Digital news to watch: Google has introduced Ads Data Hub
John Readman 🚴♂️ 🎙💻
🤖 AI Reporting and Forecasting for Ecommerce, B2B & Marketing - Agencies, Brands & Retailers
In this weeks digital news, the Google Ads landscape is evolving with a stronger emphasis on privacy-compliant data usage. Google has introduced Ads Data Hub, a platform built on Google Cloud. The Ads Data Hub allows advertisers to analyse and integrate data from multiple channels. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising is transforming the advertising landscape by merging physical and digital realms to create dynamic, engaging experiences.
Google have updated their spam policy documentation to include clearer explanations and additional details to make it easier to understand. Google are testing out a new “About this place” section on their local panels in Google Business Profile listings within Google Search and Maps.
John Lewis released a new TV advert last week, the first in a series leading up to Christmas. But John Lewis continues to face challenges in engaging potential customers. In a bid to raise awareness about the harsh reality of Alzheimer’s and dementia, the Alzheimer’s Society is on a mission to streamline its brand messaging.
Google’s Ads Data Hub: What you need to know
The Google Ads landscape is evolving with a stronger emphasis on privacy-compliant data usage. To support advertisers in this environment, Google has introduced Ads Data Hub (ADH), a platform built on Google Cloud. ADH acts as a central repository for marketing data, integrating information from Google Ads, Google Analytics, CRM systems, and first-party data collected from various sources. It allows advertisers to analyse and integrate data from multiple channels, offering deeper insights into customer journeys and ad performance while maintaining privacy compliance by aggregating results and preventing access to raw user-level data. Future trends in DOOH include intelligent displays leveraging location-based marketing, the use of AI for dynamic personalisation and precise metrics.
ADH operates by ingesting first-party data and matching it with Google’s ad data using hashed identifiers. Users run SQL queries on aggregated datasets within Google’s secure environment, and the results can be exported for further analysis or connected to reporting tools like Looker Studio. While ADH requires SQL expertise and doesn’t provide real-time data access, it enables valuable applications such as cross-platform measurement, first-party data enrichment, and targeted marketing strategies. Despite its limitations, ADH is a powerful tool that helps advertisers gain actionable insights and improve Google Ads performance in a privacy-focused advertising landscape.
What the evolution and future of digital out-of-home advertising could look like
Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising is transforming the advertising landscape by merging physical and digital realms to create dynamic, engaging experiences. Unlike traditional out-of-home advertising, DOOH uses digital technology to display real-time, adaptable content on platforms such as LED billboards, screens in transit stations, and interactive kiosks. Measurement of DOOH is shifting from broad brand awareness metrics to performance-based metrics like conversion tracking, incremental lift analysis, real-time reporting, audience retargeting, and footfall attribution. This shift is driven by the need for accountability and demonstrable ROI.
Future trends in DOOH include intelligent displays leveraging location-based marketing, the use of AI for dynamic personalisation and precise metrics, the incorporation of virtual and augmented reality technologies, and a focus on sustainability with energy-efficient displays.
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Google Updates Their Spam Policy Documentation
Google have updated their spam policy documentation to include clearer explanations and additional details to make it easier to understand. The expansion on site reputation abuse now explains in a clear way what “first party oversight” is when taking into account that site reputation abuse is defined as when a third party publishes content on an authoritative site little of no first-party oversight. The new definition reads:
“Close oversight or involvement is when the first-party hosting site is directly producing or generating unique content (for example, via staff directly employed by the first-party, or freelancers working for staff of the first-party site). It is not working with third-party services (such as “white-label” or “turnkey”) that focus on redistributing content with the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings.”
Google Local Panel Adds “About This Place” Section
Google are testing out a new “About this place” section on their local panels in Google Business Profile listings within Google Search and Maps. The new feature shows reviews, in both text and image format, in a stacked card format, which reinforces the importance of reviews, particularly for local businesses that rely on being found by Maps.
John Lewis campaign ‘failing to land’ with non-customers, data suggests.
John Lewis released a new TV advert last week, the first in a series leading up to Christmas. But John Lewis continues to face challenges in engaging potential customers. A survey conducted by Kantar, revealed that among 1,300 adults, an “encouraging” number of people watched the entirety of the new advert, titled ‘The Window,’ which highlighted the retailer’s renewed commitment to its price promise by taking a nostalgic look back in time. However, on average, viewers skipped the ad after around 14 seconds, and the short-term sales impact was consistent with previous John Lewis Christmas campaigns. Notably, the advert received a much more positive response from existing John Lewis customers compared to non-shoppers.
The Alzheimer’s Society is on a mission to tell the real stories of living with dementia after relaunching its ‘The Long Goodbye’ campaign.
The charity faced criticism previously, following the launch of the first phase of its ‘The Long Goodbye’ campaign in April 2024. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 235 complaints about the radio and TV ads, which depicted individuals diagnosed with dementia as repeatedly “dying,” despite being alive. Speaking to Marketing Week during World Alzheimer’s Month, Nick Wright, head of brand and marketing at the Alzheimer’s Society, explained that the charity is shifting towards a vision that emphasises the reasons behind its existence, rather than focusing on messages about living well.