’s ad products more accountable and local. For brands looking to reach a mobile audience via search ads, these new updates should come as welcome news that can further improve their digital campaigns. Retailers in particular should learn to adopt these features to enable in-store attribution tracking and cross-device retargeting for more effective campaigns.

 

Source: AdWeek

Google Releases Allo Messaging App With Text-Based Digital Assistant

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Earlier today, Google officially released the Allo messaging app it announced at the I/O developer event in May. Besides standard messaging app features, the app, available on both Android and iOS, comes with an integrated digital assistant service that appears to be an extension of its existing “OK Google” voice search feature.

Users can summon the Google Assistant by starting a new message with “@google” in any chat and write out their commands or inquiries in natural language. The Google Assistant will surface the results right in the chat window for all parties involved to see. According to Google executive Nick Fox, the Google Assistant will also appear in Google’s Home – an Echo competitor expected to launch next month, in new Android smartphones, and in third-party devices such as wearables.

What Brands Should Do
This launch marks another push toward conversational media channels for which brands need to optimize their content and partnerships. While Google is still struggling to get into the mobile messaging app market, its decision to rebrand its “OK Google” service and integrate a digital assistant service into Allo is a significant move, signaling the search giant’s ambition in launching a service that rivals Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana. While it remains to be seen whether Allo will attract a meaningful audience for marketers, for now it presents a good channel for brands and media owners to test integrations with Google Assistant.

To learn more about how brands can effectively reach consumers on conversational interfaces, check out the Conversational Interfaces section of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdAge

New Google Search Ad Wants You To “Shop The Look”

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google has started testing a new search ad format that aims to sell mobile shoppers on curated looks. Dubbed “shop the look,” the new ad format is designed to appear when users search for broad queries such as “wedding outfit” or “cocktail attire,” and present them with buyable looks sourced from a network of partners, including Curalate, LIKEtoKNOW.it, and Yahoo-owned Polyvore.

What Brands Need To Do
Earlier this summer, Google introduced a new Showcase Shopping ad format that surfaces shoppable items when users search for apparel keywords. As the search giant continues to improve its buyable ad products and making them more visually driven, retailers and fashion brands should seize the opportunity presented by these new ad products and leverage them to reach online shoppers.

 

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Updates AdWords To Better Serve Mobile Advertisers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google has updated its AdWords service to add a few mobile-friendly features. One noteworthy update is the addition of expanded text ads, which grant search advertisers longer headlines to draw in customers. The existing text ads will continue to be available until Oct. 26. Other updated features include separate device bidding and responsive display ads for native inventory. Google started rolling out the features to marketers around the world on Tuesday.

What Brands Need To Do
Google has been making several efforts lately to improve its mobile ad products as it extended AMP support to ads and landing pages, launched “Showcase Shopping” ads that cater to mobile shoppers, and added new ad formats to its AMP pages. As Google continues down this path, brand marketers need to be mindful of new features and leverage them to deliver a better mobile ad experience. And since the standard text ads won’t go away until October, brands can use this window to run some A/B tests of standard and extended text ads to figure out the optimal length for their ad copy.

 

Source: Search Engine Land

 

Google Speeds Up Ads And Landing Pages On Mobile With Extended AMP Support

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google announced on Tuesday that it is extending its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) product to support mobile ads and the landing pages they link to. Marketers will be able to purchase AMP-powered ads programmatically via Google’s DoubleClick Bid Manager. Google introduced AMP last October as a response to Facebook’s Instant Articles, which also promises publishers faster mobile loading. According to Google, web pages built with the AMP format load 85% faster than standard mobile pages.

What Brands Need To Do
Compared to Facebook’s tight control over advertising in Instant Articles, Google seems to be more willing to work with ad tech partners and marketers to support ads in AMP pages. Now by extending the AMP format to ads and landing pages, Google is giving advertisers a valuable tool to deliver a faster, leaner mobile ad experience to consumers.

