Tag Archives: Advertisers

2 days to go: SMG’s Laura Desmond previews her keynote at the DoubleClick Leadership Summit

Laura Desmond, Global CEO at Starcom Mediavest Group, will be keynoting the live stream from the DoubleClick Leadership Summit on June 17th. We caught up with Laura for a quick glimpse of what she’ll be speaking to and what owning the moment means to her. 

Register now to hear her live on June 17 at 9AM ET.

The rate of change is only accelerating, driven by rapid technology advancements and evolving consumer behaviors. FOMO isn’t just for millennials anymore—it’s a pressure our industry feels everyday.

Brands need to shift from mass-market strategies to precision ones that deliver relevancy along with immediacy. Core to delivering is keeping the consumer at the center, understanding them deeply, and delivering experiences that match their pace and purpose. 

Owning the moment requires more than just being “real-time.” Winning now depends on the ability to mix velocity and relevancy, drawing upon data, unification, personalization and agility. 

On Wednesday, I’ll be sharing how against a backdrop of great change, brands can drive impact with velocity marketing. Today’s best marketers are much like the hottest EDM mix artists -- leveraging technology, data, and collaboration to own the moment, deliver relevancy, and spur action. 

Register now to hear more from Laura on Wednesday, June 17th at 9AM ET.

Guest post by Laura Desmond, Global Chief Executive Officer, Starcom Mediavest Group

Just 5 Days Until the DoubleClick Leadership Summit Live Stream

On June 17th at 9 a.m. ET, join us for a live stream broadcast from the DoubleClick Leadership Summit, our annual event bringing together industry leaders for a conversation about the future of digital marketing. We’ve received several questions about what to expect from this year’s event. Below are some of the most commonly asked questions, and what we are able to share for now.

Remember to register here and tune in to the live stream for the full scoop!

The theme for this year’s summit is “Own the Moment.” What does that mean?
Thanks to mobile, we’re currently in the midst of one the largest shifts in consumer behavior ever. What we’re finding is that consumers are no longer “going online” in long digital sessions, but turning reflexively to the nearest device to solve an immediate need in countless moments throughout their day. For marketers, the next big challenge -- and the one we want to help them solve -- is how to effectively reach consumers at those moments in a relevant and engaging way. You can expect to hear much more about this at our summit.

Who are some of the speakers we can expect to hear from this year?
We’re really excited about our slate of speakers both from within Google and from our partners. Laura Desmond, Starcom MediaVest Group’s Global CEO, will join us to talk about how brands can amp their relevance and impact with velocity marketing. We’ll also be joined by The New York Times’ EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, Meredith Kopit Levien who’ll do a deep dive on the topic with Laura, while sharing a publisher’s perspective.

This event is usually full of announcements. What will you be announcing this year?
You can expect a heavy focus on mobile this year and innovations that we’ve developed to help large advertisers, agencies and publishers succeed in a multiscreen world. We’ll touch on new ways both marketers and publishers can create engaging experiences for the mobile environment, as well as how marketers should be thinking about measuring every moment that matters.

Sign up for the live stream now!

Posted by Yamini Gupta, Product Marketing Manager

HP improves performance and lowers costs by switching SEM platforms

Today we're shining a light on the SEM platform capabilities that played a role in HP's decision to switch from an incumbent platform to DoubleClick Search. 

Paid search is core to HP's digital marketing programs. Strategically, it’s critical for the company to have a strong line of sight across all marketing disciplines, including search. It also wants to efficiently respond in real time to marketing opportunities across the globe. HP and its agency Optimedia recently saw an opportunity to optimize performance from improved real-time and cross-channel capabilities by switching SEM platforms.

Having experienced mixed results with other automated bidding platforms in the past, Maren Wesley, VP of Global Search, and the rest of the Optimedia team were initially skeptical of the results possible with DoubleClick Search. "We were looking for proof that the performance for all areas of the program would improve with DoubleClick Search," said Wesley.

