STAY HOME/STAY SAFE Nice. Things to do at home. - It's moving.
- Let's test it out. This is an olive oil heavy class. Let's start slowly by drilling that hole. -Watch my eyebrow.
-I just spritz it all day. How to juggle. - Ooh!
- We place the order for click and collect. We are done, that was easy. HOW TO TRAVEL SAFELY - Okay, we’re all set.
- Thank you.
- It's all yours.
- Thanks, guys. We're off to see a film in the car. I don't know what I'm tasting right now. It's just amazing. Thank you so much. And we're in. I haven't gone shopping in so long. Yeah, we can hear you. I miss, love all you guys. Happy New Year. The world looks very
different this New Year’s Eve. A billion people will be vaccinated in 2021. This is a worldwide effort. Until the world is vaccinated,
no one is vaccinated. FLOWER DELIVERY. Flights.
Book. Work from home careers. How to plan a wedding. Honeymoon vacation ideas. Clean beauty tips.
Sustainability hacks. Robot Hotels.
3D printed house. Carbon-neutral travel.
Flights to the... No one can predict the future No one can predict the future
but we can be ready for it. Google Google Marketing Livestream Good morning,
good afternoon, good evening. Wherever you are in the world, welcome to Google Marketing Livestream. We have registrants from nearly
every country in the world, from Japan to Mexico, to France,
to Australia, to Germany, to China the UK, and many, many others. This event is something
I always look forward to. And that has never been
more true than it is this year. Can you believe it's been two years
since we last came together? And I've got to be honest,
I've really, really missed this. And meeting virtually
does have some advantages. I'm guessing we may have more people
attending in sweatpants and slippers. But whatever you're wearing,
and wherever you're joining us from I couldn't be happier that we are back. The number of you joining this event during a time that's
been difficult for everyone and devastating for
far too many, is truly encouraging. So, for those of you who have
made the time to join us, thank you. Thank you for making it safer
and easier for people to find the goods they need to continue living their lives. Thank you for keeping pace with a step
change in digital adoption by businesses and obviously, consumers. And thank you for pivoting,
innovating, and persevering. And while there are glimmers of hope from
vaccine roll out to employment numbers we know many around the world continue
to face incredible challenges with COVID. Many businesses and some
entire sectors are still struggling. And of course, there are people
who have had a more difficult time because of their identities, their
health, or their financial circumstances. There's no question that
we're living through a time of extremes. We're facing tougher challenges than ever. But it's also possible to
have a deeper impact than ever because we have a real
opportunity to be helpful to more people, more businesses, and more partners. Hundreds of thousands of businesses
of every size have shared with us the unique difficulties they're facing. And at Google,
our top priority is to help you navigate this once-in-a-lifetime digitization moment. As the pandemic took hold, Google's teams
around the world worked to do just this. I was humbled to see that we actually
had more interactions with partners during the pandemic than in a normal year. The teams delivered 70,000+
custom analysis using Google data, Responded to 20% more
customer emails and calls than normal and connected with customers
via 10% more customer meetings than during a normal year. We do all this so that
you can be ready for what's next. Let me share a couple of quick examples. The disrupted travel industry faced
the crisis of canceled flights, car rentals and vacations that
spurred us to create new tools and solutions to help our
partners, in travel and beyond, understand and keep pace with changing
trends and consumer demands. We introduced new
ways for hotel advertisers to shift the risk from
their balance sheet to ours. So, now, if someone makes a
reservation using Google Hotel Ads and then cancels for
any reason, the hotel doesn't pay. Global quarantines also forced
the retail sector to completely rethink how to serve their customers. In the US, we saw 10 years' worth
of e-commerce growth in just three months. As the pandemic took hold, we saw we could help businesses by
arming them with powerful commercial data. And we wanted to share these insights to help business navigate
these wild swings in demand. So our awesome engineers doubled
down on customer insight products and quickly launched
solutions like our publicly available Rising Retail Categories tool
to spot breakout opportunities. And while the pace of
recovery varies across the globe, we can use data from countries
who are further along to inform and support those that
are still in the midst of challenges. It's the closest we can get to
using the knowledge of the future to inform the present,
at least outside of Google X. So, we'll continue to invest to
help give businesses, like all of yours, the power to pivot quickly,
and prepare for what's next. It's why we've got such an
exciting agenda inspired by your feedback and we will share some amazing technology and products to help you
and your businesses adapt in three big areas. On privacy, my friend and
colleague Jerry Dischler, our VP and GM for our full advertising suite, will share
our vision for the ads product roadmap and our point of view
on building for a privacy-safe world. We're going all in on aggregation
and anonymization, on-device processing and other privacy-preserving technologies that will deliver advertising
performance while also protecting people. On measurement, Vidhya Srinivasan,
our VP and GM of Ads Buying, Analytics and Measurement, will share
new ways to future-proof your business with first-party data
and automated marketing insights. You can start preparing now
for the future without cookies. And on the future of commerce,
Bill Ready, our President for Commerce and his team will share
what's in store for shoppers and merchants, a future where your brand
is at the heart of the shopping experience, and customer loyalty is a top priority. All this work is the result
from many, many teams and many Googlers working to help
you drive results for today and tomorrow. Because you don't have to be
able to see the future to be ready for it. So, sit back and welcome
again to Google Marketing Livestream. NEXT UP BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE VISION FOR OUR PATH FORWARD TOGETHER Hi, and thanks for joining us at Google
Marketing Livestream from around the world. A special hello to those of you
streaming directly in the Google Ads app. On behalf of everyone at Google,
we hope you've been staying safe during this difficult year and taking
care of yourselves and the ones you love. We last met in person in 2019
and connected virtually in 2020 with global programs
like Ads on air and Advertising Week, along with various roundtables
that my team and I really enjoyed hosting. And one thing that's become
clear during a period of profound and prolonged uncertainty is that
all of our jobs have become more difficult. The good news is it's
possible to tackle today's challenges and be ready for
tomorrow's opportunities together. My team's purpose is finding places to add
the most value for marketers and agencies. Thanks to your ideas,
insights, and suggestions we completely
revamped our 2020 product roadmap. We sprinted to
build products to drive results and build resilience for your
business during a turbulent time. For example, the Insights page in
Google Ads gives you custom insights specific to your business
to help you unlock new opportunities. It rolled out to all advertisers
around the world earlier this year. Curbside pickup for local
inventory ads helps you better and more safely connect
local shoppers with the products they need. We enabled booking for Local
Services Ads to help people connect with trustworthy professionals
in their own neighborhoods all backed by the Google Guarantee. We also unveiled our plans
for Performance Max campaigns, a new way for all advertisers
to buy Google ads from a single campaign across YouTube, Display,
Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps. This new campaign
complements your Search campaigns. It also helps you maximize
performance in three key ways. First, it helps you find more
converting customers across all of Google's ad inventory without
having to manage multiple campaigns. Second, it drives the best performance
Google can deliver against the goals that matter the most to you. And early testers thought
it should be easier to import customer data to consider these goals. So, we've heard your feedback,
you'll soon see that in your campaigns. And third, you can get
richer insights into automation and how it's working for your business. We've increased transparency and that's based on
invaluable feedback from many of you. Starting today, given the
positive results from early testers, we're expanding the
Performance Max beta to thousands of additional advertisers globally, and look
out for that full launch later this year. As we built these tools to
support your growth and recovery, we've heard so many
stories of your ingenuity and resolve. They're good reminders
of other big transformative changes in how businesses reach customers as
technology has expanded all over the world. Broadband triggered the internet's first
growth phase by bringing the world online. Next came mobile,
which democratized the internet and made it possible for marketers to
reach their customers anywhere at any time whether they were at home or away. And now, the pandemic. This public health crisis has had
negative consequences around the world. And we've taken a lot of our
