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Oliver Borm is Google’s director of Search ads product strategy across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In his 14 years at Google he has focused single-mindedly on helping brands and agencies take their performance marketing strategies to new heights.
Expectations of marketing teams have never been higher — and so too has the pressure to do more with less.
To bridge this gap, the industry is undergoing its most profound transformation in a decade. At the core, conventional marketing approaches are now being outpaced by AI. New AI-powered experiences in Search are responding more closely to real-world customer intent and reducing manual work, helping leading marketers scale their impact and reclaim strategic influence.
As Search evolves from a library of information into an engine of intelligence, consumers can now have it all: a deeply researched decision, at the speed of an impulse buy.
This shift is redefining performance marketing. AI-powered strategies, leveraging new solutions like AI Max for Search, are helping marketers dynamically capture Search demand and identify untapped opportunities beyond traditional keyword coverage. In fact, AI Max for Search is unlocking billions of net new queries that these advertisers weren’t reaching before.1
From lean ecommerce teams to global brands, we spoke to three marketing leaders about how they’re using AI to drive growth.
BYD Spain: Driving more leads with greater efficiency
Íñigo Trasmonte: “We’ve seen a rise in car buyers asking more long-tail questions as they compare models, prices, and technologies — queries that don’t always map to traditional keyword strategies. Adapting to this shift was key to helping our business grow and capture higher-quality leads.
“We implemented AI Max for Search across our campaigns. This helped us move away from relying solely on predefined keywords and delivered ads based on real-time intent — ensuring the right message reaches the right user at the right moment.
“As a result, we’ve been able to reach a whole new range of search queries. With the same level of investment, we’re now generating around 25% more leads. We’re also getting 26% more conversions, which is the step a customer takes right before booking a test drive. These are opportunities we may have missed if we hadn’t implemented this new strategy.
“Long-tail queries have proven to be gold. They reveal what people are really asking — and where gaps still exist.”
“AI Max for Search has also uncovered valuable insights and opportunities. It helped us discover unexpected demand: for example, users searching for “buy second hand cars” or “more affordable second hand cars” responded strongly to BYD ads positioned around the value of buying new. This allowed us to reach consumers earlier in their research journey with messages aligned to what they were actively trying to understand.
“Long-tail queries have proven to be gold. They reveal what people are really asking — and where gaps still exist. We’re now using those insights to update our website, organic content, and keyword strategy — aligning with how consumers are using AI to discover, compare, and decide.
PickandMix.com: Scaling sweet growth with a lean team
William Hale: “As a small sweets business with a team of three, we wear every hat — from managing the tech and finances to running our advertising. Until recently, that meant spending entire mornings manually building and optimising Search campaigns. It was time-consuming and left little room to focus on scaling the business.
“We knew there had to be a better way. So we experimented with a new approach: We launched three new AI-powered Performance Max campaigns, alongside one traditional, manual Search campaign. Plus, we added the Google for WooCommerce extension to help automatically sync our product data – giving AI richer, real-time inputs to optimise campaigns.
“Almost immediately, this shift changed how we worked. Instead of writing every headline and description ourselves, Performance Max began suggesting creative assets based on our website content, real-time performance signals, and the wider competitive landscape – helping us build higher-quality ads, faster.
“This campaign type has been a game-changer in how it detects high-intent signals across channels. Performance Max connected us with the right customers at exactly the right moments — when they were most likely to make purchases. It also identified emerging traffic peaks in real-time, allowing us to stop relying on last year’s data and our ’gut instincts’.
“The results have been sweet: Performance Max has become central to our growth, driving a 24X increase in revenue, a nearly eight-fold uplift in average return on ad spend (ROAS), and a 10X increase in daily website traffic.
“Instead of manually managing the details of ad optimisation, we can now focus on improving our website, tracking trends, and staying ahead of competitors. We can also trust the AI to respond to demand and set flexible, demand-led budgets that target ROAS. Without having to constantly add or adjust budgets to chase results — the campaigns are consistently working towards the goals on their own.
“There’s no way we could have scaled to this level as a team of three. AI-powered tools have taken on the heavy lifting – making it possible to grow efficiently and prepare for our next phase of European expansion.”
Lufthansa: Streamlining complexity while improving ROAS
Mathilde Buisson: “When it comes to marketing to travellers, there are so many factors to consider. Intent can shift dramatically depending on destination, time of year, and trip length. This complexity affects both traveller intent, and how our ad campaigns need to be structured.
“We worked with Publicis Media to adopt AI Max for Search. Rather than manually setting up thousands of ads for every possible route or scenario, we focused on letting AI adapt to how people search and plan their trips.
“AI Max for Search has helped us pick up longer, more specific queries, like “three-day weekend getaway Amsterdam with flights.”
“Now, with smarter search term matching, text customisation, and URL expansion, we’re reaching people with exactly what they’re looking for. This helps dynamically direct users to the most relevant landing pages based on their intent, rather than a single static URL.
“Location-level controls within ad groups also let us refine ads across destinations and campaign types – without the need of an extensive manual setup.
“The impact has been significant. We have streamlined our number of destination campaigns by 66%, while delivering a 24% lift in ROAS and a decrease in cost per click. We can now focus on sharpening the messaging of our landing pages based on intent. As AI-driven Search experiences like AI Overviews or AI Mode reshape how people explore and refine their travel plans, AI Max for Search allows us to better align with increasingly complex, intent-rich queries that don’t follow traditional keyword patterns. That’s where we’re seeing real value.”
Leading the next era of performance marketing
AI is unlocking potential across performance marketing teams, enabling them to shift focus away from manual inputs and toward higher-value, strategic work.
Whether it’s using AI Search insights to track trends, inform organic web content with long-tail queries, or prepare for global expansion — AI is helping marketers uncover new sources of demand.
And as Search is going beyond information to intelligence, it’s creating more opportunities for brands. The best ads provide answers, and AI is helping brands show up as the answer — detecting intent earlier, dynamically responding to demand with flexible budgets, and tailoring ad content in real time to capture every opportunity.
For marketers who choose to lean in, the rewards are clear: stronger performance, greater efficiency, and a more strategic role within your organisation. AI isn’t just transforming campaigns – it’s reshaping careers. And the year ahead offers a great opportunity to lead it.
