Google Leaders Share How AI is Helping Marketers Multiply their Creativity and Growth

In this episode, two marketing and digital trailblazers from the same company, Marie Gulin-Merle, Global Vice President of Ads Marketing at Google, and Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle, Vice President of YouTube Ads Marketing at Google, discuss how AI can enhance a marketer’s competitive advantage. It's an exciting conversation around the possibilities of AI, how to evolve as a marketer, and navigating big life changes.

Anne Marie and Marie had the joy of working together 10 years ago at L’Oreal where they navigated many digital transformations together, including the launch of their try-on app Makeup Genius, before Snapchat AR/VR filters were a thing. They later reconnected when Marie had a position open at Google, and now they are teaming up to reimagine modern advertising for the tech giant.


References: 

• Google's AI Handbook

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] Nadine Dietz: welcome to another episode of visionaries. I am super excited to have 2 wonderful guests with me here today. We have with us here today and Marie Nelson Bogle, who is the VP, YouTube's ad marketing at Google, and Marie Goulin Merle, who is the CMO at Google ads. And [00:01:00] it's really quite a treat because they're not only here with me today, but they're actually. They're with each other in person in the same office, and we're going to see them in just a moment. So, we are going to talk with these Google leaders on how AI is helping marketers multiply their creativity and growth. And AI is so top of mind for all today.

I know we're all going to take away a lot from this conversation. So before I bring them on just a couple of housekeeping notes, , I want to thank our partner, the wall street journal and our parent company 24 7 for supporting visionaries. For those of you who don't know 24 7 or marketers that matter marketers that matter as a community of marketers who come together to support one another sharing best practices and great tips like we're going to do today.

And 24 7 is a talent company who helps build out great teams with marketers and creatives. So with that, I think let's get this show on the road. I'd like to invite Anne Marie and Marie to join me here today. There they are together. 

[00:01:59] Marie Gulin-Merle: Hello. [00:02:00] Hello. Hello, Nadine. 

[00:02:01] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: Hello, everyone. Hi, Nadine. 

[00:02:02] Nadine Dietz: Hi, everyone. Hi. I'm so happy you guys could not only join me, but join me together.

This is a first for visionaries. So awesome. I feel like we're all sitting in the living room together or something. That's great. My 

[00:02:17] Marie Gulin-Merle: office. It's as nice as a living room. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Well, yes. Thank you for 

[00:02:23] Nadine Dietz: having us. Thank you for being here. We have, wow, a lot to cover today. And before we jump into the topic at hand, because you two lovely ladies actually know each other from a past role where you work together at the same company, and now together here at Google, I thought it'd be fun for the two of you to introduce each other.

So, Marie, tell us a little bit about 

[00:02:43] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: Anne Marie. 

[00:02:44] Marie Gulin-Merle: I love how you differentiate Marie, the French way, so, for the folks who know me, who are listening, I don't expect anyone to say Marie in the French way. And how you say Anne Marie. So Anne Marie! Hi! Um, well, Anne Marie, [00:03:00] um, and people, you know, people who know me know I'm a very straight shooter, and like, you know, when I say something and it's a compliment, I do mean it.

Anne Marie is truly one of the finest marketers I, you know, had the pleasure to work with, uh, over the years. We first, so we, we were at, at L'Oreal together and we first met, I think it was 10 years ago. Yeah, it's about a decade. Um, we had, you know, jointly this crazy idea to apply filters on a phone to replicate makeup, uh, with an app, uh, called Makeup Genius.

I want to say it was pre. Snapchat and in, you know, the filters and AR and VR. And so we did this together. I was still living in France at that time, moved to the US, we launched it. And, you know, it was like our first, uh, you know, great moment, intense moment of work. And then we, you know, I'm already reinvented a few brands like Maybelline and L'Oreal [00:04:00] Paris.

And so we worked On that together and we conducted many digital transformations together, but going back to why I think I'm raised one of the best marketers I know she's truly, you know, you don't have that many marketers who love insights and the consumers. Customers like going deep that level of depth to extract what's going to make the ideas better.

