Partners Blog
What's new @ Google? Tips and tools for agencies
2012 YouTube Ads Leaderboard
Thursday, January 31, 2013
In December, we announced the
2012 YouTube Ads Leaderboard
, a celebration of the ads that people chose to watch on YouTube last year. Now, we’ve invited the creators behind these ads to share their story on the
Creative Sandbox,
our gallery of campaigns that make the most of the digital canvas. Explore the behind-the-scenes take on how these agencies created content so compelling, users chose to watch, engage and share.
Hear how #3
Volkswagen
tee-ed up their ‘12 Super Bowl spot with a web trailer worth barking about. Or how #15
Sauza Tequila
mixed up a new cocktail for success with a fireman and a cat. And how #18
Fiat
launched a ‘bad boy’ car with the ‘bad boy’ of Hollywood.
Stay tuned this Friday for the next YouTube Ads Leaderboard on
Think with Google
, a celebration of ads people chose to watch in January 2013.
Posted by Justin Joy, Marketing Manager, Agency
Mobile and...anthropology?
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
In this increasingly mobile world, it’s important for marketers to understand
what
consumers are doing on their mobile devices. We recently took a close look at this question in a number of different research studies -
Our Mobile Planet
,
The New Multi-Screen World
,
What Users Want From Mobile Sites Today
. But as we talked with marketers and agencies, especially creative agency folks, we realized there was another important question to answer:
why
is the mobile space so powerful at a deeper, more emotional level? And
how
are people finding and making meaning there? These are important questions because it’s hard to tell emotionally resonant stories about brands on mobile unless we understand the resonance of the mobile space itself.
So what is the meaning of mobile? That’s a big and complex question, but to start scratching the surface we sought the help of an anthropologist who went into the homes of mobile users and spoke with them at length, observing their device interactions and asking them to keep “mobile diaries” to understand the role mobile is playing in their lives. From this investigation, we gained some valuable insights that we hope will help strategic planners and creatives better understand how to make use of the mobile space. For example: Have you ever thought about how miniature items tend to possess the power to unlock imaginations, and how this dynamic plays out with the smallness of our phones? Or how our smartphones enable us to indulge in our innate desire to “read” and “write” meanings onto our physical surroundings? (We hadn’t either.)
We’ve shared our findings with strategic planners and marketers at Cannes, Advertising Week, and at a handful of creative agencies. Today, we are excited to share our insights with you through a new
whitepaper
that tells the story of what we found -- how mobile is helping us achieve our self-ideals, co-create culture with our communities, and make sense of the physical world around us.
We invite you to put on your anthropologist's hat and to think about mobile in a new and different way. Perhaps some of the findings will inspire you to think about the ways that you can connect with your customers in the mobile space. We’d love for you to join the dialogue and share your thoughts.
Posted by: Jesse Haines, Head of Marketing, Mobile Ads, and Abigail Posner, Head of Strategic Planning, Agency Development
How the digital era has changed video game launches
Monday, September 24, 2012
As more people go online to research, compare, and shop, brands have evolved the way they launch new products. While this impacts nearly every field, we took a microscope to the video game industry with a new research paper “
Understanding the Modern Gamer
.” As new technologies and faster web access proliferate, the video game market is in the midst of a transformation.
Here’s the bottom line: the digital “shelf life” of video games now spans almost a full year.
Users are planning, researching, and considering their video game purchases a lot earlier (6 months before a title’s released), and continuing to engage with the game - by downloading reviews, discussing game strategies and purchasing extra game features online - for about 4 months after their initial purchase. And of course, they’re doing it across multiple devices.
At the same time smart video game companies, like
Electronic Arts
(EA), are transforming their marketing and product launch strategies, promoting titles earlier - and for longer - to drive sales and engagement.
Here are the key findings from the study:
Gamers search earlier, longer, and more often.
Overall, game-related searches increased by 20% on desktops and laptops, and jumped 168% on tablets and smartphones over the last year. Why? In part, there’s a bigger search window, as gamers sift through an increasingly competitive world of great video game titles.
Gamers take a sneak-peak at video games before they purchase.
We found that 40% of game-related searches occurred during the pre-launch phase, 6 months before a title’s release. Top searches include trailers, game art, and short versions of the game available for play.
Gamers score with help from multiple screens.
Tips are the most-searched content during launch month, and more than 1 in 4 tips searches take place on a mobile device after launch. While players cast an eye toward the TV screen, the other is looking at tips, cheats, hints, and walkthroughs on their tablets or smartphones.
Gamers rely on mobile for purchase information.