 

Source: DoubleClick Advertisers Blog

Google Maps Shows You What You Can Buy At Local Stores

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following its announcement of Showcase Shopping ads, Google is making another play for retailers’ ad dollars as it expands Local Inventory Ads to Google Maps. Now when users search for a local store in Google, a link marked as “search items at this store” will appear in the location detail panel, as well as in a location info card for regular Google searches. It directs users to a Google-created landing page that contains a browsable list of the advertiser’s local inventory. Individual product pages also show size availability, reviews, and the option to search other locations.

What Retailers Need To Do
This new ad product allows Google users to view products available at the retail locations they are searching for, letting them browse products and check availability before making their shopping trips. As more and more shoppers research online before heading to stores, it is crucial that retailers make sure there’s sufficient information online to convince shoppers to make the trip.

For more information on how retailers can effectively reach connected consumers by taking an omnichannel approach, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Launches “Shopping Showcase” Ads & Hotel Smart Filters

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google unveiled some updates to its search ad products on Tuesday as it aims to court more ad dollars from retailers and travel brands. For retailers, the new “Showcase Shopping” ads allow retailers to showcase a series of product images in mobile search results. The unique feature that separates this from regular carousel ads is that it is designed to respond to vague search inquiries such as “summer dress” or “living room furniture,” and allow retailers to display a variety of options. According to Google, this kind of vaguely-worded search makes up for over 40% of shopping-related queries.

For travel and hospitality brands, Google is adding Hotel Smart Filters to search results. Now when users search for hotels, they will have the option to filter the results based on price, rating, and preferences like whether a hotel is “pet-friendly.” Hotels with prices lower than normal or running a discount will also be marked with a “Deal” label in search results.

What Brands Need To Do
The Showcase Shopping ads offer retailers a valuable tool to lure online shoppers with only broad purchase ideas in mind using a variety of relevant items from their inventory. The image-heavy nature should give retailers a better chance to pique shopper interest. As for travel brands, the updated hotel search tool means there is a better chance of standing out among competitors with a discount deal. The added filters also include preferences for hotel features, which hotels will have to make sure reflect reality.  

 

Sources: AdWeek

Header image courtesy of Google’s AdWords Blog

Google Introduces New Ad Formats To AMP Pages

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google is adding support for three more ad formats in its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), including fast-loading “AMP Ads” that load as quickly as the pages, “sticky ads” that stay atop or at the bottom of pages regardless of scrolling, and so-called “flying carpet ads” that reveal their content as users scroll past them. Google launched the AMP project in October last year as a response to Facebook’s fast-loading initiative Instant Articles, and it has since added support for more ad tech platforms and promised publisher partners more control over the ads in AMP pages.

Why Brands Should Care
These new ad units should come as welcome additions for AMP publishers as well as brands looking to advertise on these publishers’ mobile properties. Compared to Facebook’s relatively tight grip on ads in Instant Articles, Google may just win over more brands and media owners with its ad-friendly approach, provided that they be careful to not let the ads get in the way of the user experience. With more and more people consuming content on their smartphones, marketers need to be conscious of the choices they have when it comes to mobile ads.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Google Play Now Advising Users To Uninstall Apps They Don’t Use

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google is introducing an Uninstall Manager to the Play Store to intelligently suggest apps for users to uninstall in order to free up some storage space on their phones. The new tool presents users with a list of apps that haven’t been used for a while and instructs users to remove the ones that they no longer need.

What Brands Need To Do
In the past few years, a number of brands, especially those in ecommerce or the service industry, have eagerly developed branded apps in order to reach connected consumers. But as the app market matures, it is becoming harder and harder for brands to convince customers to download their apps. The new Uninstall Manager may bring a new threat to branded Android apps, as many customers download apps for a one-off purchase or discount and end up rarely using them.

In order to combat app fatigue, brands need to start exploring new channels and platforms to connect with mobile users, such as messaging apps and live-streaming platforms. Brands would also be wise to leverage the new Google Instant Apps to allow users to quickly access parts of their in-app content and functions. For more on this, please check out our latest Fast Forward analysis on the Google I/O event.

 

Source: Android Police