And so it's, there is always behind the magic that Anne Marie provides to project. There is always such a thorough, such a smart thought process that, you know, I've been, you know, first, um, witnessing and partnering on. Over the years at Laurel and, but you know, when this, you know, a job opened at Google last year, I would, I had this idea of bringing Anne Marie, uh, on board here and, you know, um, so lucky, so 

[00:04:57] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: privileged to have her.

And the 

[00:04:58] Nadine Dietz: rest is history. Yeah. [00:05:00] 

[00:05:00] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: We're building history, I should 

[00:05:01] Nadine Dietz: say. Yeah. Yes, you ladies are, wow. And so I can't wait, Anne Marie, for you to introduce Marie. And I'm sorry, I can't help it, Marie, I'm French, I can't. How does everybody else say your name? I don't even know. And 

[00:05:14] Marie Gulin-Merle: Well, it's been 10 years in the US, nobody says Marie anymore, outside of my mom and my husband, so, and now you, Nadine,

so. 

[00:05:25] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: So that, oh my gosh, well first thank you Marie for that because I would say. I have a lot of amazing things to say about Marie. I mean, I think one of the things that I would just say about her, um, or what summarizes Marie is she's truly a marketing and digital trailblazer. I mean, she has, you know, she talks about a lot of work I did, but a lot of it's inspired by her vision, her thought process, really thinking, I would say like 10 steps ahead of where marketing and the industry needs to go.

And I would say like, even beyond just [00:06:00] Categorizing her as a true marketing and digital trailblazer. I would say what really also characterizes Marie is her leadership style. And so things I admire about her leadership style. I mean, 1 is this notion of leading with curiosity and empathy. So she really cares about her team.

She cares about 

[00:06:18] Marie Gulin-Merle: developing people. She really 

[00:06:21] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: can see the potential in people before they can even see it in themselves. I think the other piece is just around how she can Navigate organizations as well as stakeholders. And what's amazing about that is she creates space. So she really innate. She really kind of creates.

She's an enabler of creating space so that teams can innovate and do amazing things. And then I think really what I also appreciate is building inclusive teams around her. So, and that it really brings diversity of thinking, new ways of doing things. So these are principles or just leadership styles. I would say that I've always admired in her and.

why I [00:07:00] was keen to like work with Marie again, because it really was, I would say what I saw in her when we were both at L'Oreal together and why I'm so excited to be here with her now. I know it's like a little bit of a love fest. 

[00:07:14] Nadine Dietz: I love love fest, man. 

[00:07:17] Marie Gulin-Merle: Eight minutes in the call and 

[00:07:19] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: I'm already emotional.

Well, I mean, I think it's, I think that's what's, you know, great about this industry is that you meet people and you create connections and You know, you challenge each other, you push each other, you open doors for each other. And so that's the beauty of, I would say, like the relationship that I've had with Marie and a lot of other people I met in the industry.

So that's why it's so great to keep those connections. And like we said, 10 years. Taken different career paths, but, you know, we still stayed very connected. So I love 

[00:07:48] Nadine Dietz: that, man, I, I am fortunate enough to have others in my life that I've worked with that I have relationship like yours with, and it is game changing.

It is just so refreshing to go to [00:08:00] work with folks that you just love to work with. So I'm glad that you 2 could reconnect to Google. Let's talk about why you both decided to join Google though, because. You're predominantly consumer products background. And so now tech. So, uh, Marie, why Google? 

[00:08:18] Marie Gulin-Merle: Well, okay.

Um, so to me, it's, it's not a, it's less of a paradox to me than what you just described, but it's not the first time I get, I get the question. I usually say it's it was full circle. So I started in marketing in the previous century, believe it or not. So 25 something years ago, so idea of the nineties, right?

And I wanted to already. Be at the intersection of technology and marketing. Obviously I didn't, I wasn't saying it that way. I was, you know, talking about interactive marketing. So I started at L'Oreal as a webmaster and people thought I was crazy. And [00:09:00] sometimes I was getting the question, are you in IT or why are you in the marketing department?

