The Great Ad Headline Heist

[00:00:01] It is Wednesday, August 28th. Today, political campaigns are manipulating news headlines for

[00:00:07] votes, how you can do the same for your own ad campaigns for fun and profit.

[00:00:13] TikTok says if you haven't figured out your December holiday marketing plans by now,

[00:00:17] you may already be too late. Meta closes its AR studio suddenly. And did Google just

[00:00:24] release its internal ad tools to the public? I'm Tod Maffin. That's a head today in

[00:00:32] digital marketing. Well, you probably won't be surprised to hear that US presidential

[00:00:37] campaigns are spending millions of dollars on Google ads right now, but you might be

[00:00:42] surprised to learn that they're running ads to articles written by major news organizations

[00:00:48] like NPR, Time and The Guardian. And they are changing the headlines of those articles

[00:00:55] without permission from the news organizations. How is this possible? Turns out it's allowed,

[00:01:01] even by Google's strict political advertising policies. Here to tell us more is our Google

[00:01:07] ads correspondent Jill Sastin-Gales. Hello Jill. Hello, Tod. So how this is the Harris

[00:01:12] campaign that's doing this. How can they be running ads to a website that's not their own?

[00:01:18] First of all, actually anybody can do this. The final URL in your own ad does not need

[00:01:24] to be your domain. Since advertiser verification came into Google ads, we're able to go in and

[00:01:30] see who actually paid for an ad. And of course this has much more use to a political campaign

[00:01:36] trying to borrow the legitimacy of news organizations than say an e-commerce store trying to drive

[00:01:41] traffic, I don't know, to a different e-commerce store. But anyone can do this. It's always

[00:01:45] been allowed. And what came to light is that the Harris campaign is doing this. I'm sure

[00:01:50] the Trump campaign is doing this as well, where just like any ad you put in the final URL of

[00:01:55] where you want people to go. In this case sometimes it's Kamala's website and in this

[00:01:59] case sometimes it's news organizations. And then you write your headlines and descriptions

[00:02:03] for your ad as normal. It reminds me of the good old days when you could do that

[00:02:08] on organic posts. You could just basically take any news story and put it in, this

[00:02:13] is on Facebook, paste it as an embed, go in, change the headline and met it cracked

[00:02:17] down on that pretty quick. You had to prove that you owned that domain and still to this

[00:02:21] day an organic post on Facebook, you've got to verify that you own that domain if you

[00:02:26] want to change the metadata in the embed. You'd think Google would be doing that too.

[00:02:30] Yeah, because in this case it's not like it's the metadata that you're seeing in

[00:02:34] your feed and article with a different headline, it's an ad. And when we write ads

[00:02:38] we get to write headlines. Like if I'm advertising a shirt that's called Todd's fabulous

[00:02:44] fitted blue shirt, I don't know on my website. Maybe I don't want my headline to

[00:02:48] say that because people will know what that means. It might just say best price

[00:02:52] blue shirt on my headline and then you click on it and land on a page with

[00:02:55] something else. That's what we're doing here. But news organizations were taken

[00:03:00] by surprise. Like just one example here it's pointed to an article by the

[00:03:04] Independent which is newspaper in the UK and the headline that the Harris

[00:03:08] campaign is advertising is VP Harris protects democracy. Trump defends Gen 6

[00:03:14] comments. So we don't know because we didn't see this at what actually article

[00:03:18] it led to but it's unlikely that that's what the journalist who wrote that

[00:03:22] article called it or similarly there's one from AP News, the headline that the

[00:03:27] ad manager wrote is VP Harris's economic vision lower costs and higher wages.

[00:03:32] Now if you click that ad and go to that news article it can say whatever.

[00:03:37] And honestly I think it's pretty creative of the ad managers.

[00:03:42] You can see it from a branding point of view. You're absolutely right.

[00:03:45] I think you know if you've got any commerce site and maybe it's a

[00:03:47] cheapy commerce site and it renders titles on the page stupidly.

[00:03:51] Right. And you want to be able to fix that. You can fix that.

[00:03:53] Does it not surprise you though that there's not that Google hasn't carved

[00:03:56] out a policy just for political ads to prevent this kind of stuff?

[00:04:01] Because let's face it by any standard this is misleading.

[00:04:05] Well I will say that when the Harris campaign for example is paying for this

[00:04:10] in addition to things sponsored like all ads do it does say paid for by Harris

[00:04:16] for president. So it will say that on the search engine results page before

[00:04:19] someone clicks. Is it misleading maybe but Google takes the stuff really

[00:04:25] seriously and so the fact that they're allowing it and allowing any

[00:04:29] political campaign to do this means that not misleading enough to cause concern.

