Digital Marketing Blog of BCM

How BCM Boosted Marriott Pageviews With Native Gmail Ads

Written by Ken Schaefer | Sep 18, 2015
While Google only recently began making native Gmail ads available for all advertisers directly in AdWords, Beeby Clark+Meyler has already had already success using these ads for client Marriott International: A recent Gmail ads campaign for client Marriott International yielded 25 percent longer time spent on the site, an 18 percent increase in pageviews on RenHotels.com, and a marked increase in hotel visits.
In an interview with GeoMarketing.com, BCM Director-Search and Performance Media Amy McClain shared that the key to the successful campaign is its combination of effective targeting and rich media. Ads are directed only at users who have showed an interest in content that marks them as a current or prospective Marriott customer, and the larger native ad units make it possible to feature videos and imagery that highlight the hotel experience.

“I think that the best thing about Gmail ads is the ability to try to generate traction from users who are very engaged with the site,” McClain said. “We found that the users who come through Gmail ads are much more engaged.”

In addition, added McClain, “We found that the users who come through Gmail ads are much more engaged because they viewed all of this really rich content, they viewed a video, they viewed this really rich HTML image ad, and that made them decide to click through the site rather than something like maybe a text ad where they have much less information on the brand.

In general, users are likely to bounce or not to spend as much time on the site, so that’s been the most valuable thing for us about Gmail ads — just really making sure that the people we are directing there actually use it, that the users we are getting to the site through these ads are very engaged, they really want to learn more about the brand.”

Read the full interview on GeoMarketing.com.