So fast forward to the, you know, the previous decade where, you know, the company needed marketers who could speak both languages. Traditional marketing and digital marketing, and then it was a threat of my career. And so I was always digitizing, trying to reinvent how, you know, marketing at the end of the day is connecting brands and products to consumers and customers.

The way it's being done has, you know, continues to change, right? And we're going to talk about the next wave of change. So this was what I was doing. And then, um, fast forward to today, um, at Google. Now I get to do this, you know, across, you know, across the Google products and with all the businesses we, we, we work with.

So to me, it was a limit full circle to. For 20 [00:10:00] something years have been the evangelist, kind of the, the digital person at a legacy organizations. And now I'm, you know, the legacy person that is one of the biggest tech companies in the world. So it was also, I want to say it was full circle. To go to the other side.

Um, and also to, you know, have this humility moment of not being the person who knows technology the best like I was for, you know, two plus decades. And, uh, so after the humility shock, it's been four years now at Google, and, you know, I'm so fortunate to be at Google, especially right now. And we're going to talk about is such an inflection point.

And when I look back, I think I was, you know, I've witnessed and I've contributed to the past revolutions, right? So first was the internet, then mobile, and now, [00:11:00] you know, comes AI and, you know, which, what better company to be at to, to, to be part of that new revolution. Is going to impact marketing all over again.

So that's my full circle story. What about you? Oh, so. One day you got a weird call from me. Beyond that. 

[00:11:21] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: Well, what's interesting is that it kind of is a little bit full circle just because of me coming to Google and working with Marie again in the sense that, you know, had the opportunity to work on some amazing brands, you know, at L'Oreal, from L'Oreal Paris, maybe, etc.

And like Marie said earlier. We did a lot of work on digital transformation, um, within the organization and within the marketing team. So this kind of, so that was a bit of the, the, the learning curve is like really kind of how to just transform yourself as a marketer, how you think about technology innovation and the role that they play in not only just.

Marketing your products, but connecting with your consumer driving insights, [00:12:00] um, and helping to really propel innovation. So then to come back where, you know, again, it's like being at this, you know, it's such a privilege to be kind of at this organization right now and and the impact that we will have on this, this next inflection point, like Marie said.

Um, it's amazing to be here and to be part of that. I mean, it was amazing when Marie was at the helm of it at L'Oreal at L'Oreal and just what we were able to achieve and how far we were able to go in our efforts. And now to be here, um, within Google is, is again, it's a privilege and a phenomenal opportunity.

So amazing. Both have full circle. Um, Moments, I guess in our career, 

[00:12:45] Marie Gulin-Merle: said Nadine. Also, I think it's great to be with people you respect and we love working with, you know, at the end of the day, it's not just a company and, you know, the values and, you know, the products you work on. It's also it's just people, right?

[00:12:58] Nadine Dietz: Absolutely. [00:13:00] Definitely. It's always the people. That's the success factor. Um, and just to acknowledge Jonathan, who dropped a question for us. Thank you, Jonathan. Same. Uh, you must have predicted that I was going to ask that question. I hope they answered it. So Jonathan asked, how did you navigate the transition from CPG retail to B2B ads marketing, which you just answered.

So thanks, Jonathan. But he also asked, were there any surprises? And that actually goes to my next question, because there was some surprises or were some surprises. Especially on the organization of Google and how, what you took on in this role. So, um, let's start with you, Emery. How does your team work cross functionally across the organization and with each other?

[00:13:44] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: Yeah. Um, no, thanks for that question. It's, it's, um, you know, I would say that whatever organization you work at, marketing role is very, You have to work cross functionally. That's really the only way for you to get the job done and especially at large organizations. Um, [00:14:00] however, the surprise was just how cross how matrix the organization was.

