Google Think Leads 2025: The Predictive Era of AI Marketing

Last month, I had the honor of taking NJTransit up to Google's swanky New York City office to attend Google Think Leads 2025 in person to learn about all of the new products and services coming to the platform in the coming months. 

For years, marketers have been talking about AI. At this year’s event, it finally felt tangible and purposeful. Google pulled back the curtain to reveal how AI is reshaping everything from how consumers search to how advertisers define and predict value.

The message was clear: AI isn’t coming; it’s here. And, those not yet embracing it are already behind.

From Guessing Value to Predicting It

Lead generation has always faced one fundamental challenge: latency to value realization, the delay between a lead’s first interaction and the moment you know if they are truly valuable. This was echoed by many in the halls between presentations, a challenge all of us have found different ways of grappling with.

Historically, marketers have optimized toward proxies like form fills, demo requests, or MQLs. Those signals can be helpful, but rarely tell the full story. This year, Google made it clear that AI is closing that gap. New tools like Journey Aware Bidding now aim to predict value earlier in the funnel by connecting early conversion data with down-funnel outcomes.

At Working Planet, this shift feels less like a revolution and more like validation. We have long used predictive value modeling to tie marketing investment directly to long-term profitability, optimizing not for surface-level metrics but for measurable business outcomes. Google’s evolution toward value prediction reflects the methodologies we have been applying for years.

In short, the technology is finally catching up to the strategy.

Consumer and Search Trends

The event kicked off with an overview of how the world of search has changed. It even included a viewing of this commercial, showing how dynamic the platform has become. 

The key takeaway is that consumers are online more than ever and asking questions in natural language. Google has adapted to this by curating experiences and products such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, tailored to these new habits. These products are reshaping search, generating more queries, higher quality clicks, and new ad placements. Video resources are also more useful, with AI matching complex queries with relevant video content on YouTube, enriching the search experiences. 

Meeting potential customers where they are means creating rich, people-first content, especially video, to drive performance. Providing information across media types works. Google shared that search and YouTube together deliver 21% higher ROAS than other media combined.

AI and Ads

Google made sure to highlight how its latest AI-powered tools are helping businesses boost efficiency and scale results across campaigns. The numbers were compelling:

• AI Max drives +27% more conversions at the same cost.

• Smart Bidding Exploration, a toggleable bidding type for lead form ads, delivers +48% more conversions at similar CPA.

• Demand Gen shows +26% more conversions YoY at the same cost.

• Combined, PMax, AI Max, and Demand Gen form a “Power Pack” for efficiency and growth.

If you're wondering how to incorporate these into your marketing strategy, we recently shared our perspective on the new products and how to approach them strategically. 

Data and Measurement

AI has become the great equalizer in digital marketing, giving every advertiser, regardless of size, access to the kind of precision once reserved for enterprise budgets.

But the catch remains: AI is only as strong as the data it learns from. As Google reinforced across several speakers and breakout presentations, data quality is now the competitive edge. Connecting CRM systems, offline conversions, and on-site behavior through tools like Data Manager transforms how Google’s algorithms learn, turning “garbage in, garbage out” into “gold in, gold out.”

Role of Agencies

As if reading the room’s mind, Google included a panel discussion around the role of agencies in an increasingly AI-centric digital marketing landscape. In short, agencies are not disappearing, but their roles are shifting. They act as translators between AI output and client goals, ensure AI results match expectations, and guide budget allocation as automation increases. They are also data curators. Facilitating the essential campaign learning that will inform the bottom-line results. Manual creative, targeting, and bidding will soon be too slow—AI will dominate execution.

We explored this topic in a recent article, Why Digital Marketing Agencies Are Not Obsolete in an AI-Driven World. The most successful agencies are those that evolve alongside AI. While the tools are powerful, the human element is still critical. Agencies remain essential partners in designing strategies, training AI systems with quality data, and turning algorithmic outputs into meaningful business outcomes.

Broader Vision

Stepping back from the unlimited buffet and views of the Hudson River, important learnings and action items came out of this event. Google aims to make search effortless, multimodal, and agentic. Rich website content still matters, but AI Overviews are absorbing some traffic. Depth of content and meeting user needs remain critical. Early adoption of new Google products is key to maintaining an edge. Agencies and advertisers must use AI in creative development, stay present in real-time customer moments, prioritize data integration, explore the Power Pack, and watch for reporting upgrades.

Think Leads: A Wake-Up Call for Marketers

Think Leads 2025 was not just another feature announcement. It was a wake-up call.

The next generation of marketing will belong to those who pair AI-powered tools with strong data foundations. Those who test, learn, and adapt faster. And those who understand that success is not about chasing the newest trend; it is about connecting data, technology, and strategy to drive smarter, faster, and more profitable decisions.

At Working Planet, we see this moment as an inflection point. AI is redefining what is possible, but the fundamentals remain the same: know your value, measure it well, and let it guide everything you do.

The future of marketing is predictive, and we have been building toward it all along.