This week’s PPCChat focused on the big question: “What does advertising really look like today?” Experts shared their views on the current state of the industry, what feels most unpredictable or challenging right now, and what concerns are top of mind for PPC professionals. Host Julie F. Bacchini guided the conversation, digging into these questions and more.
Q1: How would you describe the general state of advertising today? This does not have to be limited to PPC advertising. And if you had a favorite or hated Super Bowl ad, please feel free to drop that here too!
Advertising today feels… complicated. On the one hand, it is often pretty generic-looking and sounding. With companies trying to follow trends or what others are doing a little too much. On the other hand, times are weird, and it is hard to strike a good tone for advertising products or services with all that is going on in the world at the moment. I am glad I don’t have to do tv ads! @NeptuneMoon
As for the Super Bowl ads this year I was very underwhelmed. Way too much AI both in who advertised and in the ads themselves. I missed the wacky ads or the sentimental ads of years past. @NeptuneMoon
AI. Everyone is so AI ification of everything. @runnerkik
Weird, is it. The platform are all over the place, and the AI conversation is creating this disjoined, unsure, should we, shouldn’t we, what is it, what do we do next vibe. Everyone asks me all week: what does __ mean? @NeptuneMoon trust me, you are VERY glad you don’t need to do tv ads this year. @JuliaVyse
I also think related to ppc it’s terrifying how many use AI for analysis. @runnerkik
In one word: overwhelming, lol.. AI was supposed to make everything easier for us. Yet the platforms seem to get more and more complicated each year, not less. @JyllSaskinGales
I keep coming back to the idea that if everyone is using the same AI (or same few AIs) then advertising of all kinds is going to collapse into a very weird and overly homogeneous mud pile. @NeptuneMoon
And the analysis is wrong after 5 queries deep. If you ask the wrong question and identify the wrong root. And it makes stuff up. @runnerkik
At times, it still feels very fragmented. There is this significant amount of pressure to have the 1-2 punch of Meta + Google, which is growing increasingly expensive. Beyond that, every 3rd tier platform clamors for budget: TT, PIN, X, etc. If I were a new brand, I would skip advertising altogether and merely rely on PR, WOM, organic, and possibly retail insertion. @teabeeshell
We’ve turned advertising from more of an art and moved it towards more of science. It always has to be a mix of both. Historically Advertising was always like R&D, experimentation, taking big bets. Now it’s more of spreadsheets and metrics. @alimehdimukadam
Q2: What do you think are the most volatile or tricky aspects of advertising right now?
Resisting the siren song of AI. For creative aspects and analysis. @NeptuneMoon
The macro social issues too. @runnerkik
The economy is also not helping anything at the moment. @NeptuneMoon
Couch, cushion shaking is brutal too. @runnerkik
And OpenAI ads just started rolling out today. @NeptuneMoon
It’s hard to shop when you’re heartbroken. and brands don’t want to come out and say ‘buy your counter protest gear here’ @JuliaVyse
Not that they are accessible to any but the largest of brands. There is a walking on eggshells feeling happening. @NeptuneMoon
Largest brands over here: we are NOT investing until we can shape a proper test. first in market = beta testing to get the bugs out. @JuliaVyse
I’d imagine many brands also want more metrics than impressions and clicks. The big ones that spend huge money on advertising in general don’t care. They just put it in the awareness bucket. @NeptuneMoon
AI and lack of transparency are making things even more opaque than they were before. @revaminkoff
Well, we do care about the awareness bucket, and we measure the hell out of it. Just different tools used. @JuliaVyse
Right now, it’s spam/bot traffic inflating clicks, impressions, and leads. @timmhalloran
To be more clear, there is a lot more room to drop $200,000 on OpenAI ads with no data for massive brands than for non-massive ones. @NeptuneMoon
Yes, the opportunity is totally unbalanced. @JuliaVyse
Accurate conversion reporting remains difficult, especially as there are different attribution windows to choose from, misalignment between platforms, inevitable double-counting…all in an ecosystem that’s supposed to be the most advanced it’s ever been. @teabeeshell
Forming a connection with audience & storytelling – going beyond ROAS is the most tricky aspect. @alimehdimukadam
Q3: Do clients or stakeholders have any specific concerns or demands when it comes to how you’re advertising or their messaging right now?
Everyone just wants traffic/leads, and for the cost of those clicks and conversions to stay stable and not keep rising and rising. @NeptuneMoon
Lead quality is key. AI Max and Pmax drive lots of leads, but quality isn’t always there @beyondthepaid
Agreed with lead quality. That’s the big recurring theme I’m seeing right now. Channel importance is shifting more than in the pas,t it seems. B2B clients are less bullish on paid search. Especially when CPC/CPL cross a certain threshold (even when we’re able to measure profitability/MQL/SQL pipeline) there’s just more hesitance. Different of that for every brand, but the common denominator seems to be tighter purse strings & more skepticism in general. @timmhalloran
I think many advertisers remain in the dark about how ads actually assemble before a consumer receives an impression. Full control over (text-based) messaging is near impossible, and yet, many brands expect XYZ to be communicated, period. When the “truth” comes out, many are frustrated. It helps to point to performance over messaging, but “trust that X platform knows best” is a tough pill for many to swallow. @teabeeshell
Some are focusing on brand building again, but majority is still stuck on CTR, CPC, ROAS, Attribution. Performance Marketing is a subset of advertising, not advertising as a whole. @alimehdimukadam
Q4: Are there things that you have to consider in your advertising strategy or advice now that you did not previously need to consider? And if so, when did things start to shift?