behaviors online to cope and adapt. It's the third transformative
event to fundamentally shift how people in the physical world
interact with the digital world. It's been a challenging time, yet people
still have found ways to remain optimistic. That spirit is reflected in
what people are looking for on Google. Just to give you a
few examples, searches with the words "ideas for beginners" grew by over 100% and searches for
"how to invest" have grown by over 70%. People are expressing
themselves in new ways. They're thinking
about their future in new ways. There are more moments
to connect with consumers today than there ever have been before. And as the world recovers, we have more opportunities than ever
to deliver what people are looking for. Amid all that change, privacy
continues to be a top priority for Google across every one of our
consumer products and services and every one of our advertising products. When you use our products,
you trust us with your data. And it's our
responsibility to protect and respect it. We never sell your personal information. We never use sensitive information for ads - things like health,
race, religion, or sexual orientation. We never use the content
you create and store in apps like Drive, Gmail, and Photos for any ads purposes. These principles govern our
ads business, and they will never change. But we all need to prioritize
privacy with much greater urgency. For years, our industry relied
on an implied contract with internet users that went something like this: In exchange for your personal data that let
advertisers show them relevant advertising, people would receive
free access to content. However, today, 81% of people say that the potential risks they face because
of data collection outweigh the benefits. They are increasingly concerned about how they're being tracked
when traveling across the internet. We've seen this in
what people are searching for on Google. And we've seen it in how privacy
controls across our products are being used. People are no longer satisfied
with the old way of doing things. They want more assurance
that the bargain is working in their favor. They value their privacy more,
and we are losing their trust. Our industry needs to
take bold action to regain that trust. Being reactive is
just not a sustainable approach. Our goal at Google is the same
as it's always been: To support a free and open internet
while also protecting user privacy. But we know we have more
to do to achieve that goal. That's why earlier this year we announced that once third party
cookies are phased out, we will not build alternative identifiers to track
individuals as they browse across the web. And we won't use those
identifiers in our product. Third party cookies
and other proposed identifiers that some in the
industry are advocating for do not meet the rising expectations
consumers have when it comes to privacy. They will not stand up to rapidly
evolving regulatory restrictions. They simply cannot be
relied on in the long-term. We can build a privacy-safe,
ad-funded internet, together. It's possible to help
you deliver business results while still
dramatically improving privacy. Successfully transitioning to a
world without cookies is going to require
three things from our industry: First, building great
relationships with your customers has always been
critical to a successful business. In today's privacy-safe world
it's more important than ever. Our industry needs to properly
use consented, first-party data. That starts by building deep
engagement with your customers. The sooner, the better. Next, automation and machine learning
make forward-looking, predictive marketing possible by helping you
identify key patterns and trends. With the right type of automation, effective, privacy-safe, ad
selection and measurement are possible. These technologies
can help provide visibility in cases where data or
signals may be limited. So, use machine learning and automated
solutions whenever they're available. The final step is to commit to
new technologies that preserve privacy. Chrome's Privacy Sandbox
is an open source initiative to develop new technologies
centered on advances in anonymization, on-device processing,
and other privacy techniques. It's truly a place for everyone - where anyone can submit
proposals and run experiments. These technologies
offer sustainable solutions for key digital advertising use cases, from interest-based ads
to measurement, and much more. We believe the Privacy Sandbox
is the right way forward for our industry. We'll be using these APIs for our own ads and measurement products
just like everyone else and we will not build
any backdoors for ourselves. Anyone can get involved
in shaping these proposals. Protecting privacy can
and should be a priority for everyone. The world of privacy has already
changed and the time to act is now. We at Google are all-in on this. The path is clear to dramatically
improve privacy that enables advertisers to deliver business results, today,
tomorrow, and in the years ahead. We're in a new era
with privacy at the forefront. My team's strategy
is based in that core reality and you're going
to be hearing all about it today. We're building towards the future
to help you be ready for what comes next. My entire team is working
to build the best place for businesses and merchants of all sizes
to connect with potential customers. If you sell products with us, we want to move beyond
being a direct response channel. Our vision is to connect buyers and sellers at scale in a
way that's open to the entire ecosystem. For video, we're making YouTube
a destination with experiences that inspire both discovery and action, where businesses can win
new customers online and in-person. For Google Ads specifically,
we remain committed to a future where you can use
automation to reach your potential as quickly and efficiently as possible. And when it comes to
measurement, we are working to ensure you can get the insights
you need in a privacy-safe way. In all of these areas, we're ready to partner
with you to invent the future, together. THE NEXT GENERATION OF MEASUREMENT To make every marketing dollar count,
you need to understand consumer behavior. And in today's privacy environment, users expect more control over
how their data is used and collected. I've talked to many of you and
I know just how daunting it seems to make this fundamental shift away
from cookies and other identifiers. The reality is, our industry is changing. And right now is the
time to do the hard work of preserving the future of measurement. A few key steps
can help set you up for the future. First, build your measurement
foundation on first-party data. Next, enable users to
make choices about their data. And finally, keep reporting actionable
and fill in the gaps with modeled data. We've been listening to your feedback and we will continue to work
with you to help preserve privacy while also getting the essential insights
you need to be ready for what's next. To start, your measurement
strategy needs a clear plan for collecting and using
consented, first-party data. Those direct
relationships with your customers should be the basis of your marketing. This all starts with the
foundation of sitewide tagging that gives you the data you need
to deliver privacy-safe measurement. The right approach to tagging enables
you to both observe more conversions and model more insights
from those conversions. We're also introducing a
new way to measure conversions even when cookies are not available. These enhanced conversions work
by allowing your tags to use consented, hashed, first-party data like email addresses from
wherever your conversions are recorded. This gives you a more complete view of how your ads are
performing on Google media. It also improves conversion modeling and even works across devices for a
more complete view of your user behavior. Separate from measurement, insights from your
first-party data can also help you build a more future-proofed
audience strategy. Customer Match can help
you deliver relevant experiences and deepen your
relationship with your customers. And your customers can in turn
deepen their connection with your brand while making choices about their data. Because of the
importance of that connection, we are now making Customer Match available
for nearly all advertisers to use. After meeting a
couple of simple requirements, advertisers of all sizes can
start reaching people with personalized as well as privacy-safe ads. Next, we're building new tools
for you that protect users' privacy. Last year, we introduced Consent Mode. This feature provides new tag settings
to customize how Google tags behave before and after users make
their cookie consent decisions. For those who say "no," the relevant
Google tags will adjust how they behave. For example, not using cookies
when permission has not been granted. This helps you both respect users' choices and more effectively measure
performance when users do opt in. Of course, when users opt out of cookies,
there will be gaps in your reporting. That's why we've now released
conversion modeling through Consent Mode to help close these gaps and
give you more detailed conversion insights. These modeled conversions will help you
optimize your campaigns more effectively and achieve better business results. To make it as easy as possible for you to
respect people's choices about their data, we are adding new consent
capabilities to Tag Manager. Businesses that already use a consent
management solution on their website can integrate directly with Tag Manager
without having to edit any website code. Tag Manager will allow tag developers
to integrate directly with Consent Mode. You can easily see which of your
tags already incorporate consent. And you can control
tag behavior based on consent without having to make
