Most Australian brands have now fully adopted Performance Max campaigns, with only a few maintaining standard Shopping campaigns. Understanding these campaign types is crucial for 2025 advertising success.

Performance Max (PMax)

Is Google’s AI-powered campaign type that automatically optimises across all Google properties – Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discovery. It uses your assets (images, headlines, descriptions) to create ads tailored to each placement.

Recent updates include account-level negative keywords, campaign-level brand exclusions, and improved experiments. This gives advertisers more control whilst maintaining automation’s efficiency benefits.

Demand Gen campaigns

are becoming the upper-funnel counterpart to Performance Max. They’ll soon absorb Video Action Campaigns (by Q2 2025) and focus on visually engaging content across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail.

Demand Gen requires a different approach – think scroll-stopping creative assets and compelling landing pages, similar to social media advertising. It’s particularly effective for building awareness and consideration.

Best practices for 2025:

Use high-quality, diverse assets for PMax. Test at least 10-15 headlines and descriptions. Set up conversion tracking properly with GA4. Define clear goals and budget constraints. Monitor search terms and add negative keywords. Use audience signals to guide the algorithm initially.

For Demand Gen, focus on storytelling through video content. Create multiple ad variations to test what resonates. Include strong calls-to-action and ensure landing pages match the ad message.

Both campaign types require patience – allow 2-4 weeks for learning before making major adjustments. The results, however, can significantly outperform manual campaigns.