Google sees itself as 'special effects shop' and not a creative shop

Jason Bigler, director of digital display, EMEA, Google, was speaking at the Guardian's Changing Advertising Summit.

He addressed the audience on how digital had ambitions to become the ultimate branding medium, and called on brands to make better use of new technology, such as consumers increasing use of multi-screen media.

Bigler said: "Creative is still one of the greatest underfunded parts of digital. We don't consider ourselves a creative shop. We are a special effects shop to help make it work."

There have been rumours that Google could buy a major traditional advertising agency, although this has not come to fruition.

Instead, according to Bigler, Google saw itself as facilliator between agency and client.

Bigler pointed to the example of Trueview, the ad format which allows visitors to the Google-owned YouTube to skip ads they are not interested in.

He said some advisers had reacted positively to the ad format, arguing it was a cost-effective advertising option, which meant they could better target their audience.

Google also provided brands with sophisticated analytics, such as data on who was looking at an online ad.

Speaking more broadly about advertising, Bigler said he believed that the quality of display advertising in the market needed improving, saying that in some cases, it had plateaued.

He said: "The issue with display is to make it relevant to consumers. Some of the best ads out there are native."

Google has its own native advertising platform in AdWords, as does Twitter with its Promoted Tweets.

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This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk