The company confirmed the deals on Wednesday but did not disclose how much it paid.

Both businesses were started by brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey, who earlier co-founded Stayz. They will now take up leadership roles inside Canva, working across its AI and marketing technology teams.

With the acquisition, Canva is working to bring more of a team’s daily work into one place, building tools that cover everything from early ideas to running and measuring campaigns.

Simtheory focuses on AI systems that can carry out tasks. Its platform allows companies to build assistants trained on their own data, connect them to tools like email or customer systems, and assign real work. Teams can also design workflows where these assistants handle repeated tasks.

Ortto works on the marketing side, combining customer data with tools that let companies run campaigns across email, SMS, push notifications and in-app messages.

Canva says the system is already used by more than 11,000 customers across 190 countries, with features that allow data to update and trigger actions in real time.

“Simtheory accelerates our evolution from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core,” said Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht.

“At the same time, Ortto strengthens our ability to power the entire marketing and content lifecycle through Canva Grow, from planning and creating to publishing and optimising across every channel.”

Canva Grow is the company’s product for content creation and performance tracking. These new additions will sit alongside it.

In recent months, Canva has steadily added new companies including Doohly, which focuses on digital outdoor advertising, just weeks ago.

Earlier, it acquired Cavalry, an animation startup, and MangoAI, which works on improving advert performance. In January last year, it also picked up marketing intelligence firm MagicBrief.

The latest deals with Simtheory and Ortto push Canva further into a space long held by larger enterprise software firms. It is building tools that combine design, data and automation, instead of relying on separate systems.

The company is expected to show how all of this fits together at its Canva Create event on April 16, where it has said it will unveil what it calls its biggest product update yet.

Canva closed 2025 with about $4 billion in annualised revenue. It reported more than 265 million users and 31 million paying customers, with monthly activity up by around 20% over the year.

Meanwhile, Adobe Express (formerly Spark) reinvented itself in recent years, embedding deep creative power from Adobe’s flagship tools into a lightweight, accessible app. 

The result has been two very different but strong competitors, both serving non-designers who need to produce excellent, brand-consistent content fast.

I’ve used both, tested edge cases, pushed their limits, and here’s my verdict, backed by current features, recent updates, and trade-offs that are important for entrepreneurs in 2025.

The Evolution: Where These Tools Are Now

Canva

Canva has been building for the long game. In the past couple of years, it has leaned heavily into “Magic Studio,” which brings in tools like design resizing, background removal, even a kind of automatic writing assist. 

Its template library keeps growing, and there’s a clear push to support full-brand operations, not just one-person creators.

Thanks to its investment in a developer fund, Canva’s marketplace of apps is expanding fast. It’s a visual tool which is becoming a design ecosystem.

Adobe Express

Adobe didn’t just maintain Express as an afterthought. In fact, since rebranding, it has sewn in Firefly, its generative image engine, directly into Express workflows. That means you can generate images from text, apply “smart” fills or effects, and do it all with content that’s commercially safe.

In 2024, Adobe launched Express for Enterprise, which adds brand controls, bulk creation, and custom Firefly models, ideal if you’re scaling content production across teams or regions.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison: What Actually Works for Non-Designers

Here’s a critical look at how Canva and Adobe Express stack up, in ways that are important for people building businesses, not just designers.

1. Ease of Use & Learning Curve

• Canva: The interface feels instantly familiar. Dragging, dropping, resizing, it just works. For someone who designs occasionally, it’s forgiving and fast.
• Adobe Express: Slightly more structured. There’s more toolbox presence, but once you get used to it, you benefit from Adobe’s precision. For first-timers, there’s a small learning hump, but not a wall.

Hence, Canva takes the first place for absolute beginners, and Adobe Express gives you more management without being overwhelming.

2. Generative Tools & “Smart Design” Features

• Canva Magic: Magic Studio includes Magic Design, Magic Resize, Magic Write, and Magic Eraser. These let you auto-generate layouts, refine images, and even write short copies.
• Adobe Firefly in Express: Firefly, built into Express, allows text-to-image creation, style transfer, and generative fills. There’s even support for “content credentials”, a way to tag generated content to show its origin, which adds a layer of trust.

