The Problem with the Old Marketing FunnelYour marketing funnel isn't a funnel anymore. It's a pinball machine.There’s a common - and sometimes costly - misconception in paid media (Google Ads, Meta Ads, etc.) that all ad campaigns should focus on immediate conversion. We get obsessed with a direct return on ad spend (ROAS), as if the only thing that matters is the final click. But this fixation on the bottom of the funnel is a strategic blind spot.Today’s customer journey is complex and non-linear. Shoppers bounce between channels, research on the fly, and use multiple devices. When customers have infinite options and limited attention, a brand’s visibility and awareness in the earliest stages of the journey are more critical than ever before. A "pull" strategy is no longer enough; you need to find a way to meet your audience where they are - before they even start searching.And this is precisely why your brand needs to make use of Google’s Demand Gen campaigns.From Display Ads to Demand GenFirst, let’s be clear on what we're talking about. For years, the traditional display model has been defined by banners and static image ads that populate the web. This approach often relies on keyword targeting to reach an audience - and, frankly, it can be a bit of a "spray and pray" strategyThe evolution to Demand Gen is Google’s answer to that problem. It moves beyond static banners and into an audience-seeking, proactive approach to advertising. Demand Gen campaigns use visually rich, multi-format ads - from dynamic images to video shorts and carousels - to capture attention and engagement across Google’s most immersive surfaces.Demand Gen is a modern evolution of traditional display advertising, designed to proactively find your next customer by using Google’s AI and machine learning to power visually rich, multi-format ads.The system - powered by AI - predicts what content a user will find most engaging, helping your brand reach new, high-value audiences a...