Mobile devices have become an indispensable second screen for gamers as people look to learn more about their new purchase. We found that 1 in 5 purchase-related searches occur on a mobile device.
Gamers stay connected with video games after release.
Video game information continues to be in high demand up to four months after a title’s release. Undecided buyers seek reviews, while purchasers search for ways to enhance their gaming experience, like downloadable extension content.
Digital engagement can predict physical sales.
The extended launch cycle provides a longer opportunity to influence purchase decisions. We found that 84% of game sales were predicted by ad clicks in a 10 month period. If a game accrues 250,000 clicks in the 10 months surrounding a launch, it will likely sell between 2 and 4 million units in the four months after the release.
Smart marketers like EA made the most of this by:
For marketers, this longer, more engaged research phase is a key moment to influence users’ purchase decisions. For titles like
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
, out in 2013, EA has already kicked off its digital marketing efforts, leveraging
media ads
on search and YouTube
video ads
to ensure trailers for the game are in front of people actively seeking content on new titles.
Connecting with consumers throughout the launch cycle and across all devices is incredibly important, whether it’s helping gamers complete a purchase or providing access to downloadable content. To keep gamers engaged after launch, EA has offered content updates, game enhancements, and other consumer engagement opportunities online for franchises like
Madden NFL
,
FIFA
,
Battlefield
,
NCAA Football
, and more.
Approaching each title release with the extended research phase framework has paid off for EA. Digital marketing and other efforts drove a 347% increase in searches
Battlefield 3
compared to
Battlefield 2.
Learn more
To learn more about gamer search activity across the lifecycle of a game and how we created our predictive model, download the full
whitepaper
from Think with Google.
Posted by James Getomer, Senior Analytical Lead
Introducing Agile Creativity
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Join us
tomorrow, August 8th, at 10am PDT/1pm EDT
for a special Google+ Hangout On Air featuring advertising industry executives in conversation with Google engineers.
Over the past year we’ve had many discussions with ad agency executives about how they are reinventing their business models to excel at the pace of digital. Many of our agency partners are applying practices inspired by the tech world in order to work faster and more collaboratively.
Tomorrow, August 8th, we will be hosting a live streamed panel called
“Coders and Creatives: Two Angles on Agility”
, where we'll uncover the links between agile practices at play at Google and in the advertising world. Torrence Boone, Managing Director of Agency Business Development at Google will moderate the conversation between:
Greg Andersen, CEO BBH NY
John Boiler, CEO, 72andSunny
Engineers from Google+ and Google[x], the group that developed Google Glass and the self-driving car
We hope you’ll be there and be inspired to maximize the agility of your agency with some of the concepts discussed.
RSVP for the event
to have it appear in your calendar. If you have a question for the panel, leave your questions as a comment on
our hangout announcement post
.
On August 8th at 1pm EST, to view the Hangout on Air, visit the
Think with Google
Google+ page, look for the “Hangout on Air” post within the stream, and click “Play” to tune in. Don’t forget to be signed into Google+!
Posted by Torrence Boone, Managing Director of Agency Business Development, Americas
With over 940,000 followers, H&M captivates Google+ users with exclusive content
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
When
H&M
produces hot new collections, the Swedish fashion retailer knows just how to get the word out. With around 2,500 stores spread across 44 markets, not only does the company engage in traditional forms of marketing, but also integrates its social media with other communication activities. An early adopter of Google+, today H&M has more fans on the platform than any other retail brand – over 940,000 followers.
Unique, exclusive content wins followers
Instead of replicating the experience of shopping in the store or on the website, their page supplies a steady stream of interactive content tailored specifically to the Google+ audience. H&M publishes unique coverage, including a captivating range of exclusive collection previews, contests and behind the scenes footage, such as a Vogue editor preparing for an H&M photo shoot. Their most popular posts are the ones for their top collections with Beckham, Versace and Marni.
Using
ripples
to understand trendsetting
H&M has a very high rate of shared posts. Their team can “View Ripples” to see who has shared content and what has been said. In this way, the ripples feature lets H&M see how posts spread across Google+, who’s sharing and resharing the content and whose opinions matter. The feature can be used to identify influencers and see how communities form around content. The larger the circles in ripples, the larger the reach they might have.
Social extensions
to integrate their social strategy into search
Another feature H&M uses are social extensions in its AdWords advertising. Social extensions help the company obtain a higher number of brand recommendations, +1’s and direct traffic to their Google+ page, effectively increasing their number of followers by doing so. On average H&M has achieved a 22% CTR uplift on all their AdWords campaigns thanks to implementing social extensions.
It’s all adding up...
