Google Marketing Live 2025: AI, Multimodal Search, and Agentic Experiences in Google, YouTube and its Advertising Solutions

Perhaps the most transformative announcements revolved around the evolution of Google Search itself. We’re moving into an era where search is less about typing queries and more about intuitive, multimodal interactions.

• Ads in AI Overviews & AI Mode: Google is seamlessly integrating ads into its new AI-powered search responses and a dedicated “AI Mode.” This means your brand can be present not just in traditional search results, but as a relevant, contextual solution within AI-generated summaries and conversational explorations. Imagine a user planning a holiday; AI Mode could help them explore destinations, find flights, and book accommodation, with your brand appearing organically and via ads as a logical next step. Make sure to be ready for this change and SEO is still very relevant!
• A Multimodal, Agentic Future: Google’s search capabilities are advancing from simply processing user queries to comprehending the underlying intent behind those searches. Combined with features like “circle to search,” this signals Google’s ambition to deliver a holistic experience. It’s about understanding intent from various inputs – text, voice, images, video – and potentially acting on that intent, from automated shopping to making reservations. This “agentic” capability, where Google can handle tasks for the user, is something Google is uniquely positioned to deliver, given its deep integration across tech, platforms, and advertising.

Google introduced “The Power Pack,” comprising Performance Max, AI Max for Search campaigns, and Demand Generation, as the core suite for next-level performance.

• AI Max for Search: This promises to expand reach to new, relevant queries and AI surfaces with personalized creatives and landing pages, all with a single click. For campaigns heavily reliant on exact/phrase match, Google cited a typical uplift of 27% more conversions or value.
• PMax & Demand Gen Enhancements: Performance Max receives crucial updates like channel performance reporting and search terms reporting, offering greater transparency. Demand Gen is expanding with Maps inventory and a new customer acquisition goal, vital for growth.

For large brands, robust measurement and attribution are paramount. GML 2025 delivered significant updates here:

• Google Tag Gateway: Coming in September, this new setup aims to improve the performance and resilience of measurement signals by serving tags from your site’s own server. Advertisers using this have already seen an 11% uplift in signals. This is foundational for trustworthy data.
• Attributed Branded Searches: Rolled out in Google Ads and DV360, this metric directly shows the impact of your YouTube branding efforts on branded search volume, offering a clearer link between upper-funnel activities and search intent.

• GA4 Cross-Channel Capabilities: Google Analytics is being enhanced for better cross-channel measurement, including improved integrations with social platforms like Snap and Meta for richer data-driven attribution. New budgeting tools within GA4 will also help answer critical questions about revenue targets and for planning your campaigns.
• Meridian for MMM: Google’s open-source Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) solution, Meridian, is getting an API for more frequent data requests and an interactive scenario planner to better optimise spend across channels.
  • We were thrilled to see our name and logo show up on the screen as one of the key global partners of Google who help set-up and integrate Meridian MMM in your organisation. 

• Data Manager & Confidential Matching: Data Manager will help unify first-party data sources, while confidential matching is being expanded to ensure secure data handling for measurement and audience solutions.

Google is embedding “Agentic capabilities” directly into its platforms – essentially, AI experts for Google Ads, Google Analytics, and even a cross-website marketing advisor.

• Practical Implications: This is more than just hype. These AI agents can assist with campaign creation, suggest optimisations, generate reports, and proactively identify issues. For large teams, this could mean a significant reduction in time spent on setup and routine optimisation, freeing up resources and budget for strategic initiatives – potentially fueling the Google advertising machine further, but with greater efficiency.

• Shoppable CTV & Masthead: YouTube’s most prominent placement, the Masthead, is now shoppable on mobile, and Shoppable CTV experiences (powered by Google Merchant Centre) are coming to Demand Gen and PMax campaigns later this year, making DV360 an even more critical platform for reaching audiences on the big screen.

• AI-Powered Creative: Tools like Asset Studio will provide a centralised hub for GenAI creative tools, and features to effortlessly reformat and extend videos will help scale creative production for diverse platforms.

Travel & Tourism industry specific: Google Expands Travel Ads Capabilities with New Verticals and Unified Campaign Experience

Google is broadening its Travel Ads offering with the introduction of new verticals, including Car Rentals, Vacation Rentals, Events, and Flights. This expansion is designed to help advertisers connect with travellers through a more unified and streamlined campaign experience. With these enhanced capabilities, advertisers can:

1. Harness AI for Impactful Experiences: Use artificial intelligence to create helpful and engaging consumer experiences that resonate across the nonlinear travel journey.
   
2. Engage Travellers at Every Stage: Reach users with rich, scalable travel feed content that drives action — from inspiration to booking.
   
3. Optimise for Growth: Unlock next-level business growth through advanced campaign management tools that streamline operations and boost performance.

This evolution positions Google Travel Ads as a powerful platform for brands aiming to influence and assist travellers throughout their decision-making process.

The announcements at Google Marketing Live 2025 are not just incremental updates; they represent a significant leap forward. The convergence of AI, multimodal search, and agentic capabilities will reshape how consumers interact with brands and how marketers strategise and execute campaigns.

For leading brands, this is a call to embrace a more integrated, AI-driven approach. It means rethinking data strategies, leaning into new measurement frameworks, and preparing for a world where your ads are part of a dynamic, conversational, and increasingly automated user journey.

The landscape is shifting rapidly, but the opportunities for those ready to adapt are immense. And the opening slide where GML started with was: “What does AI success look like for your business?” And we are happy to help you answer this question, so you can adapt, implement and lead the way forward!

Let’s grab a coffee. We’d love to discuss how these changes specifically impact your business and how we can navigate this exciting new era together.