Google has announced its latest campaign type, and it comes with the death of another; so long Discovery Ads & hello Demand Generation. This game-changing campaign type has the potential to revolutionize your advertising strategy and fill that middle of the funnel with users who are ready to purchase. Today, we're here to guide you through the ins and outs of what it is and how to set it up for success.
From Discovery to Demand Gen: Your Path Forward
Google Ads has always claimed to be a dynamic platform, adapting to changing user behavior and technological advancements. The transition from Discovery campaigns to Demand Gen campaigns is surely a testament to this, though we are growing tired of saying goodbye to some of our favorite campaign types each year, but I digress.
In June, Google introduced Demand Gen, a new AI-powered campaign designed to multiply your creativity and drive demand. It’s built to help advertisers who buy on social platforms find and convert consumers with immersive, relevant, and visual creatives that grab attention and spur action in the right moment. Demand Gen drives conversions, site visits, and actions (like sign-ups and adds-to-carts) on our entertainment-focused touchpoints—YouTube, including Shorts, Discover and Gmail.
Google has become more and more aggressive with their rollout terms for new products, as we saw with the expedited takeover of Performance Max vs. Smart Shopping, and Demand Gen is no different. If you opt into the beta, your existing Discovery campaigns will automatically be upgraded to a DG (can we call it that?), and starting in October - all Discovery ads will be eligible for the upgrade. And of course, in early 2024, it looks like we will have no other option but to welcome DG campaigns for good.

Now, we may be sounding like Sour Sally's, but we may be a little excited about this new campaign type when compared to the standard Discovery ads. Let's dive deeper into the main differences and how to use/test this campaign in your strategy.
Flexing Your Creative Strategy
According to a Google/Ipsos survey, 1 in 3 consumers say they have purchased something on Google feeds—like Discover and Gmail—that they were not originally shopping for and 86% of Gen Z users agree that YouTube helps them discover new products they’re interested in. Demand Gen campaigns offer a suite of powerful new features designed especially for the needs of today’s social marketers.

At a quick glance, it basically looks like Discovery on steroids, but let's dive a bit deeper.
Capturing Engagement Across Google Surfaces
Demand Gen campaigns cast a wide net across Google’s immersive surfaces capturing engagement not only on the Discover feeds but in Gmail + YouTube Shorts and In-Stream placements allowing us to finally test out videos with Discovery settings.
Demand Gen Campaigns & Tailored Experiences
One of the key benefits of Demand Gen campaigns is their ability to expand the impact of your ads. Whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness or drive conversions, Demand Gen campaigns have you covered. They offer a range of ad formats and placements to ensure your message reaches the right audience at the right time to empower you to tailor ad experiences with audience-first creatives. This means your ads are not just seen but that they resonate with your audience, driving higher engagement and conversions.
AI-Powered Tools for Success
In the world of digital advertising, data is king. DG campaigns leverage the power of AI-driven bidding and measurement tools to ensure your campaigns are optimized for success. With machine learning algorithms at your disposal, you can bid smarter, allocate your budget more effectively, and measure performance with precision.
Which speaking of measurement, we are most excited about the ability to launch Brand Lift, Search Lift, and Conversion Lift on these campaigns 🙌 Finally, giving the people what they want! Along with these measurement studies, you can run A/B experiments as well.
When to Use Demand Gen Campaigns
When considering the implementation of Demand Gen campaigns, it's crucial to align them with your specific advertising goals. Demand Gen campaigns offer a distinct set of advantages compared to other campaign types, such as Search and Performance Max.
To help you make informed decisions about when to leverage Demand Gen campaigns, let's delve deeper into these key differentiators.
Comparing Demand Gen with Other Campaign Types
Demand Gen campaigns are engineered to capture demand and engagement across YouTube's most visual and entertaining surfaces.

This is in contrast to Search campaigns, which primarily target users actively searching for specific products or services, and Performance Max campaigns, which focus on maximizing conversions across all of Google (Search, YouTube including Shorts, Discover, Gmail, Display).
Understanding these distinctions is vital in choosing the most suitable campaign type for your advertising objectives.
Bidding Strategies & Audience Targeting for Demand Gen Campaigns
Demand Gen campaigns come with their own set of bidding strategies and audience targeting options tailored to capturing and nurturing potential customers across various Google surfaces which take into account factors like user behavior, demographics, and interests.
The newest bid strategy being, Max Clicks - while this has existed for some time, it is new for this realm of campaign type (PMax only offering conversion-focused bid strategies). This paves the way for DG campaigns to truly be a top and mid-funnel strategy.
Additionally, Lookalikes are not going away for good like we thought! (praise). Google is allowing them to live on within Demand Gen campaign targeting only. Odd as that may be, we're not complaining.

As the kids say, it's giving Meta similar segments 👀
Channels and Creative Assets
Demand Gen campaigns are truly a designer & social media manager's playground within the Google sphere. Focused on creative strategy and storytelling, DG covers short-form videos, carousels, portraits, and square images all within one single campaign.
Preparation Is Key
Before launching your Demand Gen campaigns, thorough preparation is essential. Let's dive into the critical steps you need to take to set the stage for success.
Gathering Necessary Creative Assets
The success of any advertising campaign hinges on compelling creatives. We'll guide you through the process of assembling the required creative assets, whether they are images, videos, or copy, ensuring your ads resonate with your target audience across different Google surfaces.
Need asset sizes?
Image (Landscape 1.91:1, Logo 1:1, Portrait 4:5, Square 1:1)
Text (Headline, description, final URL, business name, CTA)
Video (Landscape, portrait, square, vertical)
Carousel ad (Headline, description, final URL, business name, CTA, logo 1:1, 2-10 image cards: Landscape 1.91:1, Portrait 4:5, Square 1:1
Product feeds
Setting Up Conversion Tracking and Optimizing for Lightweight Conversion Events
Effective conversion tracking is the backbone of measuring the success of your Demand Gen campaigns. Similar to other higher-in-the-funnel campaign types, DG campaigns will perform better with lighter conversion events such as add-to-cart or page visits/content downloads to help your campaign learn faster.
Budget Requirements and Recommendations
Depending on your bid strategy, conversion vs. clicks, your budget is essential for success. When using conversion-based bidding strategies, DG experiments require a minimum of 50 conversions per arm to surface results. In order to achieve this, it is recommended to use target CPA or max conversions bidding, optimizing towards shallow conversions like Add to Cart, or Page view.
However, if using Max Clicks, the budget recommendation is $100-500 per day, per ad group.
TLDR;
In conclusion, Demand Gen campaigns are a game-changer in the world of Google & creative strategies. Understanding when and how to use them, coupled with meticulous preparation and a grasp of their unique features, empowers you to engage and convert your target audience effectively.
Stay tuned as we continue on this journey with future updates, equipping you with the knowledge and tools to harness Demand Gen campaigns for advertising success across Google's immersive surfaces.
The next step is in your hands. It's time to explore Demand Gen campaigns and elevate your advertising efforts. So, why wait?
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