Google has launched new tools designed to help businesses scale targeted reach across its platforms.
Unveiled at Google Marketing Live in Sydney on June 17, the company announced it’s roll out of AI Max, AI Agents, AI assisted creative production, a universal data UCP, and the trailing of Agentic AI systems.
Mel Silva, managing director and VP at Google ANZ, opened the event by outlining Google's vision for the next wave of AI-powered experiences, spanning content creation, digital assistants and commerce.
She introduced three new products, starting with Omni, a creative production assistant.
“Omni combines Gemini’s reasoning with the best of our generative models, and we’re starting with video, but over time Omni is going to be able to produce any output from any input, which is truly magnificent,” said Silva.
She also introduced Spark, a personal AI agent.
"It takes action on your behalf,” said Silva.
“For me I can finally ask her to check all of my emails, give me a summary of all those school things that need to be done, book the parent teacher interviews…”
"We're moving into an era where brands can build customised, intelligent agents and serve your customers. Spark is really going to be the ultimate foundation for all of this."
Lou Wang, senior director of product management at Google and co-founder of Google Lens, explained how advertisers would need to adapt to remain relevant amongst the AI search upgrades.
"There's expertise and there's experience," he said.
"Our guidance is this: first, you want to lead with what your brand can uniquely say, so you want to be specific, stay away from generic content, and you want one of a kind content, so you want to share things like reviews, first hand experiences, or expert takes that only you can provide.
"The second thing is to just focus on really the most helpful content for your customers, so that's what our systems reward. Don't try to write for AI algorithms, and really think beyond text.
"In this world, people appreciate finding relevant images and videos, so generative AI search really knows how to pull together all this multimodal content and bring it right into the results.
"And then finally, you want to get your website ready for users, systems, and agents."
Wang added that content needs to be well structured, accessible, and easy to navigate.
"And importantly, make sure your product to business listings are accurate in places like Merchant Center and Google Business Profiles," he said.
Wang said blending traditional search with Google's advanced generative models had made search more conversational, multimodal and personalised.
According to Google, the shift is reflected in local consumer habits, with 73% of Australians agreeing they make faster, more confident decisions when using AI Overviews and AI Mode.
As search behaviour shifts from keywords to conversations, Google released new tools to automate advertising relevance at scale.
"Just as search is becoming more intelligent, helpful, and agentic, so are the ads across all our services,” said Adrian Vallelonga, head of performance solutions at Google ANZ.
"The best ads must be answers. AI Max goes beyond the keywords you've manually selected to find untapped relevant searches, and then it adapts your ad copy to match the keyword intent perfectly in that exact moment.
"Your ads go from good to great when they are automatically tailored to the context of the search, and when they drive to your most relevant landing page."
Advertisers using AI Max are seeing an average 27% increase in conversions compared to manual campaigns, according to Google.
Google also introduced AI Brief, a conversational tool tied to AI Max that acts as a creative partner, giving advertisers more granular control by interpreting brand goals and audience data to generate, preview and refine ad copy guidelines.
"Think of AI brief like giving an agency a creative brief with guidelines for your campaign. You tell Google about your brand, your audience, all of your non-negotiables, and all in conversational language," said Vallelonga.
"The AI interprets what you want, it creates ad copy guidelines, and gives you previews that you can review and refine until it's right."
Google also previewed new ad formats being tested within AI Search experiences, including direct offers, AI-powered shopping ads and a business agent designed to capture and qualify high-intent leads.
Australia became the first market in the APAC region to go live with UCP-powered checkout on Google, which Google described as a shared language for agentic commerce co-developed with retail industry leaders.
Participating Australian retailers include Adore Beauty, Bunnings, Kogan Group, Petbarn and THE ICONIC.
Shoppers will be able to make single-item purchases from select retailers directly within Search, AI Mode and the Gemini app.
The event featured case studies from Australian brands.
Emir Kazavic, head of digital intelligence at Telstra, said the company used AI Max for Search to uncover and convert high-value customers outside traditional keyword frameworks, resulting in a 52% increase in SIM orders and a 36% reduction in cost per order.
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