Google has turned to Aussie icon Sharon Strzelecki to help show how a suite of newly launched AI-powered tools can help Australian businesses find new customers and grow.
Sharon, played by comedian and actress Magda Szubanski, fronts the new campaign, which shows her using a range of ad tools to find customers for her ‘Bowled & Beautiful’ hairdressing business.
It comes as challenging economic conditions make doing business and finding new customers more difficult for many businesses. New research from Google and Kantar has found that almost two-thirds (61 per cent) of Australian small and medium businesses (SMBs) saw acquiring new customers as their ‘number one’ challenge.
To help businesses address this challenge and get more from their marketing spend, Google has newly launched a range of AI-powered tools in Australia, including:
- A smarter AI-powered sign-up process that automatically pulls text and images from your website, saving you time and getting you started faster.
- Performance Max – a simpler AI-powered campaign type, is now the default campaign for new advertisers. Performance Max has been found to deliver 27 per cent more conversions at a similar average cost per acquisition than a standard Google Ads Search campaign.
- Free Tools, including Product Studio and Asset Generation that help you quickly and easily create ads for you to use in your campaigns using Generative AI. Plus, you get to keep the assets generated.
Research from Kantar showed that 82 per cent of marketers who’ve adopted AI tools in their campaign management say it has improved marketing performance and efficiency.
“We know that SMB owners are among the most time-poor people on the planet, and in today’s economic climate they also need their marketing to deliver more with less. That’s why we’re so excited about the integration of Google AI into our Ads solutions – it’s delivering better performance and making it easier to manage. At Google we’re committed to putting this powerful technology in the hands of all Australian businesses, regardless of their size or budget,” said Mark Wheeler, director of ads marketing at Google Australia.
Sharon Strzelecki fronts the new campaign that showcases the tools and how easy it is for businesses to set up and use them to find new customers. It seems so easy that even an accident-prone indoor leg-spinner and small business owner from Fountain Lakes can do it.
“Shaz is a very special character, and I wanted to ensure that her evolution into a business owner was true to her spirit as an everyday Aussie who is giving it her best crack. Working with Emotive and Google across long-form content ensured that we could tell an authentic story. The fact that Shaz is helping her fellow entre-prenuers … well I think that’s exactly the type of person she is!” said Szubanski.
The campaign, creatively conceived and produced by Emotive, features a mini mockumentary film and 60s, 30s, and 15s ads complemented by an in-depth’ how-to’ video in which Sharon walks us through the steps of setting up Google Ads. There’s even a cameo from ex-Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist.
Further blurring the lines between fiction and reality, Sharon also appears on David Koch’s “Kochie’s Business Builders” program on Channel 7 and has launched her very own Bowled & Beautiful website.
“Being successful with Digital Advertising is a must for SMBs. And Marketing is always the no.1 challenge SMBs talk to me about. So it’s fantastic to see Google Ads harnessing AI & continually improving, plus, launching the message to the masses with Sharon in such an engaging way has been a real blast,” said Koch.
“It’s been a thrill working with a comedic genius like Magda. When we set-out creating the ad, we knew it was critical that building an authentic world for Sharon would mean that the audience would engage deeply with the story we were presenting. Plus, since we knew this would be a YouTube led campaign, we weren’t timeboxed to a classic ‘15 or ‘30 second Ad. This meant we had the creative licence to tell the story in the most engaging way and not squeeze it into a specific time frame,” said Zane Pearson, director at Emotive Production.
The campaign will roll out across digital ATL, social media, and select media integrations starting on 1 July.
CREDITS
Google AU : Mark Wheeler, Duncan McGrath, Martin Dowling, Dana Markovic
Emotive Creative & Production: Ben Keep, Ben Sampson, Hayley Ritz-Pelling, Jess Ameduri, Michael Dawson, Michael
Hogg, Monika Vidovic, Rebecca Love-Williams, Rory Pearson, Sam Gadsden, Simon Joyce, Sophia Delimihalis, Tyler
Ronaldson, Zane Pearson
Research & Insights: Pollinate & Kantar
