In May 2024, Google integrated an image generation AI into its ad creation process. The results have been nothing short of amazing.
However, this integration also comes with a few restrictions, including the inability to generate branded AI images or prompt the design of graphics that contain a specific individual’s face—nope, not even your own face.
In this article, we’ll explore the extent of this restriction and its impact on AI image generation for all Google ad marketers.
Branded Elements Not Allowed
According to Gary Hemming, Owner & Finance Director at ABC Finance, “Branding is the core of every marketing strategy, whether paid or organic. You want people to see a food image and know it is from your restaurant, not KFC or McDonald’s, just because the package looks similar.”
So, it’s understandable you’d want to prompt Google’s new AI image generator this way:
“Create an image of a vibrant chicken meal package with a bucket of crispy, golden-brown fried chicken featuring bold, modern branding in a red and white color scheme, alongside a burger roll with a toasted bun, fresh lettuce, a juicy chicken patty, melted cheese, and a slice of tomato, all placed on a rustic wooden table with dipping sauces and a cold drink. Add a CnB logo, with the same features as KFC, to the image generated.“
Try that with OpenAI’s DALL-E, and you’ll get your result in several seconds or a minute. But for Google Ads AI, you’ll only get an error message and a few instructions telling you to remove the branded logo request.
Here’s what Google’s Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, said on Twitter concerning the error above:
“The tool will generate product images but won’t generate product images that include brand names or logos.”
She further clarified with an example:
“So, for example, you could ask it to generate images of ‘a dog in a pet stroller in a park,’ but if you asked it to generate images of ‘a dog in a pet stroller in a park with a Doggo logo,’ you’ll get an error notification to remove mentions of brands and branded items from your description.”
Looks like an overkill, right? But this measure also prevents other unguided marketers from misusing your brand elements and incorporating them into their campaigns without permission. Win-win
Verticals Are Not Spared
Every industry hopes to use this newly introduced AI. However, Google says no.
The rule-bound image generator can only handle requests outside restricted verticals like finance, beauty, and food. But when it comes to sexual and political campaigns, an algorithm bias is already in place.
According to Google’s documentation and eligibility page, you must meet four criteria before using the image generation AI tool. And our big guy is exactly the fourth rule:
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- Your account is active and has been running ads for at least 30 days
- Has a history of policy compliance
- Has not completed Election Advertising Verification
- Is not advertising in a sensitive vertical (for example, sexual and political)
Of course, this restriction is not limited to those industries alone. If you use sexually or politically linked words in your prompts, the system returns an error message. Other restrictions prevent the generation of children’s faces or specific individuals in the real world.
Growing Concerns For AI Regulation
Google’s clarification on the how-tos and how-nots of its AI image generator came amidst the hype from search marketer Darcy Burk on Twitter. Given the notable history of people misusing AI to produce unwanted results, these restrictions were highly needed, according to Ginny Marvin.
Google is not the only one restricting the use of its image generator AI. OpenAI’s DALL-e is also restricted from honoring prompts that request branded or copyrighted elements and political, sexual, and abusive images.
Impact on AI Image Generation
“Google ad is a go-to advertising platform for thousands of marketers across all industries globally. And that’s unsurprising since its parent search engine chalks up more than two-thirds of the entire traffic share on the web. So, it’s obvious the release of Google’s new AI image generator would stir a lot of buzz”, says Chris Aubeeluck, Head of Sales and Marketing at Osbornes Law.
Without restrictions, marketers would have been able to do the following:
- Generate bulk branded elements at once.
- Prompt the AI to create realistic logos in seconds.
- Avoid creative fatigue by exploring different design angles with a few tweaks to your prompts.
- Save costs that would have otherwise been spent on tens of human designers.
- Reduce manual processes and directly replicate variations of branded product designs on the spot.
However, this also has major disadvantages, such as:
- A few amateur marketers might use Google’s AI image generator to create deep-fakes of another brand to lure people into clicking their ads.
- Copyright issues that could spring from the AI unintentionally mimicking another brand’s trademark.
- Ethical issues could cause people to lose trust in brands that use AI-generated logos or elements in ad content.
Of course, you might not be in the spectrum of those hoping to use Google’s new integration the wrong way. But you can’t say the same for others.
Now, the next question is, does this restriction affect images generated with other AI tools outside Google?
According to Google’s documentation support, there’s no specific rule against generating branded images with other tools and using them in Google Ads.
Restrictions on adult content and certain debated verticals, like politics, still hold regardless of where you generate them, except if the content follows Google Ads’ guidelines—the disclosure policy.
Google Ads AI Or Third-Party AI: Which Image Generator Is The Best?
Let’s be honest. Google’s newly introduced image generator has some spices up its sleeves. And you can still work around the restrictions on branded elements by doing these:
- Generate non-branded elements with Google’s generative AI.
- Save as assets and export.
- Brand the exported graphics manually using apps like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva, etc.
- Import and see if it passes the checkpoint, which it should if there is no other policy violation.
However, that’s a lengthy process, and you have to brand each picture or create logos outside the platform manually. If you’re running multiple campaigns with several ad groups under each campaign, like in e-commerce, you’ll probably have to hire as many designers as possible to handle the branding process.
You might also stop refreshing or updating ad images periodically to save time and money. This eventually leads to design fatigue, which can affect your campaign results.
So, trophy for third-party generative AIs?
Yes!
Third-party generative AI tools like Simplified and Looka can help create branded product images and logos with a single prompt. They also provide a bulk upload feature to move all images at once to your Google ads account as assets.
This approach saves you time and money, shortens the entire ad creation workflow, and increases your campaign productivity. Of course, you still have to look out for copyright strikes and ensure your materials are not breaching Google’s content guidelines.
Evolving Trends And Future Of Generative AI In Google Ads
While an image-creating AI might seem to be all there is to generative AI, reality is far from that. Simplified AI is already capable of generating intuitive clips for video campaigns, jaw-dropping ad copies, super sleek logos, and attention-grabbing branded product images.
Google is also stepping up its own generative AI, according to Jerry Dischler, an ex-vice president and General manager of the ads department. He also touted the release of a smart AI that creates your campaign headlines, content, and graphics, all from an existing website or landing page in May 2023.
“Today, we’re introducing a new, natural-language conversational experience within Google Ads, designed to jumpstart campaign creation and simplify Search ads by combining your expertise with Google AI.”
Simply add a preferred landing page from your website, and Google AI will summarize the page. Then, it will generate relevant and effective keywords, headlines, descriptions, images, and other assets for your campaign. You can review and easily edit these suggestions before deploying.”
The future of smart campaigns is here already, and marketers should expect more intuitive changes in the coming months.
Wrapping Up
As Google ad marketers, It’s extremely important to know what’s allowed and what’s no longer allowed. These little differences help you avoid Google ad warning strikes, optimize campaigns for best performance, and improve metrics.
Also, if you want to create personalized graphics instead of the generic non-branded images permitted by Google’s AI tool, you can use workflow-generative AI tools like Canva, Looka, Firefly, or any others of your choice without risking copyright strikes.