And here’s a very recent update: Adobe Express now supports Google Gemini’s “Flash Image” model inside Firefly, meaning you can generate up to 20 free images via that route (for now).

So, Adobe Express has more generative muscle, especially for brand-led content, and Canva? It’s simpler and usually faster.

3. Templates & Flexibility

• Canva: Millions of templates across social posts, pitch decks, ads, and more. Very adaptive.
• Express: The template set is smaller, but it leans into high-quality, professional layouts, the kind you’d expect from Adobe.
• Customising is powerful in both, but Canva gives more ease; Express allows more customisation.

Verdict: If you want speed and variety, go with Canva. If you care about refined, brand-polished output, Express edges ahead.

4. Brand Kit & Consistency

• Canva: Lets you set brand colours, fonts and logos, then auto-apply them across designs. Useful when scaling from solo to a team.
• Express: With Express for Enterprise, you get stronger brand governance. You can lock elements, create brand templates, and even train custom Firefly models to generate on‑brand visuals.

For a single founder or small business, Canva’s kit is already extremely strong. For teams or agencies, Express’s brand management features are more powerful.

5. Collaboration & Workflow

• Canva: Real-time editing, team folders, and comments, very smooth for small or growing teams.
• Express: Also supports collaboration, but its strengths are in integration with Adobe Creative Cloud. For example, a marketer can spin up a design in Express, and a designer can refine it in Photoshop or Illustrator. Express also supports bulk content creation, very handy for campaign work.

Canva is fantastic for small teams, and Express provides workflow continuity into more serious Adobe creative tools.

6. Video & Motion

• Canva: Basic video features; good for short social clips.
• Express: More capable for video editing, thanks to integration with Adobe’s video heritage. You can add animations, transitions, and more complex layouts for social video.

Hence, Express brings more finesse when you need video, especially for more than just “quick social video”.

7. Integration Ecosystem

• Canva: Works well with marketing tools, content schedulers, and social platforms.
• Express: Because it’s part of Adobe’s ecosystem, it plugs more deeply into Creative Cloud, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, and more. Also, Express Enterprise supports bulk export, brand-asset reuse, and cross-app workflows.

Use Canva if you’re building content from scratch. Use Express if you’re already working in Adobe or need enterprise-level integration.

8. Mobile Experience

• Canva: Very good mobile app. Almost all desktop design tools translate over realistically.
• Express: Has a mobile version too, though some users report it’s heavier. Still, generative features and editing work reliably on the go.

Pricing & Value

Here’s a comparison of cost, especially important for entrepreneurs trying to keep design spend lean.

Canva is better value if you’re working solo or in a very small team, and Express is cost-effective too, but its real value shows when you scale or integrate deeply with Adobe.

Performance & Reliability

In my testing:

• Export speed: Canva is snappy, though very complex designs or large files can lag.
• Cloud save / autosave: Very reliable on both, but Canva seems slightly less “heavy” and more graceful when my Wi-Fi isn’t the strongest.
• App stability: Some Express users (especially mobile) report occasional UI sluggishness. Meanwhile, long-time Canva users have posted about crashes after its newer updates.

Use Cases (How I’d Use, and Recommend, Each Tool)

Here are a few scenarios where each tool really shines:

• Solo Founder/Content Creator: I’d lean Canva. I need ads, carousels, pitch decks. Canva gets me there fast, especially when I don’t want to waste time stressing about alignment or layout.
• Small Marketing Team/Agency: Express wins. The brand management/controls, the bulk-create feature, and the ability to hand off to professional designers make it much more scalable.
• Video Marketer/Social Media Strategist: For campaign videos or recurring motion graphics, Express gives more flexibility and quality.
• Brand-First Business: If maintaining design consistency is essential (colours, fonts, campaigns), both tools are good, but Express gives more agency-level governance.