complicated edits to your tagging setup. You can enable these new capabilities
in your Tag Manager settings today. Machine learning and automation can
step in to deliver insights and performance from the consented data that you have, and
that's in addition to modeling conversions. For example, last year
we unveiled the new Google Analytics which features automated marketing insights. And today, we're announcing
that we are extending Google's best-in-class modeling capabilities
to behavioral reporting in Analytics. Now, you can
continue generating powerful insights about the complete customer journey
even when cookies are not available. And when you have identifiers from
your first-party data readily available we are working on
new ways to help you connect user journeys across your site
and app in a privacy-safe manner. This combo of consented
and modeled data is only useful if you can use it to get
straightforward, actionable reporting. What insights about your media
do you need to make the right decisions? We've created a new
advertiser experience in Google Analytics which presents deeper insights
into your campaign performance. In this experience, you can see cross-channel
performance, advertising metrics and recommendations all visible at a glance. You can compare attribution models too. Ultimately, this will help you
make better cross-channel decisions about your media budgets
based on site and app performance. Additionally, you can soon get a
more complete picture of the performance of your Google Ads
with improved attribution reporting. In addition to Search
and Shopping campaigns, touchpoints from Display and
YouTube will soon be included in all attribution models,
including data-driven attribution. Here's another first. We'll be integrating in-app
conversions for those touchpoints as well. This means your business can properly
value the impact of all your Google Ads including Search,
Shopping, Display, and YouTube. And of course, data-driven
attribution will continue to work on conversions imported from Analytics. Privacy-safe measurement starts
with giving users choices about their data, and then respecting those choices. From there, you can
still get insights you need with modeled information
created with machine learning. With that in place, you're now
ready to make the right decisions even in the world without cookies. This is a journey toward improved
measurement that we are making together. To summarize,
the future is based on first-party, the future is consented,
and the future is modeled. Great measurement
leads to great performance especially when you use
your insights to power automation. UNLOCKING OPPORTUNITIES
WITH AUTOMATION Automation is so much more than bidding. You can now solve top
challenges with a strong partnership between your business
intelligence and Google Ads. It's the best way to achieve
your maximum potential as quickly and efficiently as possible. Your marketing know-how combined
with automation delivers performance and unlocks opportunities. And that's always with the
control you need to recover and grow, particularly in turbulent times. Let's start with performance. Automation drives results, especially when you feed it the right
information about the value of your ads. You can follow simple formula for growth that begins with a deep
understanding of value. It's as straightforward
as using responsive search ads with broad match and Smart Bidding. Responsive search ads combines
your creativity with the power of Google's machine learning to help
you deliver relevant, valuable ads. Broad match helps you find high
performing queries and emerging trends. And Smart Bidding optimizes bids
in real time to hit your performance goals even as query volume
and conversion value change. Over 80% of you are now using automated
bidding to drive results for your business. With automation, we're now
automatically assembling your creative, finding more queries that perform
with broad match, and adjusting your bids to deliver the right creative at the right
price for each query. They're better together. You can also use automation to deliver
a great experience that drives engagement. When you provide the right components, the right person can
see the right ad at the right time. Create at least one excellent responsive
search ad and enable four ad extensions. That's what it takes to give the machine the flexibility it needs to
deliver on the promise of automation. You tell your story with the right
ad components, then the right parts of that story are chosen automatically
for every single context in real time. And it's now even easier
to serve up great ad extensions. Image extensions are now out of beta
and available to advertisers globally. Flexible creative options can
drive performance for you beyond search. For Video action
campaigns and Discovery ads you'll be able to
connect your Merchant Center feed and show your
top sellers alongside your ad. Use it to harness the power of video
and images to drive product discovery for your full catalog across YouTube,
Discover, Gmail, Google Play, and apps. In addition to performance,
automated insights enable you to stay forward-looking and
uncover opportunities across geographies. We recently introduced the
Insights page globally in Google Ads to make it easy for you to
explore trends tailored to your business. This page contains deep
insights about changing query trends, information we hadn't
shared directly with you before. Demand forecasts will be rolling out in the
coming weeks to predict relevant changes to search behavior over the next 90 days. Use these insights to
prepare your campaigns, inventory, and more for opportunities
that are heading your way. Automation also creates opportunities
for your campaigns themselves. Specifically, optimization
score helps you stay on top of all available recommendations. And even as user behavior evolves,
this score helps you meet your objectives whether those are
growth- or efficiency-based. Even keyword match types,
the foundation of Search ads, have evolved based on
changing search behavior. There have been multiple
updates to Keywords this year. Phrase match reaches
more of the right searches, while broad match has been overhauled
to deliver more relevant searches by incorporating signals like landing
pages, keywords in your ad group, and more. We improved the understanding
of the themes of searches to better match them
to the right ad groups and ads. And an exact match keyword that is
identical to query is now always preferred as long as it's eligible
to match, so you have more control. The Berlin-based myToys Group
switched many of their keywords to broad match and paired
them with Smart Bidding. This new investment in
automation led to 40% more revenue at a similar ROAS to past performance. Finally, you also need to steer automation and to have confidence
that it's doing what you want it to do. For example, you've told us
that you want transparency into automated campaigns
like Performance Max. You can understand how all of that
automation is delivering results for you over on the Insights page. You'll see what's driving
performance changes, the types of consumers who are converting and which audiences
your assets are most resonating. This visibility enables you to take
control of what needs your attention. You want to trust automation to
do the right things for your campaigns. Communicating the right information
to Google Ads is the best way to do that. This starts with the quality of your leads or sales, including sales
that can happen offline. You can tell the system
when a period of time shouldn't be part of your
conversion history for whatever reason. Other inputs enable you
to take control of your brand like the ability to pin your headlines
or descriptions in responsive search ads. Even negative keywords
exist for you to tell us what searches you don't want to appear on. Automation is built with you in mind and updated continuously
to improve your performance. Your marketing expertise
combined with the power of Google's machine learning
can change the course of your business and supercharge your
recovery to be ready for what's next. We look forward to building for the future
of your business and our industry together. What does that look like? Consider the new technologies
being developed in the Privacy Sandbox. Base your measurement and audience
strategies on consented first-party data. Achieve your potential as quickly and
efficiently as possible with automation. Please keep giving us your insights
and feedback, and we'll do the same. For example, you'll
soon see tailored insights and guidance specific to
your account in Google Ads directly. And thank you again to
everyone tuning in to this live stream from the Google Ads app. Starting today, you can
look for instream education content to help you learn about the features
you're using right while you're using them. We look forward to partnering with
your businesses to both drive results even through continued uncertainty,
and to build long-term resilience. This is a period of immense transformation both for digital marketing
and for privacy overall. We found a way to thrive after the big
shifts triggered by broadband and mobile. Let's do it again. There's tremendous opportunity ahead of us. We're here to help you succeed, and we
look forward to a brighter future together. THE FUTURE OF COMMERCE BUILDING AN OPEN ECOSYSTEM We've all seen firsthand how the past
year has sped the shift to online shopping in every order of groceries
or hunt for that at-home... well, everything. Our Google data reflects that. In the fourth quarter of 2020,
the year-over-year growth rate in retail searches was
more than three times the rate we had seen
in the same period in 2019, driven in part by COVID. People shop across Google
billions of times each day for everything from fitness
