The Best GMP Updates Part 2: More Platform News To Get Excited About in 2021

GMP Updates Part 2: GA4 | CM360 | GTM | Surveys 360

Our media and analytics experts are sharing their takes on the best new Google enhancements and what updates we can expect in 2021. If you missed part one, you can still read it, here, to get the latest on Cloud, Display & Video 360 (DV360), Search Ads 360 (SA360), Data Studio and Optimize.

Up next? Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Campaign Manager 360 (CM360), Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Surveys. Here’s what the pros have to say:

Welcome to Google Analytics 4 with Charles Farina

In 2020, Google rebranded App + Web as GA4, marking the first major analytics revamp in years. It also released BigQuery integration to all users, making it easier than ever to export your raw data into the warehouse. Another major update? Audience triggers that enable advanced conversion setups. With more than two dozen analytics updates, it was a big year!

We expect to see a similar amount of releases in 2021. Our hope is that we begin to see many of the other Google integrations added, too, including Search Console, CM360 and Google Optimize. We also think the user interface will go through a few different iterations as Google works to optimize it and incorporate new features. 

Google has shared that more privacy features are on the way. Our hope? That the updates allow marketers to work with new consented data frameworks. Lastly, we expect BigQuery and server-side GTM to start playing bigger roles, so expect to hear a lot more about them in the coming months. Stay tuned! Adswerve will continue to be your leader in all things GA4.

A Big Campaign Manager Rebrand with Rene Peketz

2020 saw Google announcing the rebrand of Campaign Manager as Campaign Manager 360 (CM360). This came in direct response to feedback received from marketers who value ad serving as a standalone product closely integrated with Display & Video 360 (DV360). 

Top announcements included the release of an advanced tag wrapping integration as well as the machine learning technology in the attribution tool.

We anticipate that the long-requested in-tool workflow improvements CM360 traffickers have been clamoring for will be satisfied as well. (Hint: Keep an eye out for new bulk upload features!)

So what’s next? The ad-serving industry is regularly presenting new updates, including the introduction of consumer privacy policy, new serving environments such as CTV/OTT and the gradual eradication of third-party cookies. CM360’s reporting and attribution tools will remain a source of truth for first-party data, but we can expect to see advancements that parallel these industry changes. 

The rebrand to CM360 comes at a time where Google’s engineers can lead the charge in filling the gaps that these changes create, and we are equally eager to help your advertisers do the same. With unfamiliar processes on the horizon, Adswerve’s media support team continues to equip ourselves with the latest platform knowledge to aid your teams in sound execution. These are the latest feature launches we encourage your teams to take advantage of:

IAS Automated Third-Party Verification

This new feature enables you to add third-party brand verification measurement to ads in CM360 without the extra steps involved with tag-wrapping. Compared to the previous process, automated third-party verification is quicker and reduces errors by using system-to-system API calls between Google and the vendor. Currently, this is only available for IAS, but expect to see more third-party verification vendors added in the future.

Conversion Modeling

In late September 2020, all attribution models were opted into conversion modeling by default, which means conversion metrics will include modeled conversions going forward. Modeled conversions are inferred for browsers when there isn’t direct conversion tracking information available. This is done using machine learning and will be crucial in a world without cookies. This technology addresses the gaps caused by the reduced availability of certain types of data in conversion measurement due to an increased focus on privacy and regulations.  Learn more with this article from the ‘Think with Google’ series.

Viewable VTCs in Attribution Models

An update to the attribution model creation workflow now allows advertisers to create new models which only attribute view-through conversions to impressions that were viewable. This option is only available for newly created models. However, comparing the new model that only attributes credit to viewable impressions against the old model with all impressions may provide some powerful observations.

GTM Updates with Adrian Wilks

Google is making moves with GTM, too. Here are the top three GTM features to keep an eye on this year:

Consent Mode

Google's solution for managing consent settings provides an extra element of flexibility when setting up tag and pixel configurations in GTM for Google Analytics, Floodlights and Google Ads. One of the more interesting aspects of this functionality is the ability to adjust default measurement behavior depending on the region. For example, a business could configure tracking to deny analytics and ad storage by default to a region that requires express user consent, such as the EU or California. In the same vein, other regions could continue under normal measurement guidelines until requirements change. 

Server-Side GTM

Another update to watch is the continued rollout of server-side tagging capabilities in GTM. It will allow users to control the entirety of the environment on their end while reducing the impact of third-party code on users. As the custom template community continues to flesh out solutions for non-Universal Analytics or GA4 tags, we'll see a lot more support from vendors prompting a continued shift in how the industry goes about approaching tag management.

Preview Mode

Google also introduced the new Preview Mode for GTM last year. It helps streamline the debugging experience when testing tag and script configurations before deployment. Moving from a third-party to a first-party context helps guard the functionality from the upcoming privacy changes that will affect third-party cookies. Installing the Google Tag Assistant extension enables even more features, like the ability to debug more than one Preview Mode session in the same tab. 

The Latest Scoop on Google Surveys with Brent Ramos

Big data is stale. We can no longer enable activation on data without also factoring in what’s commonly known as the “assumption gap.”

The assumption gap represents the human model. Numbers represent personas, but as humans, a persona is only the shadow of a person's beliefs, attitude and assumptions that can change by the moment.. So how can we quantify and get beliefs, attitude, and assumptions into our modeling? Enter Surveys360. 

Surveys360 is the new enterprise version of the existing Surveys version at mid-market. We’re excited to be one of the few partners to support this product, at a very low entry-point. With this tool in your stack, you can run things like brand lift studies, NPS scoring, media creative A/B testing, evergreen brand-health dashboards, product feedback loops, UX studies and much more—all with an agile tool, designed for the media or brand mind. Let us know if you want more information.

As 2021 gets underway, our thought leaders will continue to keep you posted on the Google updates that will make the biggest impact on your day-to-day lives. And if you have any questions in the meantime, we're always ready to help.