In partnership with DoubleClick, the teams deployed a 2-phase test to compare campaign performance between DoubleClick Search and the incumbent SEM platform, which the teams had been using for several years.

At the end of phase 1, DoubleClick Search bid strategies had reduced costs by 23% and increased revenue by 16%, resulting in a 33% improvement in cost per order dollar (CPOD) versus the incumbent platform.

At the end of phase 2, DoubleClick Search bid strategies had reduced costs by 18% and maintained revenue at high levels, resulting in a 17% improvement in CPOD versus the incumbent platform.

The strong results the teams saw from their SEM platform comparison led them to fully migrate to DoubleClick Search as the platform of choice, and as a proven way to realize their real-time and cross-channel goals. Jay Dark, Director of Search and Global Marketing at HP says, "The positive results allowed us to make the decision to switch to DoubleClick Search and because of that decision, we are doing a global rollout across both our B2B and B2C businesses."

For all the details behind HP and Optimedia's SEM platform evaluation, download the full DoubleClick Search case study (PDF).

You can catch up on our real-time series by reading about how real-time helps on big launch days, how to use real-time data to optimize your search ads and Shopping Campaigns, and our initial research on what the real-time gap means for search marketers.


Posted by Nick Macrae, Product Marketing Manager, DoubleClick Search

AdWords Upgraded URLs in DoubleClick Search

We’re excited to announce that support for migrating to AdWords Upgraded URLs for all DoubleClick Search customers globally is launching this week.

Customers should review our migration guide, which details the steps you should take to prepare and migrate your accounts to AdWords Upgraded URLs in advance of the July 1, 2015 AdWords deadline.

The steps required for migration depend on whether your landing page URLs in DoubleClick Search already meet the AdWords definition of a final URL. For most DoubleClick Search customers, you’ll simply need to review and approve to migrate, but some of you will need to make changes to your existing URLs before you can migrate to Upgraded URLs. To help you prepare, we’ve added expanded functionality to URL templates in DoubleClick Search.

Using DoubleClick Search URL templates to prepare for Upgraded URLs
DoubleClick Search URL templates are now even more powerful with support for lower level URL templates at the campaign, ad group, keyword, ad, and sitelink level. In addition, DoubleClick Search URL templates work seamlessly with AdWords Upgraded URLs, so there’s no extra work required for migration once they’re setup.

For customers who use additional redirect URLs, you’ll need to specify landing page URLs at the keyword level. You can then use DoubleClick Search URL templates to specify redirect URLs, giving you flexibility to customize your redirect URL structure to meet your needs.

Example: Keyword URLs before and after migration
Here's an example of the URLs associated with a keyword before and after you migrate:

For additional details on how to take advantage of DoubleClick Search URL templates to prepare for your migration to AdWords Upgraded URLs, please read our Help Center article.

Migrating your accounts
Once you’re ready, you’ll be able to migrate from the DoubleClick Search UI (one account at a time), or from a bulksheet (many accounts at a time), at a time that suits you. You’ll have complete control as to how and when you migrate, so long as it’s completed by the AdWords deadline. In addition, we’ve taken care to ensure that your historical data can be preserved, meaning you can pick up right where you left off.

Please review our Help Center for full details about migrating to AdWords Upgraded URLs in DoubleClick Search, and how to launch and confirm the migration. If you require assistance as you prepare for this process, contact your DoubleClick Search representative.

Posted by
Amit Varia, Product Manager, DoubleClick Search
Nick Macrae, Product Marketing Manager, DoubleClick Search

BT increases sales volume and efficiency using DoubleClick Bid Manager with Google Analytics Premium

Cross-posted on the Google Analytics blog

Modern marketers live in a world that’s dominated by data. Advancements in programmatic buying enable marketers to leverage data and analytics to connect precisely, in real time. Advertisers who are smart about organizing, segmenting, and acting on this data are realizing the benefits of more personalized marketing. BT, a leading telecommunications firm in the UK, did just that and saw fantastic results.