equipment to outdoor furniture. While we've been working toward
omni-channel experiences for years, the pandemic threw into stark relief the fact that consumer needs
and expectations change in a flash and the right channel is the
one that works for the customer. It goes beyond visiting
websites over storefronts. Curbside pickup searches spiked 3,000% year-
over-year at the beginning of the pandemic. Websites are joining
forces with storefronts. People even tune in to YouTube
to help them decide what to buy. 70% of shoppers surveyed said they bought
from a brand after seeing it on YouTube. Our shopping habits are changing. At the core of it all is choice. Shoppers increasingly want more options. Online, people can discover new brands and decide on the best
choice, all in a couple of clicks. The surge in e-commerce
brings undeniable opportunities. But the changing
unpredictable needs of shoppers present challenges
for businesses to connect. Think of Google as the connector between
you and your evolving customer base. We can take those
billions of shopping sessions and turn them into real chances for you
to meet your customers and their needs. Shoppers want choice but they also
need help finding what they're looking for. We can help them by helping
businesses stand out and tell their stories. That's why we've continued to invest in,
and build towards, an open ecosystem where all merchants can succeed, from the world's largest retailers
to the mom and pop shop down your street. Last year alone, our merchant
community grew over 80% with significant growth in small-
and medium-sized businesses. And that's just the beginning. We're excited to be partnering
closely with Shopify to make it easier for all merchants to get
discovered across Google surfaces, helping them meet shoppers in the right decision-making
moments across their journey. To make this possible, we're
launching a seamless integration between Google and Shopify, which
simplifies getting product inventory live as well as enables
Shop Pay for Shopify merchants as a payment option across Google surfaces. I want to welcome Harley from Shopify
to share more about our work together to ensure more merchants
can get discovered on Google. SHOPIFY Thank you, Bill. Like you said, we are building a version of
commerce where all merchants can succeed. This means leveling
the playing field and giving every independent business the
same opportunity to reach customers. Shopify democratizes commerce for
independent businesses and entrepreneurs, in the same way Google has
democratized access to information. Most recently,
we extended our collaboration by making the onboarding
frictionless and faster for merchants. And now, we're looking towards what's next, helping merchants get
discovered across Google while enabling the best commerce
experience for both users and merchants. Today, we're announcing
that we're bringing Shop Pay, one of the fastest and
most secure checkouts on the internet, to anyone buying from
Shopify merchants on Google. Last year, customers placed
more than 137 million orders on Shop Pay. Merchants love Shop Pay too because its conversion rate is
almost twice as high as a typical checkout. And now, even more merchants and their customers can experience
the combined magic of Shopify and Google. Merchants like Ana,
the founder of Xena Workwear. Working as an engineer in manufacturing,
I was frustrated with my bulky safety boots. They were designed for men
and made it impossible to feel confident. I founded Xena Workwear
to develop stylish safety shoes and functional apparel that
empower women in demanding industries. Creating a store in Shopify
really helped me connect directly with our customers
and hear their honest feedback. Since our target audience is very niche, we
have to be smart with our marketing spend. Google Shopping
campaigns were just perfect. They allowed us to visually
show our beautiful products to women who are ready to buy. Google's integration with Shopify
made it really easy to get started. Just a few clicks were needed to install the Google channel, sync
our product feed, and go live. Shopping campaigns
have been very successful. Ads delivered up to
eight times the return on investment and more than 90% of sales
came from new customers who had never heard of us before. I'm really excited about the possibilities. We will be scaling our
Google investment to help more women around the
world discover Xena Workwear. This is just one of many developments in how we're building
for the future of shopping. Three core principles are the
foundation of our product development. First, crafting and
sharing the open ecosystem. This means bringing the industry
along with us with every new innovation so we can share our progress and
remain the best possible partners to you. Second, knowing the
shopper is always right. It may sound cliche,
but it's endured for a reason. We strive to help you build
the best consumer experience from discovery to check out. Finally, letting businesses
focus on their business. We're always working to update
and distribute insights and trends and provide easy seamless set up
processes, so you can focus on what matters. No matter where you are in your journey, Google is here to help your business
be ready for whatever comes next. UP NEXT YOUR CUSTOMERS:
FROM DISCOVERY TO CHECKOUT Today, shopping is something we are
always doing, whether it's conscious or not. In line at the pharmacist
scrolling through my Discover feed, I came across an Architectural Digest
article on the best throw pillow brands. I subconsciously kept the list in my head until I was ready
to dive deep into my options and ultimately buy the perfect pillows. And last weekend, when
having the option of curbside pickup helped me find
that last-minute birthday present. These moments each
require a distinct experience. I'm not just looking
for product information. The type of info I need varies
based on the product category, how I want to purchase it,
and where I am in my decision making. To help merchants get discovered in each
of these moments, we need to build curated immersive experiences tailored
to shoppers' specific needs. We just shared that with product feeds on
Discovery ads and Video action campaigns you can now highlight your most
relevant products across Google and YouTube. There are more places
than ever to get discovered. Year over year, searches for local
businesses have grown by more than 80%. And searches for "in stock"
have grown globally by over 800%. Last year, we launched new
ways for you to show customers which products are available in-store,
and that you offer curbside pickup or in-store pickup all in your
business profile on Search for free. With stores starting to open up,
we're adding new ways for you to promote and highlight your in-store
inventory through local inventory ads. You can now highlight products that
are available for immediate store pickup curbside pickup,
and those available to pick up later. We're also extending curbside pickup
and in-store shopping labels to YouTube and Maps ads, and letting you highlight
in store products across more platforms so you can reach
customers wherever they shop. These days, shoppers seek value. Searches for "discount code"
have increased 50% since last year. And you've asked for more
opportunities to showcase deals and connect with price-conscious shoppers. Later this year, we're launching our new
deals results page on Search and shopping. Shoppers can now easily
discover the most popular deals for all their shopping
needs throughout the year. These are just a few of the ways we're helping you connect
with shoppers across their entire journey. GROWING YOUR BRAND,
WINNING SUPER FANS The online shopping experience
is a bit of a contradiction. Shoppers want choice,
but too much is also overwhelming. So, it's important to
build your brand and stand out. Help people understand who you are, what's your story,
and why they should buy your products. That's why today, we're excited
to share how we're working on ways to help businesses enhance
their brand presence across Google. 71% of consumers prefer to buy from
companies that align with their values. To help shoppers do that,
we want to share information that speaks to your brand's identity. We started that work earlier this year,
indicating when a business identifies as a Black-owned business
across Google Search and Maps. We'll expand these attributes
on the Shopping tab to women-led and other e-commerce companies owned
and led by underrepresented communities, enabling shoppers to buy from
businesses and products they believe in. To keep those loyal customers engaged, we're launching a way to integrate
your merchant loyalty program with Google. You can show your members
their loyalty pricing and benefits and entice new people to join your program. While retail stores have been
shuttered for much of 2020, people still want to be able
to see a product in front of them or even see how it would
look on them before purchasing. Last year, we launched an
augmented reality experience to help people see what beauty
products like lipstick and eyeshadow, would look on people
with a range of skin tones, or even virtually try it on yourself. We've been partnering
with brands including L'Oreal MAC Cosmetics, BLK/OPL, and
Charlotte Tilbury to bring this to life. And soon, we'll be adding foundation to the
AR Makeup Kit, and roll this out globally. We're also building out
a new apparel experience to see how clothes fit
on a diverse set of people too. Experiences such as these allow
brands to more personally engage and connect with a vast
and diverse set of shoppers out there and help them find the
right products for them. We also understand
how important it is for you to share what makes your business special. To share your story, we're experimenting
