How brands are keeping audiences engaged in a competitive content world

Creating more tailored experiences for deeper engagement

According to a Google and Ipsos consumer feed behavior survey from August 2022, more than half of mobile consumers use Google and YouTube alongside other platforms when researching products or brands to try, and 91% said they took action immediately after discovering new products or brands. Once they do, consumers also expect brands to deliver relevant and helpful experiences. To that end, 2 in 5 said they enjoy exploring Google feeds for shopping ideas because they are more personalized. 

For example, to promote its catalog during critical seasons, PUMA switched to product feeds for Discovery ads from standard Discovery ads, which deliver relevant ad experiences using lifestyle images and short text with their Google Merchant Center catalog. In this way, they could show shoppers items they’re more likely to be interested in based on their interests and intent. The brand saw a 46% increase in return-on-ad-spend while lowering its costs by 19%.

“Product feeds for Discovery ads offered more ways to expand our social-style assets across new platforms,” said Ashley Anderson, senior director of digital marketing, e-commerce, PUMA. “Personalization and great performance made it easy to efficiently scale our spend.”

Leveraging an asset-first approach for bigger creative impact

Keeping consumers engaged as they scroll takes creative finesse at scale. With a multi-asset approach for campaigns like social and video, advertisers are using their most compelling short-form videos and story-driven images to seamlessly deliver their brand and product stories wherever consumers are in their journey. Per the August 2022 Google and Ipsos consumer survey, nearly half of consumers said they are more likely to purchase a new product or brand they see in a video ad. Given the data, successful marketers are tapping into a variety of surfaces to show up where most people enjoy spending time and engage them more authentically.

In another example, using Shorts, YouTube’s short-form video experience, advertisers are driving visual momentum, with consumers watching content such as workout clips and recipe walkthroughs. To make the most of the mobile canvas in this new experience, advertisers are further scaling their most effective vertical image and video assets with Video action campaigns and Discovery campaigns for images.

This asset-first creative approach across campaigns is also driving campaign results. According to global Google internal data (from February 2022 to March 2022), more than 60% of advertisers who combine Video action campaigns with Discovery ads see incremental conversions at or below their original cost-per-action.  

For instance, Invisalign, a U.S.-based company that designs clear aligner systems for teeth, also found success in driving interest among younger consumers by refreshing creative in Discovery ads to mirror its top-performing social assets. After implementing this new creative approach with Starcom, the brand drove a 13% increase in site traffic, with 89% of visits coming from new site visitors.

Enriching storytelling with authentic and diverse representation  

The August 2022 Google and Ipsos consumer survey found that 43% of consumers said they are more likely to click on ads featuring people from various backgrounds. More than half said they are more likely to click on ads that feature people using a product.

As brands build assets to scale across their campaigns, they are considering what resonates with their unique audience instead of focusing on their own story. It’s essential to frame the visuals and calls to action around the wide variety of consumers who reflect their market. 

From building compelling creative variations at scale to adapting existing assets, advertisers are driving better results by effectively focusing their creative strategy on more relevant and engaging ads.
A version of this article was previously posted on Google’s Keyword Blog.

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