Earlier this month, Google announced their plans to unify all their DoubleClick advertiser products under the single brand of Google Marketing Platform.

Further bits and pieces were given away during the Google Marketing Live keynote, but today (24th July) marks the first time we’ll start seeing some of the first major changes taking effect inside the various platforms.

In summary:

  • DoubleClick Bid Manager will become Display & Video 360, a product that promises to bring together planning, creative, buying, and measurement features into a single tool

  • DoubleClick Search will be named Search Ads 360.

  • DoubleClick Campaign Manager and DoubleClick Studio will be named Campaign Manager and Studio, respectively

More Than Just a Name Change

On the face of it, it seems like we’re just getting excited about a name change. But for Display & Video 360 (previously known as DBM), over the next 3 months we should see a significant shift in how we plan, buy and execute campaigns.

5 Integrated modules will simplify some of the end-to-end campaign processes:

1. Campaign Module

A combined view feature will allow us to see all elements of a campaign (IOs, LIs, and Creatives), all at once. A collapsible widget will proactively surface any issues and health alerts for the campaigns, and provide optimisation recommendations.

These changes may not seem ground-breaking, but will certainly help us continue to get the best possible results out of your campaigns.

2. Audience Module

This is one of the new features we’re most excited about. An audience workspace will now give us a centralised view of audiences, as well as a place to build, manage and analyse audience performance from all available sources.

This feature will also give us the opportunity to create custom audience combinations between 1st party data, Google audience data, and third party audience lists – allowing us to make audience as relevant as they can possibly be.

It doesn’t end there, the Audience module will also enable us to have a tighter control on frequency caps across campaigns, deals and inventory. The audience module will facilitate a better end user experience, and improve overall campaign performance.

3. Creative Module

This is a feature we have certainly had lots of enquiries about already. Up until now, creative build and dynamic capabilities have been over-complicated and expensive to produce at scale. In theory, the creative module should allow us to be more flexible with how display and video creative is built in a more collaborative way.

Firstly, a “Format Gallery” will give us a search functionality to view and select different ad formats to build. Secondly, the “Ad Canvas” will provide a visual UI for different teams and agencies to collaborate on custom built rich media and dynamic creative feeds, directly in Display & Video 360.

4. Inventory Module

This is a module which already exists, and Google have been improving for some time. Initially, we don’t expect to see this area of the platform change as much as some of the other modules.

Within the Inventory Module we have direct access to some of your favourite publishers, allowing us to trade and negotiate on the most relevant ad space for your brands.

5. Insights & Instant Reporting Module

A brand new, fast and highly visual interface will give us time back when we’re creating table and charts directly in the platform without the need to rely too heavily on CSV exports for our reporting needs. A list of new and insightful reports will also be available, hopefully giving us deeper knowledge on campaign performance and learnings.

In Summary

There’s clearly plenty to be excited about over the next few months within the new look Display & Video 360 platform, and more information can be found here...

For now, watch this space and watch as everything is gradually unveiled. If you have any questions about any of the changes currently being made to the Google ecosystem, please don’t hesitate to get in touch…