Marketing by Design – Intentional strategy for creative marketers in the age of AI
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MBD110: When Your Tools Update Faster Than You Do
Published 9 months ago • 5 min read
21 September 2025 | Issue #110
In this issue:
Google's Monthly "Demand Gen Drops": Why Continuous Updates Beat Big Announcements
Canva in the Workplace Survey (part 2)
The State of Visual Communications Report
Video is Invisible to AI
Don't Treat AI Rollouts Like Any other IT Project
Burn the Playbook
Design Quote of the Week
Midjourney prompt: a line of people are waiting to get into a nightclub. The camera is at street level. A vibrant, high-contrast illustration using flat vector-style shading with neon and duotone color blocking.
Google's Monthly "Demand Gen Drops": Why Continuous Updates Beat Big Announcements
Google just launched something called "Demand Gen Drops," basically a monthly newsletter to keep you updated on what's new with their Demand Gen product and ways to improve results on YouTube. This might sound boring, but it actually signals a pretty important shift in how platforms communicate changes that could affect your campaigns.
The Problem with Silent Updates
Here's what caught my attention: Google says Demand Gen has improved by 26% over the past year through "60+ AI-powered improvements to ramp time, bidding and other updates you may not have heard about." That last part about updates you may not have heard about is exactly the problem.
Most of the meaningful improvements to Google Ads happen quietly. The bidding gets smarter, targeting gets more precise, new measurement tools roll out, but unless you're religiously checking help docs or following Google Ads announcements, you miss them. I've seen plenty of advertisers still using outdated optimization strategies simply because they didn't know better options existed.
What's Actually in the September Drop
This month's updates include a few things worth paying attention to:
Conversion Lift for Smaller Budgets: You can now test incrementality at lower spend levels. Previously, you needed hefty budgets to run proper lift tests. Now smaller campaigns can actually measure whether they're driving incremental conversions or just claiming credit for sales that would have happened anyway.
Platform Comparison Columns: This one's huge. Google added reporting columns that match attribution windows used by other platforms. No more manually adjusting numbers to compare Google performance to Meta or TikTok campaigns. The platforms finally speak the same measurement language.
Online/Offline Bidding: If you have physical stores, you can now optimize campaigns for both digital conversions and actual store visits in one unified strategy.
Why Monthly Updates Actually Matter
Most advertisers I know don't get to review their Google Ads strategy as often as they like. But platform capabilities change monthly. That gap means missed opportunities.
Take the conversion lift improvement. If you're still making budget decisions based on last-click attribution because you thought incrementally testing was too expensive, you're working with incomplete data. But you'd only know about the lower budget threshold if you happened to catch this announcement.
The platform comparison columns solve an even bigger headache. How many times have you tried to compare Google's performance to other platforms when each uses different attribution methodologies? Those conversations just got a lot easier.
The Bigger Picture
Google's not alone in this shift toward continuous updates. Meta pushes algorithm changes constantly. TikTok adds features weekly. The old model of big quarterly product launches can't keep up with how fast these platforms evolve.
This creates a real advantage for marketers who stay current. While your competitors are running campaigns with outdated strategies, you can compound small optimization gains throughout the year. Google's 26% improvement didn't happen overnight. It built up through dozens of incremental changes.
How to Actually Use This
I'd suggest adding a monthly review to your workflow. Spend 30-60 minutes each month checking what's new and flagging anything worth testing. The conversion lift tools are worth experimenting with if you've never run proper incrementally tests. The platform comparison columns should probably be your new default reporting setup.
But honestly? The biggest value might just be staying aware of what's changing. Digital advertising moves fast, and platforms aren't great at communicating updates in ways that busy marketers actually notice. Monthly drops at least put the information in one place.
The alternative is discovering new features six months later and wondering how much performance you left on the table.
How do you stay current with platform changes? Do you have a system, or do you just stumble across new features when they randomly appear in your account?
I'm running a little survey. This week, I'm asking 3 simple Canva questions regarding your use.
Each person who completes the survey and leaves their email address will be entered to win one of three digital copies of my book, The Visual Marketer.
I'll have one more survey next weeks that goes a little deeper, but for now, I'm just curious about how you're using Canva.
If you missed last week's survey and still want to participate, you can find it here.
NEWS AT THE INTERSECTION OF MARKETING, DESIGN, & AI
The State of Visual Communications Report
Speaking of Canva, they recently released their report that dives into the science behind visuals and the value they provide.
My favorite podcast of the week goes out to Dan Nestle's The Trending Communicator. This week, he has marketing icon Sandy Carter outlining AI's impact on modern marketing.
Nothing special this week. If you bought the book, I'd love a review on Amazon.
A few weeks ago I got to see Joe Pulizzi at CEX. He was excited to talk about his new book, Burn the Playbook. His goal is to get people to rethink how they find happiness in life.
I've started reading through the book and it's led me to some interesting thought exercises.
RECENT AND UPCOMING ENGAGEMENTS
On September 30th, I'm guesting on the Maine PR Council's lunch and learn. I'll be talking about how to make effective AI visuals.
And thanks again to Janna Cummins for introducing me to the MPRC.
DESIGN QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Color does not add a pleasant quality to design – it reinforces it.” – Pierre Bonnard
My AI disclaimer: Claude helped me write the main article. I wrote the rest. If AI generates the images, I include the prompt so you can see how I got to that image.
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