People use their mobile devices to discover and engage with the world around them. Searching for local information is one of the most common activities on mobile - in the US, 94% of respondents said they had done so, and nearly every surveyed country reported numbers over 80%. With Google Maps, they make informed decisions about places to see, shops to visit, meals to eat, and more.

To enable advertisers to better connect with potential customers via mobile search, we have redesigned our local ad formats for Google Maps for Mobile.  These have produced measurable results - in initial tests, these redesigned formats increased click-through-rates by 100%. This visual redesign will be rolling out today to the newer versions of Android phones.  

The updated formats feature several key improvements:

• Important calls to action like “get directions” and “click to call” are now more prominent in the ad and clickable in more places.
• A new hyperlocal marker shows the user how close they are to an advertiser’s business location
• Clicking on the ad now takes the user to an advertiser’s website from within the app, making it simple to browse the site without losing context or access to maps app navigation.

Above: Current view of local ads in Google Maps for Mobile

Below:  Launching today, new feature improvements in local ads in Google Maps for Mobile

Ads in Google Maps for Mobile are one of many ways advertisers are delivering relevant local answers to people’s questions on mobile.  Likewise, a recent campaign from T-Mobile shows how search ads, combined with location extensions, enabled them to reach users close to their store locations across mobile search and maps.

T-Mobile understood that they needed to adjust their goals and tactics to cater to mobile user behavior.  On the difference in user behavior between desktop and mobile campaigns, Kari Nicholas, Media Director of T-Mobile USA explained, “Consumers searching on mobile devices tend to be further down the purchase funnel and have a more informed opinion about what they want, which presents an opportunity for us to influence their decision regarding where to buy while they’re on the go. That’s why we felt it was essential to provide a way for them to easily find our retail locations.” T-Mobile’s approach of using mobile location extensions drove over 160,000 click-throughs and a click-through-rate of 13%. To read more, download the full case study, here.

T-Mobile’s mobile search ads on Google.com and Google Maps for Mobile contain locally relevant information like a user’s distance from their closest location, and the ability to call and get directions to their closest store.

Mobile technology is enabling people to connect with businesses in new ways via smartphones and tablets. People use search and click to businesses’ websites, but they are also clicking to make phone calls, find directions to walk into local stores, and more. To take advantage of these new local search ads on Google Maps for Mobile, make sure you’ve done the following:

• Target the relevant campaigns to mobile devices
• Enable ads to show to search partners
• Finally, have location extensions enabled within AdWords to take advantage of all these new features - so be sure to enable them if you haven’t already!

We’re looking forward to further understanding mobile usage trends and helping businesses better connect with their customers on the go.

Posted by Jay Akkad, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

This year is the first year when mobile advertising had a separate awards category at Cannes Lions and we're thrilled to have picked up an award today for our collaboration on Project Re:Brief with Coca Cola with help from Grow Interactive and Johannes Leonardo. But more important is the fact that mobile is now such a big part of the festival and generating so much discussion and interest. 

On Wednesday we have a Hangout to talk to the mobile creatives at Cannes on the stand-out mobile moments and inspirations.  We've got the mobile movers and shakers to come to our beach-side Creative Sandbox, including James Hilton, Co-founder and Creative, from AKQA as well as some surprise guests,  for a lively session on mobile creativity. And in true Hangout style we have some remote guests including Richard Ting, SVP, executive creative director, mobile and social platforms - R/GA,  joining us from further afield. All hosted by our very own Google creatives Tom Uglow and Reuben Halper for what is sure to be an entertaining and enlightening session.  

It is on Wednesday afternoon at 9.15 am EST, 3.15 pm (CET), follow the Google+ Creative Sandbox page here and tune-in to join us.

Posted by: Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager

Next week is the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity where thousands of creatives from across the globe gather to share and salute the most innovative and successful ad campaigns.  In recent years mobile has been more and more a feature of the talks and award winning campaigns. This year the event has gone one extra special step forward with Cannes Lions awards dedicated to specifically mobile.  It’s yet another sign of the coming of age of mobile and it’s one of the reasons we’re ecxcited to be at Cannes again this year.  

If you’re coming to Cannes, we’d love to see you. If you’re not you can still experience the buzz with our Mobile Mavens hangout.

Mobile magic on the beach
Just down the boulevard from the main Palais we’re holding a Google Creative Sandbox on the Gray D'Albion Beach where there will be demos and talks filled with mobile magic for you to enjoy:
 

• Fly a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 quadricopter using its onboard camera to direct upload video to YouTube.  All controlled by, you guessed it, a mobile phone.
• Play our new mobile game “Digital Invaders”.  Yes it shows how a rich media ad can be enhanced, turning a user's mobile phone into a game controller. Maybe more importantly, it’s kinda fun.
• Get your latest Android fix - dance with your life-size androidify figure or get your own special Androidified beach bag.

