How Demand Gen Can Build Brand Awareness

The Problem with the Old Marketing Funnel

Your marketing funnel isn't a funnel anymore. It's a pinball machine.

There’s a common - and sometimes costly - misconception in paid media (Google Ads, Meta Ads, etc.) that all ad campaigns should focus on immediate conversion. We get obsessed with a direct return on ad spend (ROAS), as if the only thing that matters is the final click.

But this fixation on the bottom of the funnel is a strategic blind spot.

Today’s customer journey is complex and non-linear. Shoppers bounce between channels, research on the fly, and use multiple devices.

When customers have infinite options and limited attention, a brand’s visibility and awareness in the earliest stages of the journey are more critical than ever before. A "pull" strategy is no longer enough; you need to find a way to meet your audience where they are - before they even start searching.

And this is precisely why your brand needs to make use of Google’s Demand Gen campaigns.

From Display Ads to Demand Gen

First, let’s be clear on what we're talking about.

For years, the traditional display model has been defined by banners and static image ads that populate the web. This approach often relies on keyword targeting to reach an audience - and, frankly, it can be a bit of a "spray and pray" strategy

The evolution to Demand Gen is Google’s answer to that problem. It moves beyond static banners and into an audience-seeking, proactive approach to advertising.

Demand Gen campaigns use visually rich, multi-format ads - from dynamic images to video shorts and carousels - to capture attention and engagement across Google’s most immersive surfaces.

Demand Gen is a modern evolution of traditional display advertising, designed to proactively find your next customer by using Google’s AI and machine learning to power visually rich, multi-format ads.

The system - powered by AI - predicts what content a user will find most engaging, helping your brand reach new, high-value audiences at scale on YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail.

This means your ads are tailored to the right audience, helping you build interest long before they have a specific search query in mind.

Google Ads - Demand Gen placements on mobile

Demand Gen: The Engine of Brand Awareness

While a successful display strategy is about more than just the click, the real value lies in its ability to influence future search behaviour and drive branded search traffic.

Brands that focus solely on immediate, bottom-of-funnel conversions are missing a massive opportunity to capture demand before it's even created.

Google Ads - Demand Gen placements on desktop

How Does It Work?

Demand Gen’s power comes from going beyond simple keyword targeting.

It leverages Google’s AI to proactively find your next customer by using a mix of audience signals. The system uses your valuable first-party data - such as your website's traffic, mailing lists and customer lists - to build highly specific lookalike audiences and identify new users with similar behaviour.

It then uses predictive models to serve your visually rich, multi-format ads across YouTube, Shorts, Discover, and Gmail, capturing attention at scale. This is a "push" strategy that works in tandem with the "pull" of your search ads.

Should Your Brand Use Demand Gen?

In short? Yep!

Demand Gen campaigns operate at the top and middle of the marketing funnel, building interest and desire for a product or service long before a user has a specific search query in mind.

It is a foundational piece of your marketing that fuels your success long after the campaign has ended. The benefits of a consistent brand presence are tangible: repeated exposure builds familiarity and trust, making users far more likely to choose your brand when they are ready to buy.

Google Ads - Demand Gen placements in CTV

The Business Impact: What a Proper Campaign Delivers

For C-suite executives, results are everything. And while the value of a solid brand is clear, proving it can be a challenge.

So, what exactly can you expect from a properly executed Demand Gen campaign? It all comes down to measurable impact across the entire funnel.

Keep Reading: 5 Things C-Suite Should Know About SEO

What a Campaign Delivers

Drive Discovery

This is your engine for growth. By leveraging Google’s AI, these campaigns proactively seek out and capture the attention of high-value prospects, allowing you to build new audiences at scale.

Support Search

This is the key to the symbiotic relationship between organic and paid marketing. When you introduce your brand to new audiences with Demand Gen, you’ll start to see a clear increase in branded search queries.

This branded search lift is the proof that your ads are working to influence future behaviour and build top-of-mind awareness.

Fuel Your Remarketing

Demand Gen campaigns are a powerful tool for building valuable remarketing lists. As your ads are served to new audiences, they bring more potential customers into your funnel, making your future remarketing efforts more effective and targeted than before.

Measurable Results

Contrary to the old mindset, the impact of brand awareness is not a soft metric.

Google provides clear measurements that prove the value of these campaigns, including conversion lift, brand search lift, and reach. These are the metrics C-suite executives need to see to understand that a strategic investment in Demand Gen is a direct investment in long-term business growth.

Creative & Data for High-Impact Campaigns

A well-planned campaign is essential, but the creative and data you use are what turn good results into great ones.

The most impactful Demand Gen campaigns don’t just hit the right audience - they serve them the right message at the right time.

Creative & Channels

Demand Gen campaigns provide a huge opportunity to go beyond static imagery. By using a mix of assets, including videos, a brand can see a boost in conversion lift.

Creative that feels native to the channel it’s on, such as a vertical video for YouTube Shorts, is crucial for capturing attention. You also get access to high-impact channels like CTV (Connected TV), which allows for the precision of digital ads on the biggest screen in the house.

First-Party Data

Your brand’s own data is your most valuable asset. The Demand Gen system goes beyond simple keyword targeting by leveraging your first-party data.

This means a brand can:

• Build lookalike audiences from existing customer lists and mailing lists.
• Retarget website traffic and previous customers to bring them back into the funnel.
• Reach new users with similar behaviours to your best customers.

This is the strategic link between your existing customers and your next wave of growth.

Build Your Presence Across Search

To win today, you can't afford to focus on just one channel or one part of the customer journey. The future of marketing is in a unified strategy where every channel works together to build a consistent and trustworthy brand presence.

When a brand has a strong presence in both paid and organic search, as well as on social channels, it creates a powerful connective tissue across the entire digital ecosystem.

This consistency across touchpoints builds familiarity and trust with the consumer, amplifying your brand's authority and solidifying your place in the market.

Are you ready to build a presence that gets your brand seen? Let's build a strategy that makes your brand impossible to ignore.