Google Introduces DoubleClick Campaign Platform for Online Ads

Google's new online advertising platform gives marketers and companies robust, improved tools for successful ad campaigns, the company said.

Google has released its new DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) Campaign Manager, a platform that includes several new tools and capabilities for advertisers to get their messages out in front of consumers and other businesses.

The updated new platform was unveiled globally in a Sept. 25 post by Payam Shodjai, the senior product manager for the DoubleClick Campaign Manager, on the Google DoubleClick Advertisers Blog. The new application comes some three months after Google announced big changes for the platform at its June ThinkDoubleClick conference, which is the unit's annual industry event held to discuss the future of digital media.

"The phase of adolescence is a transitional one, and this year, on the 15th anniversary of DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) we find ourselves celebrating a big milestone: an entirely rebuilt campaign management platform for marketers and agencies, the coming of age of DFA," wrote Shodjai. "DoubleClick Campaign Manager is at the core of our DoubleClick Digital Marketing platform. It reimagines how marketers and agencies manage the entire scope of their digital marketing efforts—from planning and executing, to measuring and optimizing their campaigns."

As promised in June, the new platform includes a more responsive user interface that includes a myriad of time-saving features for users, wrote Shodjai, as well as a new trafficking interface that loads up to five times faster than before, as well as ad updates that now go live in only 2 minutes. "You can also view campaign information centrally from a single page, rather than flipping across tabs. With in-line and bulk editing, we've greatly reduced the number of clicks to perform common trafficking tasks," he wrote.

Also new is easier tagging of ads now that Floodlight, DoubleClick's universal conversion tag is integrated with Google Tag Manager, according to Shodjai. "Now, you can push Floodlight tags directly from DoubleClick Campaign Manager to Google Tag Manager (and your site), reducing the time it takes to implement tags from weeks to minutes."

The improved new platform also provides a unified user interface and reporting system across DoubleClick Campaign Manager and DoubleClick Bid Manager, which lets users gain access to accurate, deduplicated conversion data, wrote Shodjai. In addition, now included is seamless support for mobile, HTML5, video and rich media data formats, making it easier to produce, scale and distribute content, according to the post.

One of the key updates in the new platform comes from the changes in how consumers view content nowadays, so the new platform takes a "mobile-first" approach to new ad campaigns, wrote Shodjai. "Mobile is built into the fabric of our platform. Support for Interactive Advertising Bureau-compliant HTML5 creatives means a single creative can render on any device and help you take advantage of the engaging, rich-media capabilities of HTML5. We've ensured that your tags work everywhere too. There is no longer a separate mobile tag, and mobile targeting and reporting dimensions are automatically available in all served tags."

Also included is "support for the next wave of video formats, including interactive video and dynamic VPAID," which will help advertisers deliver more engaging videos. "Additionally, you can now track your YouTube TrueView campaigns alongside all your other placements, allowing for more holistic insights."

New audience features are also now included, as well as tools to create remarketing lists and audience reports to gain improved insights into how campaigns are working with consumers and businesses, wrote Shodjai.

Improved reporting capabilities are also included, such as multi-channel funnels that help users better understand customers' moves from initial interactions to final conversions, according to the post.

Google acquired DoubleClick after making a $3.1 billion bid for the company back in 2007. The purchase gave digital ad and search leader Google plenty of new firepower, including the ability to serve graphical display ads in addition to the company's text-based links. DoubleClick's technology lets advertisers and publishers deliver ads once they have agreed to terms, and provide statistics relating to those ads.

Privacy and Internet advocates were not happy about the acquisition of DoubleClick and its approval by the Federal Trade Commission at the time; they cited concerns that it would give Google too much power over the data around search.

When DoubleClick was first on the market in 2007, reports circulated that Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL were also interested in buying the company.