The news: Google is testing new tools for its AI-powered Demand Gen campaigns, aimed at shortening the path from a user seeing an ad to becoming a customer. New features are primarily oriented toward travel marketing, aiming to capitalize on the sector’s resilient growth.

• Google is testing a feature that would connect Demand Gen ad viewers with brands through messaging apps.
• Demand Gen will surface local events, activities, and offers to travelers; Google will also personalize hotel ads to specific audiences.
• An expansion of Google’s Multimodal Video Creation feature in Asset Studio allows advertisers to produce different video assets in the same workflow.

The rollout also indicates that discovery platforms are under pressure to prove they can drive outcomes. YouTube has long been valuable for reach and discovery, but tools that connect that attention to lower-funnel actions could make it more useful across marketing objectives.