All of this and more will be happening at the Google Creative Sandbox.  Bookmark this site here to keep track on all the Google activities - while you sip your complimentary smoothies and enjoy the sun, sea and Wi-Fi.  And of course the sunset socials and early morning yoga.  


Talks and hangouts
We’ve not forgotten to help you exercise your grey matter as well.  We have a number of Lightning Talks lined up each day from the top creatives from agencies including AKQA, Poke and BBH where mobile is sure to figure.  You’ll also experience first-hand and get the lowdown on the re-brief projects including Coke and Volvo where mobile was pivotal.   

And if you not coming to Cannes?  
Don’t worry you’ll still be able to tune into our special Mobile Mavens G+ hangout on air on Wednesday afternoon at 9.15 am EST, 3.15 pm (CET).  In partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association, we’ll be interviewing the mobile movers and shakers, post-mobile awards, to share with you what’s creating the mobile buzz at Cannes.  Follow the Google+ Creative Sandbox page here and watch our for another blog here next week on how to join us.

We look forward to an incredible week and hope to see you at the hangout or in sunny Cannes.

Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

It’s no secret that users are spending more and more time on their mobile and tablet devices, and the trend will continue to scale. Mobile devices drive 10% of total Internet traffic, up from 4% just 18 months ago, and an astounding 29% of U.S. adults now have a tablet or e-reader -- up from 2% three years ago. This opens up many new opportunities for advertisers to connect with consumers. However, with this new opportunity comes new challenges to create rich ad experiences that engage and delight viewers; experiences that leverage unique features of the devices and environment in which they’re seen.

To see what mobile ads of tomorrow will look like, we’ve re-imagined four iconic ads from the 1960s and 70s in Project Re: Brief, an experiment we launched earlier this year. Today we’re releasing the Android app for Project Re: Brief, which lets you play with these new ads on your phone and tablet devices. Built on the latest platform for mobile rich media, these ads try to push the boundaries of what can be done with today’s technology.

Coca-Cola: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.” (mobile ad)
The mobile ad lets you send a free Coke with a text message to a stranger across the world, who can receive it on special vending machines. The recipient can then record a message from the machine and send it right back to your phone. The ad uses the phone’s GPS location to show a customized video of your message flying through clouds, Google Maps and StreetView images.

Volvo: “Drive it like you hate it.” (tablet ad)
This ad lets you follow the unique story of Irv Gordon, a loyal Volvo owner who's on his way to putting three million miles on his 1966 P1800s. You can watch relevant videos and hear audio clips about stories from his journey so far, follow his Google+ feed, see his mileage and location in real-time, and explore features of the latest Volvo cars. The ad shows different copy and video based on the tablet app in which it is seen. Simply swipe the screen left or right to see how the ad behaves in different apps.

Alka-Seltzer: “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” (mobile ad)
You can follow Ralph on the day “he ate the whole thing” through a series of 1970’s sitcom-like episodes that are customized to the viewer based on the device, app, time, weather and location. From the ad settings menu, you can select various options to see how a video might be customized to a viewer based on this information. Then, simply tap the display ad to launch the customized video.

Avis: “We try harder.” (tablet ad)
A user can write about his or her experiences with Avis rental cars in natural language, i.e. spoken English, provide some details about the rental car, and within seconds, his or her story is turned into a one-of-a-kind film, which can be shared on the web - all within the ad. The pre-roll animation of the ad changes based on the app. Swipe the screen left or right to see how the animation varies in different apps.

If you don’t have an Android device, you can play with the desktop versions of these ads on projectrebrief.com, and watch videos of the mobile versions. We’re also working hard on an app for your iOS devices.

These are just some examples of what can be done with mobile ads, when you marry big creative ideas with the latest technology platforms. We hope they inspire the advertising community to create even more beautiful mobile experiences.
Posted by Aman Govil, Product Marketing Manager, Display Marketing

Last week, we held our first “Mobile Education Week”, a series of free webinars in partnership with the Learn With Google program for your agency or business to learn more about the tools and resources to help you succeed on mobile.

Below are video recordings of these webinars - check them out, and share with your colleagues.

Our Mobile Planet: Understanding U.S. Smartphone Consumers
Our first webinar provided an overview of the 2012 Our Mobile Planet smartphone research. Watch this video if you’d like to learn:

• How smartphones are transforming core consumer behavior around the world, and the way we connect with others, stay informed, keep ourselves entertained, shop and navigate the world around us.
• Implications for advertisers and strategies businesses can use to win the moments that matter with mobile.

