The Google Marketing Platform (GMP) Partner Summit is an invitation only two-day conference, held annually in San Francisco. Invites are only sent to organisations who have gone through the stringent process of becoming Google Marketing Platform Partners - you can find out more about what that means here...
During the Summit we learnt that there are now 600 Partners spread across 63 countries. That sounds a lot, but being a GMP Partner is pretty much the highest accolade offered by Google. So, in summary - go us!
GMP Partner Summit 2018
As its name suggests, the purpose of the Summit is to give Google a platform to discuss industry trends, best practices and preview their product development road-maps exclusively to the very best agencies it works with.
On top of that, attendees receive access to product managers (such as Data Studio and Tag Manager) and engineers to discuss anything they want to about each of the GMP products. This gives us at SearchStar unique access to behind the scenes information way ahead of the curve.
This year’s Summit was held across the 31st October and 1st November and was the first conference since the Google Analytics Partnership rebranded as the Google Marketing Platform, encompassing both Google Analytics and DoubleClick.
The Keynote: Forward as One
Kicking off with their keynote address (presented by Google Analytics evangelist, Justin Cutroni), Google highlighted that the most successful of its users of its products were the ones that integrated analytics with ad platforms.
The new look Google Marketing Platform looks to more closely integrate measurement and advertising across its 7 products (Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Data Studio, Optimize, Search Ads 360, Surveys and Display & Video 360).
This integration has already started to be felt with the creation of the new look GMP platform and Global Site Tag (Gtag), which streamlines website code for Google products.
Highly Confidential
Beyond the keynote attendees were treated to 4 session tracks totalling 32 sessions across the two days (on more track than last year). This year there was also a demo pavilion with product booths enabling attendees to discover more about each product.
Unfortunately, the sessions were preceded with a confidentiality notice, so we can’t share specific contents with you right now (we will as soon as we’re not blocked from doing so!). However, over the coming weeks and months, everything we learnt will be shared with team SearchStar, ensuring that we are fully utilising Google’s products.
But for now, Google’s overarching message is clear - the launch of GMP and Global Site Tag demonstrates its intent to streamline its services and harmonise its product offering. Google recognises that advertisers do better when they integrate the platforms they use, and greater uptake of that approach will only be good news for their business and the businesses of others.
