Google I/O: What marketers need to know

Google gets serious about app advertising

Users (naturally) prefer free ad-funded apps and that’s creating more in-monetisation opportunities. Both Facebook and Twitter have already made moves to get their slice of the in-app advertising pie and now Google is looking to claim its share. At the conference, the search giant unveiled a flurry of products and tools that essentially provide a one-stop shop for advertisers to promote their app, leveraging search, Google Play, AdMob, the Google Display Network and YouTube.

The tool, dubbed 'Universal Ad Campaigns', lets brands create a new kind of app campaign that spans all of Google’s properties simultaneously and offers better performance insights via a beefed up Google Analytics. Google has gone to great lengths to make the transition for brands and developers as smooth as possible, requiring only the details about how much an app maker wants to spend, the audience they want to reach and what the ad will see. The ad’s creation and bidding are then automatically handled by Google in order to find the cheapest users regardless of the channel they use and the goal of the campaign – whether it’s cost per install, the highest long-term value of each customer or other metrics.

The feature is aimed at smaller players that are new to advertising and so is not as robust as the offerings some global advertisers have erected in-house. For example, brands are unable to isolate Google products to run the ads on. However, it is clear the business is paving the path for a rush on app advertising revenues as shown by its decision to bring give marketers broader oversight on how their app install campaigns are performing. Instead of just looking at retention, lifetime value and other performance metrics on Android, app marketers can now see the fruits of their labour on over 20 ad metrics including Millennial Media and InMobi.

In a blog post about the updates, Google’s vice president of product management Jonathan Alferness said: “By partnering with these leading platforms and tracking systems, we believe we can make the entire mobile apps system stronger and more connected – all with the goal of making developers more successful.”

An Android experience of “polish and quality”

This was how Google described the next iteration of its popular open source mobile operating system Android M in the hope of clarifying its focus on experience rather than aesthetics as seen with the previous update Lollipop. Among the new features, the company’s second stab at mobile payments has bagged the most column inches in the wake of the arrival of Apple Pay and the ad industry’s move toward mobile payments.

Google Wallet failed to take off when it launched in 2011 but Android Pay is looking to right those wrongs with an approach that works in a similar way to Apple’s rival service. Announced earlier this year before a more detailed unveil at the conference, the payments service lets users pay for goods without having to share their actual debit or credit card details, instead using a unique token for the transaction. Unlike Apple, loyalty points are also planned for those who use Android Pay, which could help secure brands, particularly in emerging markets where mobile payments are becoming a critical way for people to pay for goods.

Android M isn’t just about payments and Google has tried to create a more nuts and bolts refresh rather than complete overhaul. Linking between and within apps will also be improved, while the software will also introduce to fingerprint scan support to Android smartphones, allowing biometrics to be used to make purchases from the Play store. Additionally, developers will be able to include custom Chrome tabs within apps, meaning an internet experience that is more closely tied to the app as well as far more stable.

Google primes Android for the Internet of Things

Google has made no secret of its hope to move beyond desktops and smartphones and into people's homes. With Brillo, its operating system for connected devices like TVs and fridges, the business is taking its first major steps to achieving that aim.

The service is backed by Google’s Weave standards, which will allow household devices to easily interact with one another as well as mobile devices. Brands and developers can use Brillo and Weave together or use the latter alone, an offer that will add another set of standards to those from rivals such as Samsung and Apple. The lack of interoperability between these standards poses a key challenge for the internet of things' hopes of going mainstream with people unlikely to have households dominated by one technology maker.

The move dovetails with Google’s acquisition of connected-device maker Nest Labs last year.

Alistair Dent, head of product strategy at iProspect UK, said the move could open up new ways for brands to engage people in their homes.

As a brand, this allows you to start offering ways for users to engage directly in their homes,” he said. “The concept of a "smart fridge" has been a connected-devices joke for a while. 'Why would I want my fridge to tell me when I need milk?' people ask.

“It's a fair question, but if I can make my app the one users install onto that fridge to automatically re-order milk... the seamless experience has an opportunity to be owned by brands that win this race.”

Making a Android wearable experience “glanceable”, “actionable” and “effortless”

Speaking at the conference, David Singleton, director of Google’s Android Wear program that helps brands and developers build apps for wearable tech, said it wants to make services that are “glanceable”, “actionable” and “effortless”. He went on to show how upcoming features for smartwatches let users keep the screen on within apps for the first time as well as allow them to swipe between different screens with an intuitive flick of the wrist.

Google, which claims there are now more than 4,000 different apps specifically for Android Wear, is looking to reassert its credentials in the wearable after Apple released its own smartphone watch earlier this year.

“We know wearable technology is evolving fast,” said Singleton. “We’re evolving Android Wear even further, inspired by something we already do – checking the time.

Context on tap and an ecosystem for virtual reality

Google Now on Tap promises to embed the search giant even more into the way people traverse the internet. For example, a user could receive an email about seeing a movie and with the simple press of the home button, Now on Tap pulls up contextually relevant apps such as YouTube, IMB and Flixter. It means that as long as an app is indexed correctly then it will more often pop up on people's phones and consequently give them more exposure.

If a brand’s app allows Google to index its content, that content can be made available to Google's predictive search, offering actions to users based on their context. These actions might be to navigate to a branded store, call a cab, call a plumber, or buy a product. These can be pushed right to users at the times they might need it, rather than waiting for them to come into your app.

John Newbold, creative director and co-founder at digital creative agency 383, said: “As these next-gen search services are rolled out, brands will have even more of a fight on their hands for visibility and integration in the Google ecosystem – Google continues to emerge as the primary interface layer through which people view the world.”

The company also used the conference to unveil a raft of new initiatives that try to put its virtual reality viewer, dubbed 'Google Cardboard', front and centre of the rise in consumption 3D content. Alongside, improvements to development tools and the actual hardware, Google is developing a new camera system that makes it easier for people to generate 360-degree content for Cardboard.

With Facebook’s high-profile acquisition of Oculus Rift last year, Google’s announcement signals its intent to steal a march in the space which could open up new revenue opportunities around advertising while also elevating the experience of its own services like YouTube.

Newbold added: “Today's announcements only serve to underline the fact that brands’ digital strategies must integrate deeply with the overarching strategies of gatekeeper brands like Google if they are to succeed. All brands need to be thinking about how their digital services will be consumable to Google for both integration and visibility from now on.”