Ideal for: global agencies and marketers

GoMo: Mobilize your Site with Quick and Easy New Tools from Google & DudaMobile
The second webinar was a joint effort between Google’s GoMo initiative and DudaMobile on how it is now even easier for small businesses to create a free-mobile friendly website. View this video if you’d like to learn:

• Why mobile sites matter.

• Review Google's HowToGoMo.com resource.
• New: How to create free mobile sites for your small business directly from HowToGoMo.com, using a tool powered by DudaMobile.
• Examples and best practices for mobilizing your site using the free DudaMobile tool.

Ideal for: small businesses and agencies interested in free tools  to create a mobile site

Introducing Mobile Apps Inventory in AdWords
The final webinar shared the new opportunity available with the availability of AdMob inventory to AdWords users.

This video is great if you’d like to learn:

• How AdWords now makes it easy for you to extend your campaigns to reach users inside mobile apps.
• Review mobile-specific targeting, ad units, and reporting than enable you to optimize your ROI.

Ideal for: marketers and agencies looking to promote and target mobile apps

Want to learn more about how to help your business or agency succeed on mobile? Stay tuned to all new Mobile Ads news at the Google Mobile Ads blog and YouTube channel.

Posted by Sonja Lee, Product Marketing, Mobile Ads

We’ve been working on solutions for businesses to promote, track and monetize their mobile app on search. AdSense Custom Search Ads for mobile apps provide the opportunity for search-focused app developers to monetize their mobile apps with relevant search ads. We recently extended this feature to tablet apps, so that app developers can monetize their apps across both mobile and tablet devices.  Read on to find out how a leading Japanese healthcare information provider  used this feature to grow their app revenue by 560%. 

QLife is a leading hospital finder, drug database and health-care information website.  QLife’s mobile application, “Medicine Search” is one of the biggest health-care applications in Japan. The app enables users to search for information on a range of medicines. QLife reached 2.5 million downloads of their app after the 3/11 Japan Earthquake, when Japanese consumers sought to pay greater care and attention to their family’s health-care.  

Recently, QLife’s Executive Producer, Yoshimasa Mine spoke to us to describe why they choose to use Custom Search Ads for Mobile Applications and AdMob mobile advertising, and shared some optimization best practices.  

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Why and when did QLife choose to start building a mobile application?
In 2008, when the iPhone was introduced to the Japanese market, there was a mobile industry event, Mobitec, where I felt the potential of high-end mobile. Mobile phones are a device that's always with a consumer, regardless of whether they're at home, at work, or at play. This was a good match with our business of providing a medicine search service - a search that is done instantly at a time of need.  

Next, we took a look at our own company's data. We began to see large increases in traffic from mobile, even more than PCs. We wanted to build and encourage mobile activity to complement desktop traffic, particularly during holidays and weekends where we saw mobile traffic surging.  


Why did you decide to monetize your mobile app using AdSense and AdMob?
We originally started using AdSense on our desktop site. As a health-care review site, we need to protect our objectivity and integrity to our users. As a result, advertising is the best solution for monetization, over paid reviews from other health-care services and companies.

We chose AdSense because of the quality of the ads, the content matching technology, and the limited number of sales resources we had internally.  Serving relevant ads is important to our business; we view ads as useful content for our business, and irrelevant ads have not been successful in bringing revenue to us.

We used to use only AdMob to monetize our application. But last year, when Custom Search Ads for Mobile Apps was released, we decided to implement it for two reasons. First, we already used Custom Search Ads for our desktop site. Secondly, we’ve heard that using both Custom Search Ads and AdMob will increase CTR because Custom Search Ads will show more related ads in search results.

What did you see as a result of implementing Custom Search Ads for Mobile Apps?

We’ve seen revenue from mobile increase by 560% after implementing Custom Search Ads for Mobile Applications. We’re seeing CTRs, CPCs, and RPMs maintain healthy levels in line with our internal benchmarks. Ad engagement tends to be higher with users who own our free app.

When we compare how these perform to our desktop site, we find that the mobile app generates lower CPCs but higher CTRs for us.To increase more app downloads, we are working hard to create high quality content to meet our user's needs.

How long did it take to implement Custom Search Ads on mobile apps?
We took some time to implement Custom Search Ads on our app, since changes won’t go live until our users update their version of our app. It took us three to four days including the test period to implement this.

Could you share any publisher best practices you’ve found across using Custom Search Ads and AdMob?

