Google has spent the last several years helping marketers figure out how different digital ads influence consumers who visit various Google properties. The company now says it can offer the same sort of insight–known in the ad industry as “attribution“–for all digital ad campaigns, whether they run on Google sites or not.  Google is set to unveil this new offering at its annual DoubleClick Leadership Summit today in Key Biscayne, Florida. Marketers can now track when an ad on one website leads to the purchase of a product on another using Google’s tools, even if these ad exposures occur on different devices, said Neal Mohan, Google’s vice president of video and display advertising.  “We want to be able to understand consumer behavior across screens and devices and stitch together a consumer journey,” he said. That journey might include watching a video ad on your phone and then going home and buying something on your laptop, and Google has the technology and data to connect the dots on those events for marketers, said Mr. Mohan.  In addition to attribution, Google is planning to unveil a new ad serving product geared toward native advertising (sponsored content paid for by advertisers). The company says its software will be able to deliver and track all forms of native ads, whether they appear within editorial feeds or between levels during a mobile game or run as totally custom sponsored content, Mr. Mohan said.  “We’ve seen programmatic and native become these two rocket ships of growth for our customers, and we want to make it seamless for them to execute both types of campaigns,” he said.  Lastly, Google is also planning to roll out a new offering for advertisers who are looking to directly purchase guaranteed, premium ad inventory from publishers via more automated tools–something Google is calling “Programmatic Guaranteed.”  “This is something our partners have been asking for for a while,” said Mr. Mohan. “We think we can help them get high prices for ads this way, and take campaigns that used to involve 40 steps to four.”  ______________________________________________________ For the latest media, marketing and advertising news, follow us on Twitter: follow @wsjCMO Subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
Google is hosting its DoubleClick Leadership Summit today. During the event, the company is planning to make a slew of product announcements, including a new tool designed to help marketers figure out which parts of their online ad campaigns are working best, as well as new ad serving capabilities for native ad placements.