Dean Krowitz and Michael Bezman are the Co-Founders of marketing automation Platform Blend AI.
AI-powered online advertising has become the new normal, with Google’s Performance Max (PMAX) and Meta’s Advantage+ campaigns leading the charge for e-commerce brands.
On the surface, they promise simplicity, automation, and powerful results by leveraging AI to reach customers more effectively than ever before.
But, there’s a hidden catch: without careful management, these platforms can rapidly exhaust your budget, chasing short-term conversions at the expense of long-term strategic value.
What is crucial is that businesses do not blindly hand over their budgets to AI systems controlled by the same platforms that sell the ads.
The core issue isn’t automation itself; it’s control. These largely automated campaigns are designed to maximise spending efficiency based on immediate data signals, often prioritising quick wins rather than sustainable growth. They can generate strong sales for a brand. However, without guardrails, this aggressive optimisation can quickly escalate costs, dominating spend and leaving little room for strategic testing or innovation.
Instead, AI should work for advertisers, not just ad channels. It should act as an independent decision-maker. It should not just follow what each channel might prescribe – it should actively control these campaigns to ensure that businesses get the best return on their investment, with an understanding that all platforms can play a role in the conversion funnel.
Creative: The new currency
Creative has become the new currency, especially in platforms like Meta, which places a significant emphasis on creative assets. Many agencies will also suggest brands flood automated campaigns with multiple creative variations, allowing the algorithm to “pick winners”.
But let’s unpack this approach: brands then find themselves producing extensive amounts of content simply to let the ad platform determine what performs best. This results in campaigns running 10, 20, or even 30+ variations of the same creative message yet we see consistently the top 20 per cent of ads secure around 80 per cent of the impression share.
Therein lies the challenge: “What performs best” can mean different things to different brands and even differ between the brand’s own goals and the ad platform’s priorities
It’s not hard to see why many ecommerce brands are so reluctant to hand control to ad networks.
The problem with one-platform dependence
Handing full control to Google’s or Meta’s AI means trusting that their goals align perfectly with yours.
Consider the case of Lalo, a baby products brand featured in a recent Wall Street Journal article. The company saw Google’s AI-driven PMAX campaigns “drive sales,” but it couldn’t tell if its ads were reaching its ideal customers. Without transparency, how do you optimise for long-term customer value instead of just short-term ad platform performance?
Advertisers should know exactly where their dollars go and whether they’re reaching the right customers. But untangling the web of attribution, or which channel is responsible for a sale, is thwart with challenges.
The AI behind the AI
Top-of-funnel budget allocation is notoriously challenging. Accurately determining which platform truly deserves credit for performance is often complicated, further burdening businesses as they decide how to allocate their marketing spend.
The winning businesses know how to use AI – not surrender to it. Instead of blindly following automated suggestions from platforms like Google’s PMAX or Meta’s Advantage+, smart businesses stay in the driver’s seat. They run each channel on its merits, objectively evaluating performance across platforms and using their own data as the arbiter of truth. By actively managing where and how their budget is spent, they unlock the best of each system – making sharper decisions, reallocating spend with confidence, and ultimately driving better returns.
The future of digital advertising isn’t about surrendering control to any one channel – it’s about empowering advertisers by placing AI directly into their hands. True success arises when AI serves the strategic goals of your business, enabling you to make informed, intelligent decisions tailored to your specific needs. Ultimately, the most effective AI for managing your advertising is one built explicitly to serve your business interests.