BT wanted to increase the relevance of their remarketing campaigns by creating more precise audience lists. With the help of their media agency Maxus, BT found that using Google Analytics Premium with DoubleClick Bid Manager offered the ideal solution.

Google Analytics Premium gave BT the ability to create granular audience segments based on site behavior metrics such as recency, frequency, referral source, and stage of cart abandonment. Once these audience lists were created, the native integration between Google Analytics Premium and DoubleClick Bid Manager meant they could be shared with the platform to make more precise media buys in just a few clicks.

Using Google Analytics Premium with DoubleClick Bid Manager put Maxus and BT in the driver’s seat of their media campaigns. They not only gleaned full transparency with a single customer view and de-duplicated metrics across all channels, but also saw better measurement through unified reporting, and the ability to optimize based on the results.
Flashcard_13-v2B-02.png
"Our goals were to build up ‘best practices’ of programmatic display remarketing techniques with a focus on driving post-click sales,” says Alison Thorburn, Head of Digital DR Media at BT. “The DoubleClick suite of products enabled us to do this quickly and efficiently as audience data can be easily organized and utilized.”

The new analytics-driven approach produced a 69% increase in post-click sales and an 87% reduction in post-click cost per acquisition compared to the previous year’s remarketing activity. It also compared favorably to the remarketing activity that ran simultaneously outside of DoubleClick Bid Manager; post-click sales were 30% higher and post-click cost per acquisition was 42% lower. BT has now consolidated its display remarketing through DoubleClick BidManager.

Read the full case study here.


Posted by-
Kelley Sternhagen, Product Marketing, Google Analytics
Kelly Cox, Product Marketing, DoubleClick

Moving to the forefront of programmatic buying

The abundance of choices consumers have today means people are consuming content in more places and actively tuning out what’s not relevant in the moment. In this environment, programmatic buying is redefining how marketers can connect with consumers in all the moments that matter. And to take advantage of its benefits, advertisers are adopting programmatic at dramatic rates. In fact, eMarketer predicts that 83% of all display buys will be bought programmatically by 2017.

However, achieving the promise of programmatic is not a guarantee. It takes partnering with the right platform to effectively craft, execute, and manage a programmatic strategy. But with so many options, how should advertisers choose the right platform to reach their unique goals today, and in the future with programmatic buying?

To help marketers better understand what to look for when Choosing a Programmatic Buying Partner, we uncover the five areas of expertise to look for in a potential platform.
This buyer’s guide will help marketers define and prioritize selection criteria for a programmatic buying platform that’s the right fit for your short- and long-term goals. Download the whitepaper here.


You can stay on top of new updates by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on Google+ and Twitter.


Posted by -
Kelly Cox, Product Marketing, DoubleClick

Introducing app install ads in DoubleClick Search

In today’s constantly connected world, people are moving seamlessly between screens, sites and apps. To be effective, marketers must connect consumers with relevant content in the moments they are looking.

To this end, we are happy to announce that starting today, DoubleClick Search will support AdWords app install search ads that run on Google.com (and soon on the Google Play Store, which reaches more than 1 billion users in more than 190 countries). With this release, DoubleClick Search allows you to incorporate app distribution into your search marketing campaigns across Android and iOS, enabling you to drive sales, grow loyalty, and maximize lifetime value with your customers.

To support this, we are launching a new, simple campaign set-up flow that’s tailored for mobile app promotion, to help advertisers create, target, measure and optimize their campaigns. Here’s what it includes:


  • Campaign and ad creation
    • Create AdWords mobile app install campaigns for search ads directly in DoubleClick Search, including bulksheet support
    • Develop app install ads in DoubleClick Search using your app URL and your app icon in the Google Play and Apple App Stores
  • Targeting
    • Add keywords to target users looking for apps like yours on Google.com and Google Play1
    • Show ads on phones and tablets (you can optionally exclude tablets), only to users who do not currently have your app installed
  • Conversion tracking across mobile platforms
    • Measure success with tracking that works on both Android and iOS
    • Utilize simple, “SDK-less” conversion tracking on Android that doesn't require modifying your app
    • Use Floodlight activities for conversion tracking on iOS (coming soon)
  • Bid optimization
    • Maximize the total number of app installs with automated bidding
    • Bid based on your unique objectives, on a CPC or CPA basis
To learn more about “Mobile app installs” campaigns, visit our Help Center and read the best practices for driving app installs.