So many AI considerations! AIO, ChatGPT ads, AI ad elements… A lot of this is good, but it’s a paradigm shift. @beyondthepaid
Agreed on all the AI. It is definitely part of most discussions now. And that has really picked up in the last year. @NeptuneMoon
Yes – it didn’t really get on the radar until 12-18 months ago. @beyondthepaid
I also think that you have to be more aware of world happenings to make sure you don’t have ads running against terrible news stories. The need to be more reactive in those situations I think is higher now @NeptuneMoon
In search, the sprawl across queries (via BM, AI Max, and PMax) feels like a bit of a backslide over the past few years. That said, I’ve started to appreciate it as “built-in keyword research.” Yes, it’s paid for, but it’s a way to uncover many more themes than every before. At best, these themes fold back into messaging and TOF creative development. @teabeeshell
I have started focusing on brand building & integrating other channels instead of operating in a silo. Over optimization on performance marketing is backing yourself in a corner over time. Need to do TOF as well. @alimehdimukadam
Q5: What are your biggest concerns regarding advertising in general right now?
Where to begin on this one…In general, seeing the quality of advertising decrease is concerning to me. AI slop in ads is just such a turn-off for me toward brands. And I also think AI is short-circuiting some of the processes that not only get us better ads but avoid unnecessary issues or gaffes in ads because more people actually worked on it. @NeptuneMoon
I keep coming back to lack of transparency. Advertisers are losing patience for things we can’t optimize. They want to be able to pull levers or they’ll move to something like content syndication, where lead volume is guaranteed. I am also concerned about everyone feeding everything into AI. Feels like we’re heading for giant lawsuits @beyondthepaid
On the PPC side of things, it is the end of the era that us old school PPCers came up in. How you sell the benefits of PPC is different now because of how the platforms work. And the quest for all the data to be shared with platforms both AI and advertising. This is a ticking time bomb of litigation and exposure.@NeptuneMoon
Yep, the PPC gold rush is definitely over. @beyondthepaid
I still fear the day when AI becomes “so advanced” that (nearly) 100% is done for you. I’ve long imagined a day where all a brand does is submit their website and social profiles, and the platforms take it from there. Super pessimistic, and it sucks the creative life out of advertising, but it feels like the trajectory, at times. @teabeeshell
@teabeeshell I think the platforms dream of that day. @NeptuneMoon
If you think about it, that’s how traditional advertising worked: give us your ad and pray. Sad that we’re heading back that direction, @beyondthepaid
As a holdco brat: layoffs and consolidation. We’re losing very strong strategic and creative minds to stakeholder value short-term decisions. @JuliaVyse
UGH yes that is NOT good. @beyondthepaid
Dealing with the illusion & delusion of running ads = conversions. The landscape shifted & in-platform ROAS is not a reliable metric anymore. @alimehdimukadam
I feel like we probably need an entire chat on ROAS in the very near future…@NeptuneMoon
Data privacy is also going to be an increasing concern – to @beyondthepaid’s point, I second the lawsuit concerns. @revaminkoff
Q6: Are there any brands that you think are doing amazing advertising right now? What makes it great in your view? Again, this does not have to be limited to PPC.
It is a lot easier to think of terrible advertising right now…@NeptuneMoon
lol I am thinking the same thing! Easy to come up with bad examples, harder to come up with good ones. @beyondthepaid
I did like the NFL ad where the kid was repeating affirmations he got from his coach that was on during Super Bowl. @NeptuneMoon
I mean, not to be too on the nose Canadian, but the Tim Horton’s Olympic ad is amazing. @JuliaVyse
There are some good Olympic-themed ads for sponsors here in the US, too. They tend to lean into what people actually like about the Olympics. @NeptuneMoon
Aletha Health did some great remarketing to me recently. It was targeted based on my previous activity, they offered a good deal, and I ended up buying. Very specific and persuasive. Whoever is doing their marketing is really good (the product is great too) @beyondthepaid
https://www.tiktok.com/@timhortons/video/7599715164094467349 @JuliaVyse
Wildgrain has been remarketing to me pretty well after I looked at them for holiday gifting…@NeptuneMoon
PPCChat Participants
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Reva Minkoff @revaminkoff
- Ali Mehdi Mukadam @alimehdimukadam
- Travis @teabeeshell
- Sarah Stemen @runnerkik
- Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
- Jyll Saskin Gales @JyllSaskinGales
- Timothy Halloran @timmhalloran
- Melissa L Mackey @beyondthepaid
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