[00:04:36] And so as users we can go into the Google ads library and with political

[00:04:41] ads you can actually see how many times the ad was shown and how much was

[00:04:45] spent on it. So the Google ads library you can look up any ads that

[00:04:49] anybody's running and see their text image and video ads but you can't

[00:04:52] see data about them. For political ads though you can and that

[00:04:56] transparency is supposed to help preserve a sense of I don't know honesty

[00:05:01] sticking more to the facts because anyone can go look up and see this stuff

[00:05:05] just as we are right now. So for one AP headline Harris for president spent

[00:05:10] 20 to 25 K on that one ad in the month of August and it was shown about

[00:05:14] 40,000 times for example. And do we know and do we know how much

[00:05:17] money was spent overall on that ad. Can we get that granular in the

[00:05:23] ads library. Yeah. So for each specific ad you can see how many times it was

[00:05:27] shown when it was shown maybe it was only shown for a week or a month and

[00:05:32] how much was spent on it and you can sort by the amount spent by number of

[00:05:36] times seen there really is a lot of transparent data given here about

[00:05:39] political ads that is not even given about other types of ads. You can

[00:05:44] also see if there are certain criteria that were used for the ads. So if

[00:05:48] they included any age criteria gender criteria so only show this to men

[00:05:52] or only show this to women and then location criteria so you can see them

[00:05:56] getting quite geo targeted with these different messages that they're trying

[00:06:00] to get out in different places in the electorate. It's really quite creative

[00:06:04] to be honest. I feel that people forget about the the incredible databases

[00:06:09] that are these ads libraries Google of course has one which we're talking

[00:06:12] about meta has one tick tock has one all the major platforms do. Can

[00:06:16] you walk us through Google's just briefly before we wrap up in terms

[00:06:19] of non political campaigns if someone wanted to look up their competitor

[00:06:24] then what data can we see. Can we see how much money they're spending.

[00:06:28] Can we see what the demographics are. You can't see what they're

[00:06:31] spending or what the demographics are but you can see all of their ads

[00:06:34] even ones that aren't actually running right now. So Google was

[00:06:37] latest to the party with this ads library thing met as has been around

[00:06:41] for years but Google's is I want to say only about two years old or

[00:06:44] so it's called the ads transparency center and when you go there

[00:06:49] my advice is to look up companies not by the company name but by the

[00:06:52] domain being advertised it's much easier to ensure you're finding

[00:06:55] the right advertiser out of the millions of verified advertisers.

[00:06:59] And then when you click on that advertiser you can view all their

[00:07:02] text image or video ads you can sort by date range and then you

[00:07:06] can see if there's different variations and what the ads look

[00:07:09] like so through that through the language you're seeing or the

[00:07:11] image you're seeing you can kind of infer what's going on behind

[00:07:14] the scenes and start in terms of keywords or targeting or budget

[00:07:18] but that isn't made explicitly clear it only is for political

[00:07:22] ads. Interesting. All right. Thank you so much Jill.

[00:07:25] Thank you. Jill's asking Gales is our Google ads correspondent.

[00:07:28] She's here every second Wednesday. You can learn more about her

[00:07:31] Google ads training program at our affiliate link at today in

[00:07:34] digital.com slash GA and you can watch our full unedited

[00:07:39] interview. There is a link to it in today's newsletter which you

[00:07:42] can sign up to for free by tapping the link at the top of

[00:07:44] the show notes. Turning to some other Google news now the

[00:07:51] company is getting ready for the holiday shopping season with

[00:07:53] some new updates for businesses using merchant center.

[00:07:57] First there are some new product trend insights inside

[00:08:00] Merchant Center. These will highlight major shopping search

[00:08:03] and purchase trends in the app. This could help you plan your

[00:08:07] ad campaigns around what's popular at any given time.

[00:08:10] So for example a Denim retailer can see if a specific

[00:08:13] type of shorts is trending and adjust their inventory

[00:08:17] accordingly. Google is also bringing more AI elements into

[00:08:20] its merchant center analytics. The new summaries give insight

[00:08:23] into the products that are gaining the most traction at any

[00:08:26] given time and conversational queries will let you ask for

[00:08:30] custom data sets like the performance of your best selling

[00:08:34] dresses. The company is also improving its product

[00:08:37] availability notes on listing and launching new customer

[00:08:41] acquisition goals in performance Macs and search campaigns.

[00:08:49] Tiktok just dropped a new guide to help businesses plan

[00:08:52] their holiday marketing. The 18 page document is packed

[00:08:55] with data and tips on how to reach users. It is specific

[00:08:58] to the European market though. But Tiktok says its users

[00:09:02] around the world start thinking about holiday shopping

[00:09:05] earlier than you might think they do. Last year users

[00:09:08] began searching for Christmas related content in August.

[00:09:12] The guide breaks down when people are most active and

[00:09:15] what they're searching for. It also reveals what gifts

[00:09:18] are trending this season. Tiktok says its users are

[00:09:21] looking for experiences like travel and concerts as well as

[00:09:25] tech gadgets and sustainable products. Tiktok's guide

[00:09:28] covers the Q5 season that's the period after Christmas

[00:09:32] when shoppers hunt for bargains. This is usually

[00:09:34] when many brands offer discounts and promotions.

