Google Wants to be Simpler for Advertisers

Kevin Van den Bosch is Client Service Director at Emakina.BE.
He shares some ideas about Google’s new approach to advertisers.

Google’s is introducing simpler brands and solutions for advertisers. It hopes they will embrace one technology stack, oriented and driven by their needs. More than ever they show the ambition to take center stage in the relationship with advertisers. What will the position of the agency, and will they remain relevant in this ever evolving landscape?

The trend to simplify tools and take center stage is not new

Facebook already made a major move in this direction, no doubt pushing Google to follow suit. And in larger organizations, there is a clear trend to insource digital talent, and streamline marketing and communication across channels. For instance, internal teams focusing on programmatic and search technology are no longer uncommon.

Image: Google blog

To insource, or not to insource

But even with more convenient and attractive tools available, insourcing brings major challenges for advertisers. Is it their best bet? Advertisers (and companies in general) have to carefully consider the necessary investment in specific digital resources and in valuable time, and the budgets they will need to allocate.

What is more, the war on talent in digital is raging, with increased difficulty to attract profiles with the right background in search, campaigns, media and storytelling. For many advertisers, the best choice still seems to accept that insourcing simply is too difficult to make it a sustainable option.
This is especially the case in smaller and more complex markets.

So, what is the best option?

It’s a good plan to look for a solid and truly integrated agency, and build a dynamic partnership with them. Agencies focusing on one part of the puzzle, like analytics, search, or display, can (maybe) only remain relevant when they are truly exceptional. The more natural option is to find an agency combining different key expertises in one coherent approach.

One on One

Google now follows in the footsteps of Facebook, creating its own products catering directly to advertisers. The want to stimulate one on one relationships with advertisers without agencies in the middle. It seems logical, especially if look at some Google Trends reports, and some advertiser’s cases they share, that are clearly brand driven. Even when an expert agency is somewhere involved, it’s the advertiser who is the star of the story.

Marketing managers enjoy simplification of processes and tools, optimized spending through integrated analytics and media buying. That the global platform leaders jump on this ongoing trend is more than natural.

Integrated agencies as your accelerator

Integrated agencies (like Emakina) are in the right position to really make this work. Their experience in creating and developing Integrated and coherent user experiences is a fantastic accelerator in leveraging digital tools large and small.

They are matchmakers merging strategy with creativity and media.
Truly connecting the dots between branding, campaigns, apps, websites, media buying across the entire customer journey.  Uniform, relevant, and more convenient for the user/ consumer.

Want to know how that works?

Talk to Emakina. We’re the user agency.
Kevin Van den Bosch