with new ways to surface videos, lifestyle imagery, and rich story formats, in addition to your
products and prices on Google. Here's a sneak peek. It's all about helping consumers
learn more about your brand and products and how you can reach consumers
in an engaging and personal way. We want to give you the tools to curate
how your brand appears to consumers and make it super easy to manage your
content and products across Google products. More to come throughout the year. So, stay tuned. I'm Greg Revelle,
Chief Marketing Officer at Kohl's. Kohl's is a leading omnichannel retailer
with more than 1,150 stores nationwide. With a bold vision to be the most
trusted retailer of choice for the active and casual lifestyle, we offer
our 65 million customers an accessible and aspirational brand portfolio,
an industry-leading loyalty program and a seamless shopping
experience across our stores and online. Kohl's has been on an incredible
journey these past few years, but 2020 was one of the
most pivotal years in our history. As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, we made the difficult decision to close our
entire fleet of stores for several weeks, becoming a completely
digital business overnight. In order to meet the
needs of our customers, our digital channels had to work harder. And we worked with our media partners,
including Google, to help make that happen. With consumers staying home, the demand
for much of our mainstay apparel shifted. So our in-house media team
worked with Google to automate and optimize our investment
seamlessly into trending categories like athleisure, wellness, and
home office, pivoting with consumer needs. Our ability to learn and shift investments
quickly helped our brand stand out, increasing our digital sales
and attracting new customers. With these new customers coming to Kohl's,
we doubled down on our loyalty program. Building on our strength in loyalty
and value, we launched Kohl's Rewards which is rooted in our
customer favorite, Kohl's Cash. The refresh simplifies our rewards program, enriching it with personalized benefits
all focused on the Kohl's app. We believe Kohl's Rewards represents
the very latest thinking in retail loyalty - simple, personalized, and rooted in a
value proposition that is unique to Kohl's. Partners like Google have helped
us to drive with more speed and agility enabling us to provide our
30 million loyalty members with benefits tailored to them. INNOVATION THROUGH INSIGHTS 2020 taught us that people
rapidly change their purchasing behaviors to meet their current needs. We see this reflected on Google, where
15% of searches every day are brand new. We know that shopper insights
are the lifeblood of your business and allow you to react quickly,
and make strategic decisions in real time. Google's unique understanding
of what matters to consumers can enable your business for a digital
transformation that drives results today, while building long-term
resilience and growth, so you're ready for whatever comes next. Take M.M.LaFleur. During the pandemic, they
leveraged Google's Insights page to monitor search queries. They noticed an uptick in searches
for joggers and comfortable denim. So, they renamed and refined
relevant product descriptions in their line to match consumer demand. We're just getting started
building better tools to deliver real-time actionable insights that help
you shop at the speed of culture. To reach that speed, understanding the efficiency of your
marketing efforts is a huge advantage. Let's say you're checking a product's
performance and notice it's gone up. This may seem like an area of value where
you'd want to invest more marketing spend. But you also might wonder, is this
product's performance really improving? Or was it an overall shift in the market? Our new Competitive visibility report brings insights beyond
your own performance. So, you can drill down into external
factors like your competitor landscape and see how your share of
voice compares to your competitors. From there, we present
you with suggested actions. One of those might be to adjust pricing. Our recently launched
price competitiveness report draws back the curtain on how other
businesses are pricing similar products showing which prices get clicks,
allowing you to be more competitive. We know that a tangible way of
measuring value is through your conversions or products sold through Google. We're working on reporting that shows how your free listings
are helping you drive more sales. By gleaning real-time signals
from what shoppers are clicking on, how your competitors
are pricing and performing, seasonality fluctuations, and more, Google is
giving you a leg up like we did with ASOS. My name is Carolina Vicente, and I'm
the Director of Media Investment at ASOS. ASOS's purpose is to give people the
confidence to be whoever they want to be. We believe fashion
thrives on individuality and it should be fun for everyone. But last year with the pandemic,
people's lives changed dramatically and the role of fashion
in their lives changed with it. This meant that we needed to adapt quickly to meet the changing
needs of our customers. ASOS teamed up with Google to better understand
how consumer needs were shifting. We used Search
to predict shopping trends by identifying the fastest rising
and falling apparel categories. What we saw was a shift from
occasion wear to casual wear which let us know
we needed to bring things like sweatshirts and loungewear to the forefront. These insights, coupled with Google's
machine learning and automation, helped us scale our reach to the
right customers across the globe. For example, we used the Smart Bidding and targeting capability of Video action
campaigns and Discovery campaigns to reach new customers and
re-engage our existing customers with content around what we knew shoppers
were looking for across Google's surfaces. As a result, we achieved
double-digit conversion increases. While we don't always
know what the future will bring, having a partner like Google makes us
more confident that we'll have the insights and the tools to respond
to our customers' needs and can continue to make
fashion fun for everyone. As Jerry mentioned, trust is
key to customer relationships in a cookie-free future. We can create great,
privacy-safe experiences for people while helping your business reach
shoppers and achieve your goals. For us, it's about investing in practices
that ensure a safe shopping experience which is why we have policies against
selling products that enable violence. We also want to ensure shoppers are
kept safe while browsing or buying online, so we take into account secure
checkout flows and clear return policies. When shopping on Google, and with you, customers know they're going to
have a high-quality, safe experience. We also know policies can
cause friction and frustration in your experience on Merchant Center. That's why my team is investing
in solutions that provide clear actionable insights into policy violations with recommendations
on how to fix the issue, as well as tailored
troubleshooting resources to keep your products up and running. To make it easier for people
to shop your business on Google, we're bringing all buying options
together in a cohesive experience anytime they connect
with your product on a Google surface - whether they visit your
e-commerce site, buy on Google, or visit your store down the street. Shoppers get to see everything
you have to offer in one place to pick the buying option
that makes the most sense for them. We're currently testing this
experience on Search and the Shopping tab and plan to bring them
to additional surfaces like YouTube and Images later this year. And if you're anything like me,
I put products I'm shopping for in carts and end up with a ton of
open tabs that are hard to keep track of. Now, you'll be able to see
your open carts in one place when you open a new tab in Chrome, plus
any discounts the retailer may be offering. And more, we're happy to announce
that merchants on WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square will soon have access
to the same 10-minute integration to get on Google to sell for free, helping even more businesses
get started and reach more customers. These are just some of the exciting
innovations my team has planned for 2021. We're excited to partner
with you on this journey. Our goal at Google is to help shoppers find what they're after and let
businesses thrive, by connecting the two. To achieve that,
we're focused on four things. Building an open ecosystem where merchants of
all sizes can grow their business. Helping you reach shoppers
at the right decision-making moments across their journey. Building experiences that'll
let you tell your brand story and gain fans who will come back
to share in it again and again. And helping businesses like yours
take real-time action on consumer insights. From shopping to
advertising to measurement, all of us at Google are
building toward a future with privacy-safe technologies
designed to deliver results. And hopefully,
after hearing about our plans, you're ready to market for today
while preparing for tomorrow. Thanks for joining us. We look forward to charting a
course forward, together with you. TRANSFORMING FOR THE FUTURE Hello, I’m Allan Thygesen,
President for the Americas at Google and I hope you’ve been enjoying the
incredible program we’ve put together. You’ve just heard about
how our products and features can help you be ready for what’s next. And in just a minute, we’re going
to open things up for a conversation with digital leaders
who are doing just that. But first, I want to point out that
this year, we’ve made it easier than ever for you to choose an
experience tailored to your interests, your needs, and your reality. That’s exactly what many of you
have done for your customers every day over the last 15 months.
