Demand Gen campaigns help advertisers captivate audiences with multi-format ads. Designed to target individuals in a buying mindset, these campaigns offer a number of features to elevate your advertising efforts.
Google recently launched new creative-level video controls for Demand Gen campaigns and wrote in their blog, “Demand Gen campaigns now offer creative-level controls for video assets, empowering you to choose which video appears in each format. This ensures optimal creative delivery and enhances your storytelling capabilities.”
Now, you can take creativity to new heights with Demand Gen campaigns’ granular control over video assets. Select specific videos or image sizes to appear in each ad format, ensuring optimal creative delivery and a seamless storytelling experience.
How To Explore Best Practices and Maximise Your Impact
To maximise the potential of these creative preferences, consider these best practices:
- Tailor Your Videos: Customise videos to suit different ad formats and optimise for each specific audience.
- Prioritise Visual Appeal: Invest in high-quality video production to grab attention and leave a lasting impression.
- Test and Refine: Experiment with different video combinations to identify the most effective approach for your target audience.
With advanced capabilities of Demand Gen campaigns, you can create impactful social advertising campaigns that drive conversions and boost brand awareness.
How It Works: Tailoring Your Video Reach
With Google’s creative preferences feature, you can fine-tune where your video assets are displayed so they reach the right audience at the right time.
You have the flexibility to choose from three distinct ad formats:
In-Stream Ads:
- These ads play before, during, or after other videos on YouTube.
- Viewers have the option to skip the ad after 5 seconds.
In-Feed Ads:
These ads appear in various YouTube feeds, including:
- Watch-Next Feed: Shown after a video, suggesting related content.
- Home Feed: Displayed on the YouTube homepage.
- Search Feed: Appears in search results for specific keywords.
- Discover Feed: Recommended videos based on user interests.
- Gmail Feed: Integrated into the Gmail inbox.
YouTube Shorts Ads:
- These ads are specifically designed for YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s short-form video platform.
- Viewers can skip these ads at any time.
By strategically selecting these formats, you can maximise your video’s impact and achieve your campaign goals.
How to Set Creative Preferences for Demand Gen Video Ads
- Create or Edit an Ad: Start by creating a new Demand Gen Video ad or modifying an existing one.
- Add Your Videos: Upload the video assets you want to use for your ad.
- Enable Creative Preferences: Activate the choose where your videos show” setting. This will allow you to specify where your videos will appear.
- Select Desired Formats: Use the “Show on” setting to choose the specific formats where you want your video to be displayed. You can select or deselect any of the available formats:
- In-stream
- In-feed
- YouTube Shorts
Note: If you don’t make any selections, your videos will default to showing on “all formats.”
- Finalise Your Ad: Complete the ad setup by adding logos, text, and URL settings as needed.
- Preview Your Ad: To visualise how your ad will appear on different formats, toggle the “By Property” setting to “By Format” in the top right corner of the ad preview.
- Save Your Ad: Once you’re satisfied with your settings, save your ad.
To ensure that your videos only show on the formats you choose, select at least one video for each format, or select one video that you’d like to use for all formats. If you don’t choose a format for each video, other videos will show on the formats which don’t have a video preference.
If you only have one video in the ad, that video will serve on “all formats.”
To have full control of your preferences, you must have a video assigned to each format (in-feed, in-stream, and shorts), or a video for all formats. This offers the most control and will require at least 3 videos to accomplish.
Best Practices for Creative Preferences
To optimise your video ads and achieve maximum impact, follow these best practices:
1. Ensure Asset Compliance:
- Meet Format Requirements: Make sure your video assets adhere to the specific requirements for each ad format (In-stream, In-feed, YouTube Shorts).
- Check for Compatibility Issues: If an asset doesn't meet the criteria for a particular format, it won't be available as an option for that format. You'll see a notification explaining the reason for the incompatibility.
- Refer to Video Ad Requirements: For detailed guidelines on video ad specifications, consult the official documentation.
2. Use Data-Driven Insights:
- Segment by Format: Analyse the performance of your previous campaigns by segmenting your reports by ad format.
- Identify Winning Attributes: Determine which creative elements (e.g., length, style, messaging) work best for each format.
- Adapt and Optimise: Use these insights to tailor your creative assets to the specific strengths of each format.
- Consult Campaign Metrics: Refer to the reporting tools available in Demand Gen to gain deeper insights into your campaign performance.
Keep these points in mind:
- While creative preferences are currently available through the Google Ads interface, this feature will be integrated into Google Ads Editor and Google Ads API later this year.
- Modifying ads with ad format preferences in Google Ads Editor or Google Ads API will result in the loss of those preferences. All videos will revert to the default “all formats” setting.
By following these best practices to use the power of creative preferences, you can deliver highly effective video ads that resonate with your target audience.
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At 360 OM, we specialise in helping businesses take their marketing efforts to the next level. Our team stays on top of industry trends, uses data-informed decisions to maximise your ROI, and provides full transparency through comprehensive reports.