I mean, in a, in a, in a positive way, because I mean, what's great is that we're working closely with our ad sales teams, our product teams, our engineers, um, you know, and. Really at the core of everything that we're doing is the customer. Um, and so it's and, you know, I'm thinking about and that's what's great about this cross functional working style that we have here at Google and relationships that we have to build is that we're, you know, have the customer at the center of what we're Doing ensuring that we can help our customers solve business challenges, um, address their marketing, um, objectives and as well as connect with consumers.

I mean, that's the beauty of the products we have is that it really opens up a possibility possibilities for them to connect with consumers. But for me, the big surprise was. It was working cross functionally and as Marie like to call it on steroids a little bit because it is it's I thought I knew how [00:15:00] to do it.

But it's that was the big learning curve and aha moment for me here. 

[00:15:06] Marie Gulin-Merle: How about you, Marie? Well, kind of the same. First, I would say, uh, Jonathan, there are always surprises, you know, it's, it's not just this company in particular, you know, any move you make, especially when you decide to change industries, my case, you know, over the last 10 years, I changed continents, and then industries twice moved from CPG to retail and tech.

And so there are always things you think, you know, Yeah, And, you know, in today's world, because of, you know, the abundance of information and, you know, in the B2B space, LinkedIn, stuff like that, you think you know, right? And so you read tons of things, probably more than before. And especially a company like Google, there is so much that's being written every day, right?

Google, Google, as a company. And you can almost see it all right so you think you know and also I had worked with the [00:16:00] our sales teams here as a client so I was a client myself so I think bringing that perspective kind of inside out and outside in was you know I think I came with a lot of insights and I Was not proven wrong.

But you always have discoveries and surprises. And at the end of the day, to the previous point, it's who you work with. So you, I joined right before COVID. This was a surprise. I couldn't have anticipated like who could have that I would, I would, you know, start at a new company during COVID like so many people did, by the way.

So I had to You know, create relationships and to honor his point because we work so cross functionally and worse, you know, we at Google I think like any company you work you have dependencies and you cannot do things alone. This is what I say to you know newcomers you know yes would be a dream. [00:17:00] You know to have this linear way of working, never exists right so.

But I think that due to the scale, you know, the stakes, the complexity, the fast paced environment of tech. Um, you know, I had to frame relationships to get things done and from home. And on top of that, like personal note, I had a baby during COVID in my mid 40s. So it added a cocktail of surprises and, you know, adaptations and, and, and, and change.

Um, I'm not gonna. Serve you the kind of the B. S. Like I love change like nobody loves change, especially when it's so much change, right? You know, pandemic crisis, new company, me becoming a parent, you know, with my with my partner. And so, uh, but change is good. At the end of the day, when you when you look back in hindsight, um, change is always good.

And so the surprise is to Change is good. Maybe more directly answer your [00:18:00] questions like that level of skill with, you know, in that context was totally a big shock to my system. I had been similar twice and also CDO and I had done is kind of big, complex, cross functional jobs. So I, you know, in a way. I thought I 

knew and I, you know, I don't really thank you for saying, you know, I love the stakeholder navigation thing, but you never, you never truly master it like it's, it's really about knowing the people having the relationships and, and I have to say doing it during, you know, on screen like now like this.

Adds to the complexity and you know I learned so much from it. No. And maybe we should, we should write something about stakeholder navigation and what it takes. I think I derailed from the 

question so maybe you want to. 

[00:18:58] Nadine Dietz: I think you answered that [00:19:00] question in spades. Okay. So say, okay. I see Jonathan in the chat.

Okay. You're welcome. Jonathan. That is awesome. No, and I do think you're right. We should come back to a part or 2

on on all of this. Good. Good stuff there. But we are here today to talk about AI. And so let's jump into AI. Emery, I'm going to come over to you and Mary, just like you said, there's so many resources at Google just this week, right? You published the handbook, um, the AI handbook. We're going to drop a link to that handbook here in the chat channel.

Uh, so that everybody can see it. But share with us a little bit about how folks should be thinking about AI today, and especially getting over this learning curve because it is a, it is a curve for 

[00:19:45] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: many. Yeah. Um, no, I mean, that's a great question. And we're you know, we're obviously helping to navigate through that.

