Freedom Digital News
This week in digital news, Google Search Console unlocks new branded performance insights, Meta’s Advantage+ expands to supercharge your lead generation, and Microsoft Advertising democratises video creation using AI. Sit back, get comfy and get more insight into what’s happening, why it matters, and how you can turn these shifts into growth opportunities.
(1) The Fine Line of AI
The wider industry is deep in a debate about the ethical and creative implications of generative AI in advertising. This conversation, highlighted by BBC reporting, focuses on the increasing power of AI to create hyper-personalised campaigns. The core tension lies between the promise of highly effective, individualised messaging and the risk of generating what some are calling "creepy slop". These ads feel invasive, low-quality, or compromise customer trust due to over-automation.
AI is developing rapidly, and brands like Coco-Cola (full AI again for Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy6fByUmPuE ) and small businesses have an equal playing field on creatives. SMB’s now have the incredible opportunity to use AI tools for high-volume creative testing and personalisation at a low cost. However, the systems are designed primarily for efficiency, and if the output lacks an authentic brand voice or crosses privacy lines, you risk damaging the customer trust you've worked so hard to build. The focus needs to shift to guiding the AI with a strong, human-led brand identity and ethical oversight, ensuring personalisation feels genuinely helpful, not invasive. It’s critical to use AI to enhance your brand, not replace it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg4y4z169go
(2) Google Search Brand Insights
Google Search Console (GSC) is rolling out a brilliant new filter in its performance reports, enabling businesses to segment and view data only for queries that include their brand name. This update includes new dedicated reports focused on brand performance, finally giving you a clear separation between traffic driven by your growing brand reputation and traffic driven by general SEO efforts.
For small business owners, this is an incredibly positive step towards smarter, more confident investment. You can now accurately quantify the success of your brand-building initiatives,be it local PR, community events, or podcast appearances,by seeing the direct result in high-intent, branded search traffic. This newfound clarity helps you invest confidently in awareness strategies, knowing you can easily measure their true impact on driving known customers directly to your site. This is your chance to stop guessing and start measuring brand success like the big players.
https://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-adds-branded-queries-filter-464928
(3) Meta Optimises for High-Value Leads
Meta has expanded its powerful Advantage+ automation suite, now aptly renamed Advantage+ Sales Campaigns, to provide better support for Lead Generation objectives. This is fantastic news, making great progress outside the e-commerce space which typically gets priority releases. The system’s advanced AI is now optimised to acquire qualified customer leads, not just sales. As part of this change, Meta introduced a new Opportunity Score that acts as a continuous quality check, providing real-time, actionable advice on how to improve your campaign's success.
This is a genuine game-changer that levels the playing field across industries and businesses using the platform for advertising. The high efficiency and improved return on ad spend (ROAS) typically seen by e-commerce brands using Advantage+ is now fully available to service providers (like realtors, consultants, or repair services). The Opportunity Score is like having an expert virtual assistant, guiding you to follow best practices and helping you reduce your cost per lead immediately, freeing up your valuable time to focus on service delivery, creatives, and high-level strategy. We’re already helping our service clients leverage these new AI tools for massive lead quality improvements -let us show you how this score can transform your next campaign.
https://coinis.com/blog/meta-advantage-plus-ai-ads-updates-2025
(4) Microsoft Ads AI-Powered Video
Microsoft Advertising introduced a new Copilot-powered Image Animation feature. This AI tool allows advertisers to instantly transform static images into dynamic, short video assets for use across its entire Audience Network and search placements. The system handles the complex work of adding engaging motion and visual interest with a single click.
This update instantly removes a major creative barrier and puts powerful capabilities in your hands. Video is an essential, high-performing format, but its creation has traditionally been expensive and time-consuming. This feature democratises video creation, allowing small teams to easily generate professional, engaging ad creative in seconds. It enables you to compete effectively in the video-first advertising landscape without needing dedicated designers, instantly giving your ads more stopping power.
Digital marketing continues to evolve at speed; from AI-driven automation and content creation to fundamental shifts in how customers discover brands in search. Each shift represents an opportunity to reimagine how your brand connects, converts and creates impact in the digital age.
If you’d like to explore how Freedom Media Group can help you build your next-generation marketing strategy contact us at team@freedommediagroup.co.uk