1. Show Custom Search Ads on search result pages. Use AdMob on other content pages.
2. We also use the AdMob House priority level to serve direct ads to users.
3. With Custom Search Ads, you'll see a variation in the number of ads that show, depending on the amount of organic search results you're delivering.  We'll always place one ad above search results. We'll also choose to show another ad below when there are more than five search results. In doing so, we can maximize revenue while complying with the program policy, which permits only one ad per view.

What’s next for QLife?
We've found a lot of success with the medicine/health-care search and service business. We'd like to expand our business in a couple of new directions.  

First, we're interested in growing our business as an app developer for the health-care and medical service sector. We saw good success with the consumer application, and so our reputation as a medical app developer has increased in the industry overall.

We're looking to take our app to new global markets. There is a need for a quality medical and health-care search service anywhere in the world. With a publisher solution like AdSense, we are excited to expand and monetize our business beyond our home market in Japan.

Finally, I’m excited to announce that we just launched a new iOS app, Find Clinic that seeks to help people easily find and access hospitals at home and abroad. We’ve implemented Custom Search Ads for mobile apps on Find Clinic as well, and look forward to seeing similar successes!

Posted by Sonja Lee, Product Marketing, Mobile Ads

As smartphone adoption continues to rapidly increase, consumers are increasingly turning to their smartphones to order phone and internet services.  Not having internet in their new apartment is no obstacle for today’s smartphone users.  Time Warner Cable recognized the opportunity to innovate through mobile, and implemented a mobile strategy in late 2011 together with digital partners Google and Leapfrog Online.  Time Warner Cable’s mobile strategy identified the right media buying opportunities and then linked interested consumers to a rich, mobile-focused ecommerce experience.

With Leapfrog Online’s guidance, Time Warner Cable built a mobile-optimized consumer experience that focused in three strategic areas.

1. Mobile-optimized site design
   Time Warner Cable’s new mobile website deployed strategic functionality specifically optimized for mobile, allowing users to order services right from the mobile website.  The new mobile website incorporates the latest best practices such as concise and condensed information, the prioritization of key calls to action, and simplified screen layouts optimized specifically for the mobile screen.  
2. Designed distinct user-experience pathTime Warner Cable designed unique customer experiences paths based on whether customers were looking to purchase service or receive customer care, driving users to separate mobile experiences with separate dedicated call centers for each.  Leapfrog Online continually monitored the campaign with integrated mobile media and call center tracking, constantly adjusting budgets, key words, and even call-center staffing to match the ebb and flow of consumer demand.
3. Driving calls and traffic through mobile searchTime Warner Cable recognized that customers with more complex questions or those who preferred a personal touch were more likely to convert over the phone.  In addition to promoting their mobile website with search ads, Time Warner Cable added a click-to-call search extension to enable customers to call Time Warner Cable easily and directly from their mobile devices.

In just weeks, Time Warner Cable delivered a brand new channel with stunning results.  Key insights and results include:

• Approximately 50% of Time Warner Cable’s consumers sought to complete an order for voice, video and data on a smartphone when given the opportunity
• Approximately 3% of overall digital traffic has been mobile
• Over 10% of total digital sales are driven by mobile with growth of 20% month-over-month
• 30% reduction in cost per acquisition and a 3x increase in conversion rate as compared to desktop, despite continued strong desktop numbers

To learn more, read the full case study here and watch below Google’s Andy Miller’s interview that we hosted yesterday via Hangout on Air with Rob Roy of Time Warner Cable and Cass Baker of Leapfrog Online.



Posted by Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile Ads

Just a quick reminder to tune-in today to the Think with Google Google+ page at 4:30pm EST/ 1:30pm PST for a special Hangout on Air to learn from mobile thought leaders Time Warner Cable and their partner agency Leapfrog Online.  Tune-in to learn how a well executed mobile search marketing campaign helped grow Time Warner mobile revenue from 0% to 10% of total digital sales in just 3 months. We’ll also be releasing a full case study here on our blog that you can read to learn more.  We hope you’ll be there.

Details on how to tune-in:
In order to view the Hangout on Air, visit the Think with Google Google+ page at 4:30pm EST today (June 7th), look for the stream post, and click to tune-in.  Don’t forget to be signed into Google+!

Look for the Hangout on Air post like the image above on the Think with Google +page and click to tune-in!

Posted by: Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

When we acquired AdMob two years ago, we made a big bet on mobile - and on mobile display advertising. As smartphone adoption has continued to grow around the world, we’ve seen that bet pay off with the increasingly strong appetite to engage customers on mobile devices.   Starting today, over one million AdWords advertisers will now be able to reach engaged consumers on more than 350 million mobile devices in the AdMob network and in some of the world’s most popular mobile applications.

