You are reading part 3 of the 6-part guide, “How agencies are multiplying their impact and expertise with AI-powered solutions.” Jump to The value of AI, Multiply expertise, Rethink budget and bidding, Reimagine audiences and creative, or Surface insights.
Organize for success
In addition to expanding into new strategic areas and consulting with their clients in fresh ways, agencies have also shifted their approaches to campaign management. This often involves the creation of new centres of excellence that combine AI technologies with human expertise.
Leveraging AI-powered tools for big results
Canadian agency Pilothouse saw great success with Performance Max for a food and beverage client based in the U.K. by utilizing Customer Match data and other data types in tandem with quality video and image assets. Keeping in mind Google’s best practices, the team achieved incredible results for their client, ultimately driving a revenue increase of 55% over a seven-month period.
“Performance Max drove an increase in client revenue (by 55%), and we surpassed the perceived revenue ceiling we had run into with Standard Shopping and Smart Shopping campaigns,” said Saul Garcia, head of search at Pilothouse.
Focus on inputs
Unless AI is fueled with data and insights that are exclusive to a brand, that brand will get similar results to everyone else. That’s why leading agencies are focusing on the unique inputs they can provide — like high-quality conversion data and creative assets — to steer AI and maximize results.
Michael Beresin, chief operating officer of the agency Labelium, notes that the best marketing outcomes result from human-guided AI. Beresin observes that customer behaviour can be “an inscrutable mess of tangled spaghetti” that defies efforts to create a cohesive story. AI can help agencies and brands make sense of the jumble.
“Google has provided this Formula One car of solutions to everyone,” Beresin said. “They’ve democratized it. But that doesn’t mean that everyone’s suddenly winning the race, right? Now, winning the race means having the better tire strategy, the better pitting strategy, the better fuel strategy. In terms of digital marketing, it means having the better feeds, the better audience data, the better conversion definition and revenue definition, and more in order to outpace and outcompete the competition.”
