AI-powered marketing innovation is reshaping how businesses connect with customers, and iLEAD et al is at the forefront. As a Google Premier Partner, we recently had the privilege of co-hosting an exclusive event with Google, giving our valued clients an in-depth look at the future of marketing in an AI-driven world. The session’s goal was to provide actionable strategies and answer our clients’ most common concerns, including how to invest wisely in AI without moving too quickly or falling behind competitors.
At iLEAD et al, we believe a winning approach begins with a deep review of today’s customers and the cultural shifts shaping their behaviour. This lays the foundation for a media strategy and MarTech solutions that enable us to connect our clients with their customers in moments that matter, driving meaningful, AI-powered business growth.
Let’s take a look at the key insights and strategies Google shared to address the shifts in customer behaviour and provide actionable opportunities to grow brands in the age of AI-powered marketing.
The Future of AI Marketing Starts with the 4S of Evolved Customer Behaviour
To begin, we need to understand today’s attention-starved customers, who navigate an incredibly broad range of media. This dynamic behaviour accounts for more than 130 mobile touch points daily. Empowered by the choices and opportunities that new technologies bring, customers often jump unpredictably between channels while simultaneously multitasking. This is what Google and Boston Consulting Group’s research has identified as the ‘predictable unpredictability’ of the 4S behaviours: Streaming, Scrolling, Searching, and Shopping.
Do old marketing funnel tactics still work on these new AI-powered marketing journeys? Here’s the thing: these behaviours aren’t linear. The lines between them are completely blurred. For example, when someone takes a photo of a new dress and uses it to search for a place to buy it, is that a searching or a shopping behaviour? When they use their remote to scroll through a smart TV menu, is that any different from scrolling on a phone?
We can no longer force these complex customer journeys into the rigid structure of a funnel. The key is to adapt our strategies to meet the customer’s intent in that very moment. Thankfully, AI is not only a driver of these changes but also our greatest asset in navigating them. It helps us tap into new opportunities, ensuring we’re always ready to respond with the right offer, at the right time, and in the right place. It’s about moving beyond manual models and embracing a more AI-powered approach that works for today’s customer.
How to Reach Customers Cost-Effectively
The best way to reach these customers cost-effectively is by looking at synergies across channels and choosing the channels your customers frequent. With 83% of global consumers reporting using Google or YouTube on a daily basis, we not only have the right channels but also the ability to connect with customers through all four behaviours simultaneously.
Let’s dive into some innovative approaches we can apply to shopping campaigns on both platforms.
Supercharge Your Search: The AI Revolution
Far from “killing” Search, AI is giving it new superpowers. With over 1.5 billion users, Google Search is bringing generative AI to more people than any other product. This evolution allows users to search more naturally, ask more complex questions, and get more satisfying results. As user search behaviours expand with longer and more conversational queries, Search continues to be the greatest platform for capturing, comprehending, and creating intent on an incredible scale. The advanced capabilities of Google’s Gemini in Search enable us to go beyond just retrieving information to true intelligence.
This new Search ecosystem creates exciting opportunities for brands to tap into these new behaviours and win new customers by ensuring they appear with the right message, the right answer, and the right solution across the new AI-powered search landscape.
The Core Pillars of Google’s AI-Powered Search:
- AI-powered discovery: Google’s AI is on a path to becoming the most powerful engine for online discovery. Backed by the reasoning power of Gemini models, Search now enables people to ask their most complex questions. It breaks these questions down into subtopics, issuing multiple searches at the same time.
- Multimodal understanding: Search is already the greatest platform for capturing, comprehending, and creating intent at an incredible scale. However, there are now next-generation signals of intent. We can capture this intent without the confines of formats, as people can search using text, images, video, voice, and more. With Gemini’s native multimodality, we can mix and remix information. This allows us to move from understanding “what” people are looking for to the “why” behind it.
- Agentive action: Though this is still new, Search can help your consumers take action faster. It can gather information, come back with options, and ask for guidance at decision points. For example, Search can recommend restaurants that fit your preferences or help you find tickets that meet your exact specifications.
SEO Expansion in the World of AI Searches
While we work on new paid Search strategies, it is equally important to integrate our paid and organic efforts for maximum search satisfaction and business results. Although technology may change, the rules of great content remain the same when it comes to organic search. People prefer to find and engage with outstanding, original content that adds unique value. To enhance your SEO strategy for the AI Search experience, focus on these three things:
- Unique, valuable content for people: Create high-quality content that genuinely helps users.
- Accessible content: Make sure Google can easily crawl and index your content.