All of this has contributed in great levels of engagement from fans with the following results so far:
Average number of +1’s per post: 72
Average number of reshares per post: 11
Average number of comments per post: 22
To learn more about H&M’s inspirational example,
read the full case study here.
Posted by Natalia Cano, PMM Google+ for Businesses
Mark your calendar for a mobile search strategy Hangout On Air with Time Warner Cable and Leapfrog Online on June 7th 4:30EST/1:30PST
Friday, June 1, 2012
We hope you can join us on the
Think with Google
Google+ page on Thursday June 7th at 4:30pm EST/ 1:30pm PST to learn from mobile thought leaders Time Warner Cable and their partner agency Leapfrog Online to understand how a well executed mobile search marketing campaign helped grow Time Warner mobile revenue from 0% to 10% of total digital sales in just 3 months. Google’s Andy Miller, Head of Global Mobile Search Sales and Strategy, hosts Rob Roy, VP and GM of e-Commerce and Interactive Marketing at Time Warner Cable, and mobile guru Cass Baker, EVP of Leapfrog Online, as the three of them explore insights from Time Warner Cable’s phenomenal success in acquiring new customers through mobile.
Tune-in for tips and strategies on putting together a winning mobile marketing campaign, how to best take advantage of click-to-call, Time Warner Cable’s latest mobile success metrics, and the latest Google has seen in mobile search momentum. We’ll be releasing a full case study here on our blog that you can read to learn more. We hope you’ll be there. Details on how to tune in:
In order to view the Hangout on Air, visit the
Think with Google
Google+ page at 4:30pm EST on June 7th, look for the stream post, and click to tune in. Don’t forget to be signed into Google+!
On June 7th, look for the Hangout on Air post like the image above on the Think with Google +page and click to tune-in!
Posted by Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads
Adopt a Mantra of Agile Creativity
Friday, May 4, 2012
Speed and flexibility are key for agencies to gain an edge in the next decade of digital. By borrowing a page from the tech industry playbook, agencies can get even faster, smarter, and more efficient. Welcome to the age of
Agile Creativity.
To get the conversation started about Agile Creativity in the industry, we're hosting a
panel
at One Club's
Creative Week
in New York City. Google Managing Director Torrence Boone will be chatting with Rei Inamoto (CCO, AKQA), Greg Andersen (CEO, BBH NYC), and Michael Lebowitz (CEO & Founder, Big Spaceship) about how they've adopted an agile mantra and are seeing it successfully at work in their agencies.
We are collaborating with industry experts to bring you agile best practices that you can apply in your own agencies. Stay tuned and click
here
to get an email notification when the full "Agile Creativity" content is published.
Posted by Andrea Galambos, Marketing Manager, Agency - New York
Mark your calendar for a Hangout On Air with mobile thought leaders introducing The Mobile Playbook on April 25th 3pm EDT
Monday, April 16, 2012
Over the past year we’ve talked to hundreds of CMOs, agency executives and other marketing decision makers about mobile and we’ve seen a shift in the conversation: businesses and agencies are no longer asking “Why mobile?” With
half of all Americans now owning a smartphone
, the necessity for brands to be involved in the mobile space is clear. Today, we are increasingly hearing questions from executives related to the “How?” of investing in mobile. That’s why we are launching a new resource designed to offer our perspective on how to strategically approach mobile called “The Mobile Playbook”. On April 25th we will be hosting a live streamed discussion with an incredible panel of mobile thought leaders talking about how to strategically approach mobile including:
Joao Machado - Director of Mobile, OMD
Michelle Ogle - Digital Marketing and Affiliate Strategy Manager, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Joshua Palau - VP of Digital Sales and Marketing, Comcast
Amit Shah - Director of Online, Mobile and Social Media, 1-800Flowers.com
Tune in to the
Think with Google
Google+ page on Wednesday April 25th at 3pm EDT/ 12pm PDT to learn how mobile can help businesses and agencies win the moments that matter, make better decisions, and go bigger, faster. These panelists have all been early movers in the mobile space and we’ll be discussing their perspective on the 5 key questions we feature in The Mobile Playbook that every business executive should be asking today in order to win with mobile. We hope you’ll be there. If you have a question for the panel, leave your questions with #playbookpanel as a comment on our hangout announcement post the
Think with Google
Google+ page.
To view the Hangout on Air, visit the
Think with Google
Google+ page at 3pm EDT on April 25th, look for the “Hangout on Air” post within the stream, and click “Play” to tune in. Don’t forget to be signed into Google+!
On April 25, look for the Hangout on Air post like the image above on the Think with Google +page and click to tune-in!
Posted by: Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile Sales and Strategy
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