What Both Tools Get Wrong (or Could Improve)

I don’t buy into commendation without critique. Here are some of the downsides I encountered:

• Canva:
  • Magic features are powerful, but not always precise.
  • Very heavy templates or complex designs can make the interface lag.
  • Some advanced functionality (especially brand controls) is locked behind Pro/Teams.
• Adobe Express:
  • Firefly generation is great, but learning to control prompts well takes time.
  • Collaboration is improved, but it’s not as seamless for non‑Adobe users.
  • Mobile app is powerful, but performance depends heavily on your device; some users report clunkiness or crashes.
  • Bulk creation and brand lock are primarily Enterprise‑tier, not accessible to everyone.

Finally, What Should You Choose in 2025?

If I were building a lean startup or side hustle and needed design speed, flexibility, and ease, I’d pick Canva. Its simplicity and depth make it a go-to for entrepreneurs who just want “good, fast, on-brand” without the headache.

But if I were part of a growing team, working with marketing, sales, or design professionals, especially if I already use Adobe tools, I’d go for Adobe Express.

Its power, especially in generative design and brand consistency, scales in a way Canva can’t easily match when you start producing at volume or with tight brand rules.

The update brings the world’s first AI model built to understand design, alongside a suite of new products and tools to simplify how individuals and businesses create, collaborate, and grow.

The platform’s new foundation, the Canva Design Model, is the result of years of research and training on real design elements. Unlike typical image generators, this model comprehends structure, layers, and layout logic, allowing users to generate editable, on-brand designs across multiple formats, from presentations to videos, within seconds.

“As knowledge becomes more and more accessible, we believe we’re moving from the Information Era to the Imagination Era, a time when creativity has never been more critical. We’ve been thinking about how we can empower our community to succeed in this era, which is why we’re incredibly excited to unveil our biggest launch yet with the all-in-one Creative Operating System,” said Melanie Perkins, Canva co-founder and CEO.

Smarter Visual Suite and New Creation Tools

At the core of Canva’s Creative Operating System is a reimagined Visual Suite that pushes what users can achieve without needing deep design expertise. 

The update features Video 2.0, a rebuilt editor designed to remove complexity while introducing automation through tools like Magic Video, allowing users to turn ideas into polished content instantly.

Canva has also rolled out Email Design, a long-requested feature that lets marketing teams build fully branded emails directly within the platform and export them in HTML. 

Forms can now be embedded in any design, enabling creators to collect responses seamlessly, while Canva Code and Canva Sheets now work together to turn raw data into interactive visual widgets that update in real time.

AI That Understands Design

Beyond functionality, Canva’s new AI system, now deeply embedded across every workflow, allows users to generate or modify text, graphics, videos, and even 3D objects without leaving the canvas. 

Its intelligent Ask @Canva feature acts as a design assistant, ready to offer instant suggestions or edits directly within projects.

Robert Kawalsky, Canva’s global head of Product, described the innovation as a response to real user needs:

“What we’ve found is that people want the ability to start with a prompt and get far, but also be able to iterate directly themselves.”

Expanding Into Marketing and Business Growth

With Canva Grow, the company now provides an integrated marketing platform that enables users to create, publish, and track campaigns across social media platforms like Meta. 

The tool analyses engagement in real time, using AI to improve campaigns automatically based on performance data.

Supporting this is Canva’s Brand System, which brings assets, templates, fonts, and colours directly into the editor, maintaining brand consistency across teams. A new plan, Canva Business, bridges the gap between the Pro and Enterprise tiers, offering advanced analytics, extended AI capacity, and collaborative tools for growing teams.

Affinity Now Free Forever

In one of its most interesting moves, Canva announced that Affinity, the professional design suite it acquired last year, will now be free forever. 

The upgraded Affinity merges vector, pixel, and layout tools under one interface, providing a seamless experience for professional designers. The integration allows users to move assets directly from Affinity into Canva for team collaboration, publishing, and scaling.

The Future of Creative Work

With more than 260 million monthly active users and serving 95% of the Fortune 500, Canva is becoming a central hub for creativity and business growth. Its $3.5 billion in annualised revenue and $42 billion valuation shows the global interest for simplified, accessible design solutions.