- Understand the full value of your visits: Analyse how users interact with your site after clicking through from search results.
The Power of YouTube: Connect with Billions of Engaged Fans
Over the past two decades, YouTube has become a cultural epicentre, bridging the gap from mobile to CTV and from short- to long-form video. This platform provides South African brands with an addressable reach of 25.3 million people. In early 2025, this equalled 39.3% of South Africa’s total population.
76% of South Africans say that YouTube helps them decide what to buy, confirming the platform’s increasingly important role in the shopping journey. The platform delivers 4.5x higher return on ad spend than other streaming TV platforms, thanks to features like Shopping ads on connected TVs and Shorts, which drove over one billion measurable conversions last year. More than just an entertainment hub, YouTube is now a critical part of the purchase journey, where consumers vet and research brands.
At the heart of YouTube are content creators, who are considered to be “Hollywood’s startups” and are trusted by 82% of viewers. Their unique personalities and creativity foster a strong bond with audiences. 83% of Gen Z viewers agree that they prefer to watch creator content over studio-produced movies or shows. Google is launching the Creator Partnerships Hub to simplify brand collaborations. Currently in beta, it enables brands to find partners and use performance insights to build smarter ad strategies.
Case Study: Makro Partners with Popular South African YouTube Creator
iLEAD et al facilitated a recent partnership for our client, Massmart’s Makro. This is a perfect example of how YouTube creators can help propel South African brands.
Makro wanted to shift its perception from a “high-low” promotional retailer to one known for “everyday low prices.” Jean Ochse, a digital marketing executive at Massmart, knew their traditional strategy of repurposing TV ads for digital platforms wasn’t connecting with customers in the awareness and consideration phases of their journey.
To address this, Makro partnered with a local YouTube creator, Fehmz, to create original, digital-first content. We promoted this through a Demand Gen campaign, and the results were clear: the creator-led video on YouTube Shorts drove 8% higher conversions and a 20% boost in revenue value compared to a TV ad used as a control. It also achieved a 41% increase in video watch time.
This case study demonstrates that while TV offers broad reach, the combination of Demand Gen and authentic, creator-driven content is highly effective for guiding customers through the entire marketing funnel, from awareness to conversion. It highlights the immense value of investing in these mid-funnel marketing efforts.
Shopping on Google: A Seamless Journey Powered by AI
Google shared how their newly devised, AI-powered functionalities provide unparalleled access to products and retailers, offering unbiased, trusted information to help consumers make informed purchases. The Shopping Graph, a comprehensive database with over 50 billion product listings, provides detailed information on reviews, prices, colour options and availability, among others. With over two billion product listings refreshed every hour, the information is always accurate. This powerful ecosystem is why people turn to Google platforms to shop over a billion times daily. 80% of Gen Z uses Google to discover, browse, research, and purchase.
Shopping Graph’s integrated Gemini models create a more personalised and helpful shopping experience. AI Mode for Shopping combines visual inspiration from Google Images with expansive shopping data, helping customers find exactly what they’re looking for. For example, searching for a rug to pair with a grey couch could offer browsable panels of images and product listings tailored to a user’s taste, which can then be narrowed down by adding criteria such as “stain-resistant” or “washable.” These features also create opportunities for highly relevant ads.
In addition, the try-on feature for clothes is an innovation allowing users to see how different styles look on them virtually by privately uploading a photo. This technology will be the first of its kind at scale, powered by a new custom image generation model for fashion that understands how materials fold, stretch, and drape. It preserves these subtleties when applied to personal photos, creating a try-on experience that works for billions of items from the Shopping Graph.
The Unbeatable Performance of Google and YouTube
Nothing compares to the performance you get from Google and YouTube combined. A leading third-party MMM (media mix modelling) provider found that running Google Search and YouTube campaigns together drove a 21% higher ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) compared to all other media. They are your biggest performance boosters.
If you are not using them together, you are simply leaving results − and revenue − on the table. It’s a missed opportunity to connect with customers across a full spectrum of behaviours, from the initial research on YouTube to the final purchase on Google Search.
Ready to Grow Your Business with AI-Powered Marketing Strategies?
This is just a glimpse of the exciting, AI-powered frontiers that Google is building, delivering opportunities for businesses and brands of all sizes and across industries. As your trusted Google Premier Partner, iLEAD et al is uniquely positioned to help your brand capitalise on these AI-powered marketing innovations.
If you are interested in seeing how these strategies can help your business, follow us on our social channels for more updates, or feel free to reach out for a no-obligation audit and quote. Take your business to new heights by launching your Google and YouTube growth strategy.