And also just thinking about ways that we can incorporate using AI to help our creativity and productivity [00:20:00] internally. So, I mean, I, I do think and it's, it's, you know, it's, we have a, we've said that, you know, you're not competing with AI, you're competing with marketers using AI. And, you know, for us, as you know, as As our team, we're really thinking about how we can use AI to, like I said, help our creativity and productivity.

And there are a lot of Google tools that our teams are using in their day to day. For example, we're using BARD to help with ideation. So, you know, and this is helping with the speed of ideation, which is amazing. Think about How much time it takes to just sit around a table to spark creative ideas. Now you can reduce, significantly reduce that time.

It's helping us with, we're helping us with regards to how we're creating. I mean, so reducing the speed of creation and ideation now allows us to test a lot of things before we're thinking about how we go into market and testing and learning now takes on a whole new flywheel that we haven't even really been exposed to as marketers.

So, you know, I do say that. [00:21:00] When I think about where we are with AI, I'll, you know, I would say as marketers, we need to embrace the tools, think about how we're using them for, like I said, creativity, productivity, and performance. And think about AI as, as this metaphor that, you know, we discussed as a team, if AI is the engine, really as marketers, we're in the driver's seat.

We're in the driver's seat because there are things that. Yeah. Um, you know, as human marketers, I can't replace. So we really need to embrace it and then think about how we utilize it to, like I said, spark new spark new ideas, you know, continue to bring our experiences are lived experiences, um, to the table so that we can continue to really kind of, like I said, create that firewall and unleash the possibilities of what I can help us do as marketers.

Great. And Marie, 

[00:21:50] Nadine Dietz: how about you and your teams and any advice for folks that are tuning in? 

[00:21:54] Marie Gulin-Merle: She said it all. Um, uh, well, yeah, I think it's gonna, so first of all, it's not [00:22:00] a one time thing. As I said, there were previous revolutions. So what I, what I said to the team, Is well, it's not our first barbecue, right?

It's my American, you know, metaphor. Um, to talk about it. So there was, as I said, there was, you know, the first was the internet, then mobile, and we truly see it as the third shift. Google has been ready for this moment. We declared, our CEO declared we're an AI first company back in 2016. Um, so the, the, the way we call things, you know, we talked about automation, maybe the world was not ready to talk about AI.

Now we talk about AI. AI has become mainstream. But really, truly, we've been using a I, uh, for a long time and not just us at Google. Our clients as well. You know, 80% of our search, uh, ads are, you know, uh, generated by a I. And this is, [00:23:00] you know, this is, uh, with customers experience today. So, um, you know, when I was in Cannes, someone told me there was traditional a I 

[00:23:09] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: and then Jenny, uh, and I was like, well, maybe 

[00:23:12] Marie Gulin-Merle: it's premature to quite traditional a I.

Maybe it's Maybe we shouldn't, uh, just, you know, put it in the past, but, uh, yes. So we've been using AI and the businesses we work with, uh, have been using AI for a long time. We're now entering the new wave, uh, of, uh, Gen AI, which is, as Anne Marie say, already changing how we ideate, produce content, but also, um, Uh, is gonna, is gonna help with the whole value chain in marketing.

So this is what I think, you know, your question was about the tips, not just, uh, the history lesson or the, the official manual, you know, the, I would say two questions. One is. What [00:24:00] are the things today you'd like to focus on and, uh, you think you're, you're spending as a marketer too much time on tasks that, you know, AI could do.

So this is the idea of, you know, uh, automating the low value work. And so you can focus and go back to marketing. This is sometimes. Uh, what I was, what I say to the team is marketers can finally go back to doing marketing, the explosion of content, the explosion of touch points led to a lot of complexity, and AI can take a piece of that.

And then the second, you know, on the flip side, the other side of the coin is What what is what is it that a I cannot do and only marketers can do. And I love you know when the team came up. Um, you know, my team came up with that inside of what a I cannot do. I think it's it's you know, I think it gives also it removes a lot of the pressure.[00:25:00] 

To just use it because it's, you know, the hot topic. So it's not a trend. It's, you know, it's the next wave. But when you look at it, not as an obligation because everybody talks about it, but as someone, as something that can bring value to you as a marketer, and also, you know, some, something that is going to Free up space for marketers to just just do what machines cannot do.