It’s what we do as marketers and it’s never been more important because the world has shifted
under our feet since March of 2020. We’re still in a period of uncertainty
and it’s going to continue for some time so that poses a fundamental
challenge to every marketer. How can we drive results for
today and build resilience for tomorrow when tomorrow is harder
to predict than it’s ever been? If you take just one thing away
from our program today, I hope it’s this. You don’t have to choose between solving
for the success of your business today or for success over the long term. Because the things that best position you
for success today are the very same things that will set your business
up for success tomorrow. It starts with being privacy-safe,
because protecting consumer privacy is how we earn the right
to be invited into their lives. Once we’ve earned that privilege,
we have to respect their time. We can do that by being insights-led
by demonstrating every single time we interact with people that we
understand and can help meet their needs. The key to understanding those
needs is found in consumer behavior that’s changing faster
than it ever has before. And to pivot at the speed of
consumers in real-time and at scale, you have to be agile in the way
that only automation can enable. That kind of agility is only
possible if your business is data-driven, so you can see and measure
what’s happening across your business. And lastly, building a team that’s
digitally adept with the right skillsets and capabilities is the single
best way to drive results today and to future-proof your business. The good news is,
you don’t have to take the five steps I’ve just outlined all at once, because
the kind of digital transformation I’m describing doesn’t have
to be a big expensive project. It can and should be an
organic, value-adding process. It’s a process you can undertake and start
to see real results almost immediately while building the kind of resilience your business needs to
succeed over the long haul. So to dive deeper into this I’m going to ask an expert
in transformational change to join me to talk about how he’s partnering
with Google to help Ford be ready for the car buyer of tomorrow. Later, my colleague, Selin Song,
will be joined by e.l.f. Beauty’s CMO and Keys Soulcare President,
Kory Marchisotto and Alicia Keys, award-winning music artist,
author, and founder of Keys Soulcare. They’ll discuss how brands can
leverage innovation and creativity to drive growth in the face
of challenges and uncertainty. Hi Jim, thanks for joining us. Now there’s really no better person
to talk about modernizing business and profound transformation
than you, so, let’s get right into it. Business transformation has
been a buzzword for years now, but last year’s events
really accelerated the urgency around agility and transformation. Now you’ve been an auto industry
transformation advocate for years. Why has it been such an
important priority for you? I think now the transformation, Allan, is a basic requirement for the going
concern of an enterprise like Ford. It’s only recently become clear that survival for a company like
Ford requires transformation. Transformation here
really means modernizing, but also disrupting our operations. There’s clearly not a one-size-
fits-all approach to transformation. As a Fortune 10 company,
what does transformation at Ford look like? Can you talk to us about any
unique challenges or opportunities that you have run into
as a brand with 190,000 employees and offices in 125
countries around the world? I’d say universal to the industry
is the move to a digital product, including electrification,
is a huge change. The modernization of our company
is to move to an always-on relationship with the customer where we can
change the products dynamically with software, and
that customer relationship is not episodic. It’s every day. To do that, we need to
vertically integrate a lot of know-how that we’ve had to do for 100 years. We never really thought of always-on,
digital, software-enabled services using the data off the vehicle for
our quality loop, all that is really new. What’s unique to Ford
in our transformation is really our commercial
vehicle lineup, our passion products. We’re the kind of company that can
do Broncos and Super Dutys and Mustangs even electric ones, and they’ll feel
really different than our competitors. So we need to lean into
those real passion products. And the last one is going on a per
mile basis which is really also different. It’s kind of the ultimate disruption. And it really disrupts Henry’s original
idea of personal ownership of the vehicle. We have to execute in a
way that others haven’t so far. I would say the last two
are really unique to Ford. In February, you announced the
strategic partnership with Google to elevate the automotive industry and
to reinvent the connected car experience. So can you share what excites
you the most about this partnership? Initially, it was that Google
was really serious about building an experience
platform for the inside the vehicle that would be super competitive for
customers, better than what we do today. We have huge datasets from millions
of vehicles that are now connected. We have to analyze that,
make use of them for our customers and your cloud services are
really a great tool to do that. We’re applying AI
inside the car, in our industrial system, and manufacturing supply chain and having access to the
best AI thinkers in the world. I know from our
meetings that you’ve got a great affinity for and
understanding of marketing. What do you see as the role marketing
can play to deliver against your goals of delivering a superior customer
experience and deepening customer loyalty? What would transformation
look like on the marketing side? That’s a really good question. I think the real big transition for
us as a company and our industry is we have to stop being
obsessed with conquest and we have to start putting all of our
resources on taking care of the customers that already love the
brand and own our product. And this is a fundamental shift.