Posted by
Bashar Kachachi, Senior Product Manager, DoubleClick Search
Nick Macrae, Product Marketing Manager, DoubleClick Search
1Support for Search ads on Google Play will be available at launch in AdWords.


Join us: A conversation exploring the future of digital in a moments-driven world

On June 17 at 9 AM ET, we invite you to join a live stream keynote from the DoubleClick Leadership Summit, Google’s annual event exploring the future of digital marketing. You’ll hear from industry leaders on some of the biggest questions marketers, agencies and media owners face today. We'll also unveil new DoubleClick innovations to help advertisers, mobile app developers and publishers win the consumer moments that matter.


Register for the live stream here and join us to learn how marketers and publishers are responding to a dramatic shift in consumer behavior towards mobile.  Together we’ll discuss topics including:


  • What the rapid growth of mobile video means for marketing and content creation
  • What’s next for programmatic in its evolution as a brand-building tool for reaching consumers in the moment
  • How the industry can truly understand and measure the full consumer journey when it now happens in moments that are spread across multiple screens and devices


Speakers include:

  • Neal Mohan, VP of Display and Video Advertising at Google
  • Laura Desmond, CEO at Starcom MediaVest Group
  • Meredith Kopit Levien, EVP and CRO at The New York Times Company


Join the conversation with #DCLK2015 during the live stream - we hope you can attend!

DS features in April

In April, we added the following features to DoubleClick Search (DS):

We also updated the following features:
  • Device preference for ads in a Bing Ads account: You can now use DS to specify a preference for individual ads to display on mobile phones. This preference is available when you create or edit ads from the DS UI or from bulksheets.
    Because the change is coming from Bing Ads, you'll need to sync your engine account with DS before you can set a device preference for individual ads.
  • Executive reports: New Device and Sitelink filters: Filter charts and tables in your executive reports by device or sitelink.
  • New function for inventory templates: ANY(ATTRIBUTE): Depending on how you organize ad groups in an inventory keyword campaign, some ad groups might contain items with different values for the same attribute. For example, one ad group might contain items with different MPNs. If you created a template that used the MPN attribute, DS wouldn't know which MPN value to use and would report an inconsistency error. You can use the ANY(ATTRIBUTE) function to instruct DS to choose a value from one item in the ad group. Like this:  Buy [ANY(MPN)]  Learn more.

See these updates in action in the new features training video for April.


Posted by the DoubleClick Search team

How the Cloud is Transforming TV Across All Screens

This post is part of DoubleClick's Evolution of TV series. In this series we identify the risks and opportunities around 7 dynamics transforming the advertising landscape as TV programming shifts to delivery over the Internet.

Recently, at the National Association for Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas, we released the fourth installment of our Evolution of TV series where we explore the impact of the cloud on TV's transformation. The premise of this new whitepaper is that everything we know about TV delivery and viewing is about to change.


Everything from the way we watch TV to how it's distributed is changing. The delivery and production of the TV content we're viewing—and sometimes binge-watching on so many screens—is on the cusp of industry-wide innovation as TV delivery shifts from over the air, satellite, or cable to the internet. To support TV programming over the internet, those responsible for delivering the content—the programmers and distributors—are beginning to migrate their operations to a more flexible, agile environment: the cloud


In short, migrating TV to the cloud not only affords programmers and distributors cost savings and efficiency but also enables innovation that could change TV as we know it today into a far more dynamic, personalized, and addressable medium.


Download the PDF to get the entire scoop on how parallel transformations in other industries show us that the cloud will encourage innovation and necessitate agility for programmers and distributors, as well as create a vastly different viewing experience for users.




Anish Kattukaran,

Product Marketing, DoubleClick Video & Brand Measurement