[00:09:37] And with only 118 days until Christmas, many brands

[00:09:41] are already finalizing their holiday marketing plans.

[00:09:45] We have a link to the full PDF guide in today's

[00:09:47] email newsletter which you can sign up to for free

[00:09:49] by tapping the link at the top of the show notes

[00:09:51] or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter.

[00:09:58] Instagram just updated its app with new features to help

[00:10:01] you get a little more creative with your brand's organic

[00:10:03] posts. First it added several new fonts that can be

[00:10:07] used in reels and stories. The app also made it easier

[00:10:10] to add text to posts and mix and match font styles.

[00:10:14] You can now also add stickers to photos and

[00:10:16] carousel posts which was recently updated to

[00:10:18] include 20 frames until now those were limited to

[00:10:21] stories. The updates also include more music features

[00:10:24] which could attract users who might be leaving

[00:10:27] Tiktok. Indeed the new features may be a response

[00:10:30] to Tiktok's popularity and with Tiktok's future in

[00:10:34] the US uncertain, Instagram is racing to position

[00:10:37] itself as an alternative platform for creators.

[00:10:44] Meta is closing its Spark AR Studio platform

[00:10:48] which allowed brands to create augmented reality

[00:10:51] effects for Facebook and Instagram. The platform

[00:10:53] will shut down on January 14th next year. The

[00:10:57] move will impact hundreds of thousands of creators

[00:10:59] who've used Spark AR to develop effects and

[00:11:02] worse any AR campaigns that were built using

[00:11:06] Spark will be disabled after the shutdown date.

[00:11:10] So why is Meta doing this? It says it's shifting

[00:11:12] resources to new experiences like its AR glasses

[00:11:15] but the decision seems counter-intuitive as

[00:11:19] competing platforms like Snapchat have seen

[00:11:21] success with their own AR creation platforms.

[00:11:25] As for what's next, Meta may be developing new

[00:11:27] AR creation tools that use generative AI but the

[00:11:30] company hasn't revealed any details of a

[00:11:33] potential replacement platform leaving many

[00:11:35] creators uncertain about their future. More

[00:11:38] information might be announced at Meta's

[00:11:40] Connect conference next month.

[00:11:47] Can you do this? You're in the morning of

[00:11:49] the day.

[00:12:14] Hi, I'm Sean Nelson, founder and CEO of LoveSack

[00:12:18] and host of the Let Me Save You 25 Years podcast.

[00:12:21] Imagine learning from the best without the years

[00:12:22] of struggle. On my podcast, I sit down with

[00:12:25] stars like Montell Jordan and Sarah Blakely to

[00:12:28] share the hard-earned lessons that can save

[00:12:29] you time and effort on your path to success.

[00:12:32] Ready to speed up your success story? Listen

[00:12:35] to Let Me Save You 25 Years with Sean Nelson

[00:12:37] wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:12:39] Google faced a lot of criticism in February.

[00:12:42] Its AI chatbot Gemini couldn't create images

[00:12:45] of white people in historical contexts.

[00:12:47] To stop the backlash, Google opted for the

[00:12:50] nuclear option and just disabled the ability

[00:12:52] to render humans at all.

[00:12:55] Now Google is turning that feature back on

[00:12:58] but only for users who pay for Gemini advanced.

[00:13:01] Google has struggled with its AI products.

[00:13:04] The company's chatbot Bard got a major

[00:13:06] fact wrong in its public outing.

[00:13:08] Critics called Google's AI racist and sexist.

[00:13:12] The company says like all AI, its technology

[00:13:14] will still make errors and at least for the

[00:13:17] time being it still won't respond to

[00:13:19] requests for photorealistic images of

[00:13:21] public figures, minors or violent imagery.

[00:13:29] And finally today many media buyers and

[00:13:31] marketers noticed a new option in Google

[00:13:33] ads but they might have been scared to

[00:13:35] click it. Down the main menu column

[00:13:37] appeared a button reading internal tools.

[00:13:41] The brave ones who did click it found

[00:13:43] that opened up a submenu with the

[00:13:45] option audience builder in it.

[00:13:47] Now audience builder isn't new but the

[00:13:49] whole internal tools thing was a

[00:13:52] deadline Google had not addressed the

[00:13:54] issue but it is believed to just be a glitch.

[00:13:59] All right I have to practice for an

[00:14:00] Elder Scrolls trial with my guild.

[00:14:03] Yeah I'm that guy now apparently so I

[00:14:05] got to go. Thanks for listening.

[00:14:06] See you tomorrow.

[00:14:09] Are you an ad agency with clients in

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[00:14:16] understanding of your customers?

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[00:14:44] Contact the Unnery team that's

[00:14:48] Unnery by clicking the link in

[00:14:50] this episode's show notes.