There’s a new model that’s available because of this digital
relationship with the customer because the product is digital
now with ownership experiences. Now transformation
is an ongoing process. Where do you see
Ford taking it next? Well, as I said, we’re just beginning
the process with a digital product that’s connected all the time and
that’s going to be a big change for us. Probably the biggest is going to be to a software services
dominated company and brand. I think that’s going to take a long time. Right now, I’d say we’re kind of in the
first inning of nine in our transformation. General management will help
our team get more focused, but the big change is definitely going
to be the software talent and know-how, really enabling a whole different
experience for our customers and that organization
change will be the biggest and potentially the most
difficult for the organization. How are your c-suite colleagues,
you have a full team there, the CFO and the CMO for example,
how do they play a unique role in contributing to your
company wide transformation goals? Both the CFO and the CMO are new to
my management team. That’s a good thing. The chief marketing officer, Suzie, we really wanted someone
who had a deep service experience. The best metaphor for the transformation
of our industry is probably mobile. And so a marketer
who really knows services and that loyalty play
is very important to me. So I think we have the
right team, but it’s very different skills. You’ve been a fantastic partner to Google, and I think we can’t wait to
take the relationship to the next level with the new partnership and to make
Ford even more relevant for the next 100 years. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Allan. DISRUPTING AN INDUSTRY Hello to everyone
joining us from around the world. I’m Selin Song, Vice President of
Google Customer Solutions in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. My team works with thousands of
businesses to help them succeed online. And this past year, our
partnership has taken on new meaning. As COVID-19 disrupted consumer behavior, we worked through these shifts with
our advertisers and innovated together as we found new ways to reach customers. Today, we’ll dive into a business
who has leveraged their agile culture and digital infrastructure to succeed. In a year when retail e-commerce
sales grew by nearly 28% worldwide as shoppers can no longer touch,
feel, and directly experience products, e.l.f. Beauty quickly pivoted and
found new ways to connect with customers. They even launched a new brand,
Keys Soulcare, during this time. We’re thrilled to be
joined by CMO of e.l.f. Beauty and president of Keys Soulcare,
Kory Marchisotto and award-winning artist and Keys Soulcare founder, Alicia Keys. Thank you both for being here today. I guess the first question is for Kory. Kory, you lovingly refer
to e.l.f. as the OG digital disruptor and it’s probably enabled you
to do things during the pandemic that a lot of people
thought was impossible. To what do you attribute your team’s
success and ability to pivot so quickly? To crystallize this for you, let me boil
it down to four fundamental elements that I would call our rocket fuel. The first is we water the roots of
digital disruption every single day. e.l.f. was born to disrupt. It's in our DNA. We've been making the
impossible possible for over 16 years. The second is we create the
cultural conditions necessary for constant innovation. And that starts with a mindset. The mindset inside the walls of e.l.f. is
anything is "e.l.f.ing" possible. We have a renegade spirit. We have a bias for action. We have a team of
superheroes on board a rocket ship that are agile and always ready to pivot. And probably the thing
I love most about e.l.f. is we're big enough to do great things,
but small enough to be nimble. The third thing is
we have our ear to the ground. We have a relentless focus on the
needs, wants, and desires of our community. We're committed to not only
listening, but fostering deep relationships and making sure that all
of our action plans are built on the backs of consumer insights. And the fourth and probably the
biggest sun that radiates the most warmth in our sky, is that we put purpose
at the center of everything we do. e.l.f. is a bold
disruptor with a kind heart. We're committed every day to inclusive,
accessible, and cruelty-free beauty. Really, the combination of these
elements: disruption, innovation, culture community-obsessed,
and purpose-driven at the center that really allowed us to
thrive before the pandemic and to enter the pandemic
from a position of strength. Now, if you couple
that with Alicia's spirit, her essence and her vibe, that's
the rocket fuel that allowed us to create and launch Keys Soulcare
during the pandemic. Alicia, even with e.l.f.'s partnership,
building a brand from scratch is just no small feat, especially in
an industry that's 100 years old. What motivated you to start Keys Soulcare? And what were you hoping to
bring to this established industry? This concept of soul care, having
this idea that we have nail care and hair care and ear care and
skin care, we have all of these cares but there's never been
any talk about soul care. And the day that we landed on that, we
just knew that it resonated so beautifully. And this idea of connecting with rituals and things that you can do
for yourself on a daily basis. And then, these offerings
that we have are the vehicle from which you can be
reminded to choose yourself. So, to do that in such a short period
of time, is definitely, I know for a fact that that wouldn't have happened
if I didn't have e.l.f. as a partner. Under a year is almost like, I don't think
that, it might not have ever been done. And that's not because it was
done without care and thought. It's because there was so
much connected perspective and kindredness and purpose and ideals that were shared, that we were able
to zoom in a way that just felt natural. That is incredible
to hear, and so inspiring. Kory, you are known for
your out-of-the-box thinking and Alicia, you're an artist at heart. How do you ensure that your creative vision
really comes to life in a digital world? The starting point is never digital. After you understand
what is the human experience and what problem are we trying to solve?
Then we use technology to power that human experience.
But never lose sight of the fact that it starts always and at the center
radiating the human experience. And if you think about one of our
most incredible launch moments and really the launch pad,
it was the Keys Soulcare Lounge. And that's where we use the power of
technology to create this human immersion. And this deep dive into the essence
and into the soul of Keys Soulcare. When the whole pandemic started,
I remember a friend called me and said, "Alicia,
I know you really like in-person. I know you like to do your shows,
and you like to see people in their face. And I know you'd like to be
right there with everybody but I just want you to know
that don't be shy of the digital space because it's going
to be really special for you." And at the time, I was a little shy. I was a little bit like, "Ahh. How does it come off?" And I did start to open up
to this digital relationship. I think that brought us together in
a great way as the great disruptors that e.l.f. always
has been, especially digitally and me coming into my own in that world and being able to do it
together felt super natural. And it was right on time. The pandemic has led to a
number of unexpected changes, but the reality is that change is constant. Kory, how is the work that
you've done this year going to inform your marketing strategy moving forward? I'm going to boil it down into
something that is super simple and really obvious and easy to
say, but maybe not so easy to do. Double-down on the stuff that's working,
and let go of the stuff that isn't. Just let it go, just let it go. So, if I think about
the stuff that's working that we're going to
continue to double-down on, the first is create real value
for our growing communities. And we're going to continue to use
technology to power the human experience. And as there are more tools available, we'll continue to harness them
to add value to people's lives and their journeys
and to help them along their path. I think some of what you have said
has really worked for us and obviously for e. l. f. is this community, and
continuing to do what feels authentic to the community
and resonates with community. I just love the camaraderie and the desire to really allow
it to be everybody's journey. And that is what I think is special. And it doesn't just
get stuck on one person. It's our journey. All right, to close, I'd like
to ask you both to look forward. Based on what you've
learned over the past year, what is your top tip for brand leaders
as they navigate into the future? My top tip is just be honest. You know what I mean?