Yeah, um, and I, you know, so I like, you know, that second part of the question. Yeah, 

[00:25:33] Nadine Dietz: what a great question to to think about to, um, you know, just even on my own team here, especially over the last few weeks as we've been gearing up to do this session with you. We've been. Playing around with a lot. And my gosh, I feel like I'm like a kid in a candy store over here, you know, with all the new possibilities.

So it's a fun time for marketers. I think, um, those who embrace it will, um, learn a lot, but it isn't [00:26:00] perfect still. Right. You know, so that's why we, we definitely have to have a hand in everything. So anyways, well, thank you for that. I know we are only, uh, well, we're almost out of time. We only have three minutes left.

So, um, Let's wrap this up with some really good advice. Career advice. You talked about your journeys and surprises, but do you have any tips for anybody listening as they think about their career journeys out there? Uh, Marie, let's start with you. 

[00:26:31] Marie Gulin-Merle: Um, well, I, so I'm, I'm not going to tell you, um, you know, embrace change and be comfortable with the discomfort or that kind of thing, you know, at the end of the day that I just come back from a break.

So, usually when you come back from a healthy productive vacation you have fresh ideas, I think I, you know, I'm always going back to the why. Why am I doing something? Does it matter? [00:27:00] Should we really be doing what we're doing? Sometimes we're, you know, I think that we're in tunnels and the days and the weeks and, you know, the months are like tunnels.

So going back to the why, why we're doing something, especially when it comes to prioritizing what matters for teams. For ourselves, um, between the personal side of things and professional side of things, the why, uh, I think, um, is, you know, what I try to anchor on. And when I, you know, when I think I'm disaligned with something I'm doing, because, you know, I don't, I can't, I can't connect to the why.

I think talking about it with, you know, uh, your manager, your peers, your, you know, your support system, Personally, professionally. Um, we all have, I would say, going back to this, why we all have days where, you know, you know, we can't, you know, we have, we all have our bad days where we can't really connect the what with the why.

Um, it's not [00:28:00] about one day. That's a bad day. It's about patterns and making sure that overall you're aligned with, with what you're doing. People, values, and, and using this as the North star. Um, so yeah, that's my beginning of with the Y and ending with the Y. 

[00:28:21] Nadine Dietz: And how about you and Marie? Um, 

[00:28:23] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: I would say building off of Marie's advice, you know, if you partner that with meeting the moment, um, and when I think about meeting the moment, it's, you know, what's exciting is that what's in front of us is a future that we as marketers can co create.

So. If you're open to navigating through to get to what's on the other side. It really, you know, inspires or opens up possibilities for for innovation for new thinking. Um, and, you know, I we're in a moment. That's super exciting. It's not scary, but it really is, you know, think about how you want to meet this moment as a marketer.

Um, [00:29:00] everybody will tackle it differently, but, you know, for me, it's really about like, you know, just kind of having that North star, like you said, North star in terms of what anchors you, but North star around where you want to take your business, where you want to continue to grow and thrive as a marketer as well, too.

So, Amazing, 

[00:29:16] Nadine Dietz: fantastic advice, and so much to think about in there. Thank you both so much for being here. I can't believe how fast this time went. It's just but we'll hopefully have you back and we can go into part two anytime you want. And so thank you so much for joining us. And thanks to everybody in the audience for joining us today as well.

So 

[00:29:36] Marie Gulin-Merle: I wish you a happy Tuesday. Thank you for the community you've been creating over the years. We We truly appreciate you and your appealer of the marketing community at large. So thank you for that. 

[00:29:50] Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle: Thank you. Thank you. 

[00:29:51] Nadine Dietz: Appreciate everyone. 

[00:29:53] Marie Gulin-Merle: Happy Tuesday. Take care. Bye.

[00:30:00]