By bringing our products and tools together, advertisers can work with Google to more effectively accomplish their marketing goals.  Earlier this week, we unveiled a newly unified digital ad platform that makes online marketing easier and more effective for large marketers and agencies using Doubleclick’s ad serving tools.  Similarly, with today’s announcement, AdMob mobile advertising becomes a seamless part of AdWords.

AdWords advertisers’ will now have access to mobile app inventory from directly within the AdWords interface, giving them the ability to create and manage ad campaigns that run across more than 300,000 mobile apps in the AdMob network.  Advertisers will be able to easily build, launch, and optimize their mobile campaigns across multiple platforms, and have full transparency about where their mobile ads run. AdMob’s network of apps gives advertisers true global reach with 23 countries each generating over one billion ad-requests last month, up from 11 countries in April 2011.

Starting today, a new campaign type is available in AdWords that makes it easy to launch an ad campaign to run on mobile apps on the AdMob network.  To start this new campaign type, advertisers can select “new campaign” from the Campaigns tab, and then “Display Network only (mobile apps)”.  

In addition to the ability to launch a mobile app campaign from within AdWords, advertisers can now reach individuals by targeting specific smartphone or tablet device models (e.g. Samsung Galaxy) or by targeting a particular manufacturer brand.  AdWords already enables targeting by operator, wifi, or operating system version.

Advertisers can also reach their desired audience by selecting from the categories available in the Google Play Store (e.g. ‘Games’) or App Store and search for individual apps (e.g. ‘Flood it’).  In the next several weeks, we’ll also provide an estimate on the number of devices reached and impressions targeted given your selections.

For more information on these new features, please join our webinar on mobile apps inventory in AdWords today at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET (register here).

This is the latest chapter in our ongoing efforts not only to bring AdMob’s and Google’s tools together, but to mobilize all of our ads products and services.  Over the last year, we’ve brought mobile app inventory to the Doubleclick Ad Exchange, transitioned AdMob CPC campaigns to an AdWords-style auction, and launched the ability for advertisers to serve ads from DFA into the AdMob network.

As mobile continues to grow, we’ll continue to develop integrated advertising solutions designed to harness the specific features of mobile devices, usage, and context.

Posted by: Jonathan Alferness, Director Product Management, Mobile Ads

Want to learn how to use new AdWords search ads to promote and track your mobile app, and hear from early adopters who have done so?

Last Thursday, we hosted Product Manager Anurag Agrawal in conversation with Troy Morris, Mobile Marketing Manager at WhitePages.com and Brian Wright, Senior Marketing Manager at Lookout Mobile Security in a Google+ Hangout. They discussed the value of using search to promote their respective mobile apps. Anurag then showed us in a live demo how to set up features that can help any app developer promote and track downloads of their mobile app. 

To see the full conversation, watch the Hangout here:

Below, Troy (WhitePages.com) and Brian (Lookout Mobile Security) discuss role of search advertising in growing their mobile app business.  

Why has your business chosen to promote your mobile apps?
Lookout Mobile Security: We provide a mobile app that helps smartphone users protect their phones against data loss, theft and malware. The more users we have, the more data we have about the threats out there in the mobile ecosystem - so in order to make our technology effective, it’s important for us to acquire users.

Why use AdWords search ads to promote your mobile app?
Lookout Mobile Security: We promote our apps on the major mobile ad networks and via carrier partnerships. However, search encourages a different type of user behavior that’s different from iTunes or Google Play Store browsing. Our search users are looking for more information, but they might not know an app is a solution to what they’re looking for. It’s great to get in front of those people with search ads.

WhitePages.com and Lookout Mobile Security promote their apps using AdWords mobile search ads

What’s the value of running search ads to promote your mobile app?
WhitePages.com:  There is an intent users have on search, in our case - to find someone. Conversion rates easily eclipse that of other ad networks so we’re able to get downloads at responsible costs, which helps the overall lifetime value of these users. What’s also great is that even before Android download tracking was launched, Google was ahead of the curve to give us insights we couldn’t get through other channels. We could track performance from the campaign, down to the ad group and keyword level.  It gives us a massive amount of control we don’t see on other ad networks. It gives me the ability to go in at any point in the day to adjust bids or ads, and optimize to where every single penny counts.

To learn more about how to set up these new features in your AdWords account, check out the recording of the Hangout, or view these instructions in the AdWords Help Center. 

Posted by Sonja Lee, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile Ads