Be genuine, be for real. I know as just a human being, I
can tell when people are selling me stuff. I don't want to be sold to. I don't want to be marketed to. I don't want to be told what to like. I don't want to be told what to do. I want it to feel like people are really
conscious of what's going on around them what's happening to all of us,
where we all are in our growth, all of us. Because I think that's something
we've been able to see this year so well that we actually had a
collective growth spurt. And so, I would say that's
the best way to connect. And that's the best way to disrupt because you're actually just doing the
most important thing, which is honesty. Who would have ever thought that honesty
and real truth could be at the forefront? And I feel like we're at that time now. That's what we're looking for. Another perfect example of exactly
why we call her our goddess in chief. And so, I'm going to boil it
down to what I call the three C's. The three C's are
curiosity, courage, and conviction. So, why curiosity? You have to have a voracious
appetite for listening and learning. Expand your horizons. And most importantly, spend most
of your time with what you don't know. Second is courage. Be bold enough to think
without borders, without boundaries. The first day we met Alicia she challenged us to reach for the highest
vision, but that's a very powerful mission. Reach for the highest vision. And that means, see beyond
yourself, see beyond your roles see beyond your industry, find the
magic that happens at the intersection. And if you spend most of your
time outside of your comfort zone you're going to find
yourself blazing new trails. And the third part is conviction. Why conviction, right? Because you could have curiosity
and learn all these great things and courage to carry them forward. But if you don't have conviction you won't be able to carry it
all the way through to the end. Because the path from idea
to execution, it's not linear. It is not linear. It is long, it is winding, it's filled with
roadblocks and hurdles and speed bumps. So, to carry your idea and action plan,
you have to have a relentless conviction and don't let anyone dim
your light, or tell you you can't. And if they tell you you can't, let that be the fuel
that you need to show them that you can. Yes, love that. Period. Mic drop. That was wonderful. Thank you. SHOWING UP AUTHENTICALLY Hi everyone, thank you
so much for joining us today. My name is Angela Courtin, and I’m the
Vice President of YouTube Brand Marketing. You’ve heard from our product
experts and top customers today. As we conclude, we wanted to create a
space for an equally important discussion around uncomfortable conversations. 2020 was a year that forced
the world to reckon with the structural and systemic racism that communities of
color have experienced over generations. More recently, we’ve seen a rise in
anti-Asian violence across the US as well. In response, Google searched
for answers within its own walls and announced several company-wide
commitments to racial equity which included increasing representation and retention of members
of the Black community and establishing a range of
anti-racism educational programs. That's why I'm thrilled to be
moderating today's discussion with Emmanuel Acho to
speak to the importance of open and uncomfortable conversations
and how brands can be ready to show up authentically for employees and customers. Now, you may know Emmanuel from his YouTube
channel where he is the host and producer of Uncomfortable
Conversations with a Black Man. More recently, as the host of The
Bachelor's "After the Final Rose" ceremony or from his four years
as a linebacker in the NFL where he played for the Cleveland Browns,
Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants. Emmanuel, thanks for joining us today. I'm excited to be
speaking with a fellow Texan and someone who's been part
of two of my favorite franchises, the NFL and The Bachelor. I know I just gave a very quick
overview, but you've had a storied career. And I'd like to hear about your
journey from the NFL to YouTube to where you are now. Well, Angela, here's the first question. What franchise do you more
prefer, the NFL or The Bachelor? I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan. So, I'm going to say the
NFL through and through. I love it. I played in the National
Football League, but before that because that's truly
irrelevant without what came prior. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. I went to an affluent, all boys predominantly
white, college preparatory school. And then, you play
college football in Texas. And then, you go on to play in the NFL. So, Angela, my upbringing it had me immersed in white culture
in middle school and high school. But then, also immersed in
Black culture playing in the NFL which is roughly 77% to 75% Black. Why is that relevant? Why does that matter? Because I was first-generation American. My parents were born in Nigeria. So, they came to
America with a blank canvas as far as all these
conversations regarding race. And then, I had white culture painted on to my mind being immersed
in this predominantly white school. Then Black culture painted
onto the canvas of my mind. And so, now, I'm fully literate, if you
will, in Black culture and white culture all the while being Nigerian-cultured. Meaning, I'm listening to Nigerian music growing up eating
Nigerian foods, et cetera. And then, Uncomfortable Conversations
with a Black Man begins and it emerges. And so, many people ask me,
"Emmanuel, what was your inspiration behind Uncomfortable
Conversations with a Black Man?" And I very somberly respond,
"There wasn't an inspiration. There was a devastation." I was devastated to creating Uncomfortable
Conversations with a Black Man. After the murder of George Floyd literally a year ago,
I was like, "What do I do?" I was weeping in my house in Austin,
Texas, didn't know if I should scream if I should cry, if I should vent. I didn't know what to do. And Angela,
I realized my voice is my sword. We rented an all-white room space. And I sat in the chair for
nine minutes, 27 seconds. I'm sitting in this chair, looking
dead into the center of this camera and I just poured out my heart. And within five days,
we have 25 million views. And the rest was history. Yeah, it's fascinating. I've actually spent time on your channel and I was struck by the first
episode which was really so heartfelt. And then, you took on two other
Texans for episodes two and three. Talk about these conversations. So, I mean, honestly, I'm so
glad you found a home on YouTube where you can bring these stories
to our platform in our community. Yeah, Angela, I've realized that, well, one there are so many incredible mediums
in which we can reach this world. And I don't like complaining about
an issue if I'm doing nothing to fix it. And so, I realized, wait a second,
YouTube has been an incredible medium by which I can
amplify content, true genuine content by which I can amplify empathy. The only way you can achieve
empathy is through understanding. And the fact of the matter is, so many
people don't know what they don't know. Yeah, it's such a great point. Because if you think
about our audience today you've got a bunch of storytellers who
are in the business of ads and marketing. And I think about what do you think
about when you craft a great story? And maybe it is intention. What do you do to make them powerful? And obviously, where do you
think storytellers go wrong? I clap for really good questions. Where storytellers go wrong is that they all look at the same
thing through one vantage point. So, they're only telling
the story through their own lens. And storytellers have to do a better
job of saying, "Hey, how do you see this? Hey, how do you see this?
Hey, how do you see this?" And trying to fully
encapsulate the totality of the story. If you're talking about
any story, there's my truth there's Angela's truth,
and there's the truth. There's typically
three sides to every story. So, when you're trying to tell a story how I've done it with Uncomfortable
Conversations with a Black Man I know the Black
perspective because I am Black. I understand the white perspective because
I have been immersed in white culture. So, storytellers - if you aren't
yourself immersed in variety, immersed in versatility, then make sure you have a team
around you that is immersed in that. So, what can storytellers do? Diversify the lenses
from which they tell the story and make sure the
height of the story is potent. I love that. Switching gears a little bit, and
maybe taking on a more serious tone to what you've been delivering since you
were moved by George Floyd's murder. Last month, we saw justice was delivered by
the courts in Minneapolis over his murder. This week was the one-year
anniversary of his tragic loss of life. The conversation that moment
sparked about systemic racism, inequity and racial violence has
had a worldwide significance. We've also seen an acceleration
of commitments from companies when it comes to advancing racial justice. As someone that has
worked across multiple industries, what guidance would you give
brands trying to find their authentic voice in this space for their
customers and their employees? Well, let's go back a
month in time if we can. I vividly remember hearing
a quote after that trial. And it said that justice
implies true restoration. What we saw with the decision after the
George Floyd murder was accountability. Now, accountability is a
first step toward justice. But justice implies true
restoration which we can't get particularly in the tragedy of George Floyd. However, accountability is that first step. As for non-performative actions we have to be very, very,
very cognizant of our why. When I first got on the phone
with Oprah, after the first episode of Uncomfortable Conversations with
a Black Man, Angela, she calls me. She's sitting in her kitchen and
she asked me this one question which I will ask you, Angela, but it's
really for every company to ask themselves. She said this, "What is your intention?" I said, "Oprah, my intention is to change
the world and I truly believe that I can." So, what I will implore every company to do
is ask yourself, "What is your intention?" If we navigate life without intentions,
then we will navigate a meaningless life. if we navigate business without intentions then we will navigate a
meaningless business. It's easy to be successful. It is hard to be significant. So, I just ask every individual and
every company to challenge themselves. Before making a statement,
before joining in the fight, before starting an initiative--
ask yourself, what is your intention? And choose significance over
success when at all possible. I really want to thank you, Emmanuel. I mean, I guess, it's shouldn't be as rare that people are struck by something
and then motivated to do something. And I'm really inspired by you. I'm enlightened, and I love your program. I have watched it with my daughter. I feel like we're so blessed
to have you on the platform. We're obviously
so blessed to have you here. And to experience your
intention and your significance. And obviously, for those of
you who haven't seen his work on Uncomfortable
Conversations with a Black Man I encourage you and urge you
to check it out on his YouTube channel. Emmanuel, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure, and I look
forward to what you have yet to come. Thank you. Angela, thank you. Thank you for joining us
for Google Marketing Livestream. We’re just getting started,
so be sure to stay tuned for more sessions
to help you be ready for what’s next. And you can always learn
more about today’s announcements on the Google Ads blog and on Ads on air.
