Welcome to our third episode of our “Fortnightly Digital Marketing News Roundups”.

We know it can be difficult to keep up with all the changes in the Digital Marketing industry. Many of us work in busy offices, sometimes barely having time to grab a sandwich or a coffee. So, we wanted to make it easier for all of you to know what’s going on.

In this episode we’ll be updating you on the Google Giant Gallery ads, Facebook Interactive Gaming ads, Pinterest ‘complete the look’ tool and so much more…

So, grab a drink, sit back and let us get you up to speed. If you prefer a podcast, we can also be found on Spotify and Itunes. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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    Transcript

    Martin: Hi everyone, and welcome to the latest Blue Thirst digital marketing news.

    Katy: Google’s Giant Gallery Ads for Search are Coming.

    Lucy: Facebook is opening up the Audience Network to Interactive Gaming Ads.

    Martin: Google Chrome Improves Security and Privacy for its Extension Users.

    Emily: Pinterest Broadens E-Commerce Capabilities with ‘Complete the Look’ Tool.

    Martin: Google Launches New Search Menu with Icons.

    Emily: Google are Introducing Interactive Ads with 3D Objects.

    Katy: Google Ads portfolio bid strategy changes: Removing eCPC and replacing target spend.

    Lucy: Google are Testing Carousel of Text Ads on Mobile.

    Katy: Google’s Giant Gallery Ads for Search are Coming. This new Google Mobile Search ad format can feature up to eight images. They have been testing these for the last few months and they are slowly being rolled out. So, some advertisers already have access to them, but it will be fully rolled out at the end of the year. In these ads’ users can swipe through the images, they can click on one to expand them  into a vertical view. But there is also a call to action which will send the user to the advertiser’s site. Just as a normal text ad. To set up a gallery ad, you need to upload four to eight images, a 70 character description and up to three headlines to test. However, they are only currently eligible for the top spot in Google Search Results. Your images will drive customer engagement. After testing in multiple vertical sectors, results indicate that these images, with their heavily visual aspect can drive engagement in search results. Ad groups with one or more gallery ads can have up to 25% more interactions.

    Lucy: Facebook is opening up the Audience Network to Interactive Gaming Ads. Facebook are bringing interactive playable ads to their audience network. These allow users to trial a ‘lite’ version of a mobile game. Facebook is will offer zip file and vertical video support that, ideally, will let advertisers use existing playable files that they already use off Facebook on the platform. People who installed an app after testing it in a playable ad, were 60% more likely to actually open the new game compared to non-playable ads.

    Martin: Google Chrome Improves Security and Privacy for its Extension Users. Extensions are a great way for users to customise their experience in Chrome. In October, it was announced that there would be a number of changes to improve security. Including user options to control permissions, changes to review processes and two-step verification for developers. These changes have driven down the rate of malicious installations by 89%. After the success of these changes, Google are now setting to update some of their major API’s so that extensions have restricted access to any sensitive data. The Web Request API is going to be partially replaced with the Declarative Net Request API so that no unnecessary data is passed back.

    Emily: Pinterest Broadens E-Commerce Capabilities with ‘Complete the Look’ Tool. This new visual search feature will now recommend fashion and home decor products based on the context of an image. For example, if you search for a beach scene, you will be recommended products such as hats, sandals and sunglasses. Pinterest has been enhancing its e-commerce capabilities for some time. This new visual search tool is another step in that direction. This has the potential for brands to gain more exposure as more pins are surfaced via visual search. 78% of users who engaged with home decor pins, made a purchase based on content shared by brands. While 83% of users who engaged with fashion pins made a purchase.

    Martin: Google Launches New Search Menu with Icons. After months of testing, Google has started rolling out their new search bar icons. Instead of just using text, Google now has icons for each category. Back in 2010, Google had icons in their search bar which were unfortunately removed in 2011. After many changes to their top bar, the icons are back again. It is unlikely that this change is going to impact marketers but it does give a fresh look to the Google search interface.

    Emily: Google are Introducing Interactive Ads with 3D Objects. Google is introducing a new display ad format, called Swirl that allows users to interact with 3D objects. These ads engage users by letting them rotate the object and zoom in and out. The format is designed for mobile but are also capable of being used on desktop as well. Google has introduced a new editor on its 3D platform Poly that will allow advertisers to edit their 3D models before publishing them as Swirl ads. This format allows users to interact more with products, as every interaction with the object is an opportunity to learn more product information.

    Katy: Google Ads portfolio bid strategy changes: Removing eCPC and replacing target spend. Google has announced that there will be some changes to their portfolio bid strategies coming this July. Firstly, there will no longer be an option for setting up new maximise clicks bid strategies. This will be replaced with Google taking the average daily budgets of the campaigns in the portfolio. Google will also be removing enhanced CPC as a portfolio bid strategy, but advertisers will still be able to use eCPC bidding at a campaign level. Lastly, Google will be removing target search page location and target outranking share strategies at all levels. So, if you are currently using these portfolio bid strategies, now would be the time to start moving away from these and move over to your campaign-level strategies. They work exactly the same and will deliver the same results but instead of doing at an account level, you’ll be doing it at a more granular campaign level.

    Lucy: Google are Testing Carousel of Text Ads on Mobile. The text ads carousel appears under a “People also considered” heading below the initial search ad. These ads appear with two headlines, a shortened description and no extensions. Some advertisers are worried that these will affect ad performance because of their smaller size and limited format. But Google will be watching the impact on click volume and click-through rates. Shopping ads have successfully been in a carousel ad format for awhile now, and text ads may also be successful in this format. Google have stated that they are always testing new ways to improve their experience, but don’t have anything specific to announce right now.

    Martin: Well, we hope you enjoyed that news. Don’t forget, if you want to see the stories as they drop, follow us on our social channels. And tune back in, in a couple of weeks time for our next episode.