What’s next for PPC: AI, visual creative and new ad surfaces

PPC is evolving beyond traditional search. Those who adopt new ad formats, smarter creative strategies, and the right use of AI will gain a competitive edge.

Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Product Liaison, and Navah Hopkins, Microsoft’s Product Liaison, joined me for a conversation about what’s next for PPC. Here’s a recap of this special keynote from SMX Next.

Emerging ad formats and channels

When discussing what lies beyond search, both speakers expressed excitement about AI-driven ad formats.

Hopkins highlighted Microsoft’s innovation in AI-first formats, especially showroom ads:

• “Showroom ads allow users to engage and interact with a showroom where the advertiser provides the content, and Copilot provides the brand security.”

She also pointed to gaming as a major emerging ad channel. As a gamer, she noted that many users “justifiably hate the ads that serve on gaming surfaces,” but suggested more immersive, intelligent formats are coming.

Marvin agreed that the landscape is shifting, driven by conversational AI and visual discovery tools. These changes “are redefining intent” and making conversion journeys “far more dynamic” than the traditional keyword-to-click model.

Both stressed that PPC marketers must prepare for a landscape where traditional search is only one of many ad surfaces.

Importance of visual content

A major theme throughout the discussion was the growing importance of visual content. Hopkins summed up the shift by saying:

• “Most people are visual learners… visual content belongs in every stage of the funnel.”

She urged performance marketers to rethink the assumption that visuals belong only at the top of the funnel or in remarketing.

Marvin added that leading with brand-forward visuals is becoming essential, as creatives now play “a much more important role in how you tell your stories, how you drive discovery, and how you drive action.” Marketers who understand their brand’s positioning and reflect it consistently in their creative libraries will thrive across emerging channels.

Both noted that AI-driven ad platforms increasingly rely on strong creative libraries to assemble the right message at the right moment.

Myths about AI and creative

The conversation also addressed misconceptions about AI-generated creative.

Hopkins cautioned against overrelying on AI to build entire creative libraries, emphasizing:

• “AI is not the replacement for our creativity… you should not be delegating full stop your creative to AI.”

Instead, she said marketers should focus on how AI can amplify their work. Campaigns must perform even when only a single asset appears, such as a headline or image. Creatives need to “stand alone” and clearly communicate the brand.

Marvin reinforced the need for a broader range of visual assets than most advertisers maintain. “You probably need more assets than you currently have,” she noted, especially as cross-channel campaigns like Demand Gen depend on testing multiple combinations.

Both positioned AI as an enabler, not a replacement, stressing that human creativity drives differentiation.

Strategic use of assets

Both liaisons emphasized the need for a diverse, adaptable asset library that works across formats and surfaces.

Marvin explained that AI systems now evaluate creative performance individually:

• “Underperforming assets should be swapped out, and high-performing niche assets can tell you something about your audience.”

Hopkins added that distinct creative assets reduce what she called “AI chaos moments,” when the system struggles because assets overlap too closely. Distinctiveness—visual and textual—helps systems identify which combinations perform best.

Both urged marketers to rethink creative planning, treating assets as both brand-building and performance-driving rather than separating the two.

Partnering with AI for measurement

The conversation concluded with a deep dive into what it means to measure performance in an AI-first world.

Hopkins listed the key strategic inputs AI relies on:

• “First-party data, creative assets, ad copy, website content, goals and targets, and budget. These are the things AI uses to optimize towards your business outcomes.”

She also highlighted that incrementality — understanding the true added value of ads — is becoming more important than ever.

Marvin acknowledged the challenges marketers face in letting go of old control patterns, especially as measurement shifts from granular data to privacy-protective models. However, she stressed that modern analytics still provide meaningful signals, just in a different form:

• “It’s not about individual queries anymore… it’s about understanding the themes that matter to your audience.”

Both encouraged marketers to think more strategically and holistically in their analysis rather than getting stuck in granular metrics.

View the full article