The outage, which originated from AWS’s US-EAST-1 region, began in the early hours of Monday and quickly spread beyond the United States, affecting Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

According to AWS’s own status dashboard, multiple services are currently “impacted” due to “increased error rates and latencies,” with engineers “actively engaged and working to both mitigate the issue and understand root cause.”

For users, the impact has been immediate and widespread. Alexa devices have gone silent, unable to respond to voice commands or execute daily routines like alarms and reminders. 

Developers and businesses using AWS’s cloud network, from Airtable to Perplexity AI and the McDonald’s app, have also been hit. Even high-traffic entertainment platforms like Fortnite, Roblox, and Rainbow Six Siege are offline.

Downdetector, a platform that tracks service disruptions, has logged over 2,000 incident reports in the U.S. alone since the outage began. On Reddit and X (formerly Twitter), frustrated users across time zones have shared screenshots of failed connections and frozen dashboards.

“Perplexity is down right now,” confirmed Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, in a post on X. “The root cause is an AWS issue. We’re working on resolving it.”

Amazon, in its latest public update at 3:51 a.m. ET, noted that it would provide further information every 45 minutes “or sooner if we have additional information to share.” However, at the time of writing, there is still no estimated timeline for full restoration.

This isn’t the first time AWS’s US-EAST-1 region has been the source of widespread disruption. Similar outages in December 2021, November 2020, and June 2023 took down high-profile platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Slack, Zoom, and Twitch. 

Each incident revealed an issue across the tech industry, that a large portion of the global internet depends heavily on a single cloud provider’s regional infrastructure.

The current outage appears to have hit both consumer-facing apps and backend systems, including AWS’s own Support Center and Support API, which organisations rely on for case creation and troubleshooting.

While AWS has reiterated that engineers are investigating the problem, the lack of transparency about the specific cause of the outage is driving industry-wide anxiety. Many are now revisiting familiar cases of how much centralisation is too much when the internet’s backbone depends on just a handful of companies.

For now, millions of users are in a holding pattern, waiting, refreshing, and hoping their devices come back online soon.

According to branding specialists at Aura Print, Canva’s actual impact goes beyond what it lets you create; it is how quickly it has changed the branding space, especially for small businesses across the United States. 

Aura Print says the platform “has democratised design,” but the businesses that win in 2025 will be the ones who move beyond the default and build something truly distinctive.

If you’re running a small business, here’s how to make Canva work for your brand, not against it.

1. Stop Using Templates as They Come—Make Them Yours

Yes, Canva gives you thousands of templates, but default fonts and layouts won’t set your brand apart.

To create a look that’s recognisable and truly yours:

• Use Canva’s Brand Kit to set custom fonts and colours.
• Upload your own icons, product images, or textures.
• Edit layout structures to reflect your messaging style.

Aura Print’s Liam Smith explains, “Now that everyone can design, the challenge is to design distinctively.”

2. Design a Brand System, Not Just Social Posts

A logo isn’t a brand, a flyer isn’t a brand; everything has to connect. Your Instagram posts, order confirmations, signage, and email footers should all feel like they’re coming from the same voice and vision.

Think of it this way:

• Is your packaging as thoughtful as your Instagram content?
• Do your pop-up banners match your business card?
• Are you building consistency or just creating content?

When everything clicks, your brand becomes more than visuals; it becomes a story.

3. Make Print a Priority Again

In the rush to digitise, many small businesses abandoned physical materials. That’s changing.

Aura Print has seen a steady return to tangible branding, especially among local shops, service providers, and product brands. Think stickers, thank-you notes, loyalty cards, or even QR-powered packaging inserts.

Smith says, “We’re seeing a lot of American clients return to tactile design… It’s emotional, it’s shareable, and it sticks.”

Print cuts through digital fatigue and leaves a lasting impression, especially when it’s done right.

4. Let Canva Tools Help—but Don’t Let Them Define You

Canva’s AI-powered tools can speed up your work, suggest layouts, or even generate full content pieces. But fast doesn’t mean right.

Use smart tools for support, not as substitutes:

• Proofread manually.
• Choose imagery that fits your target audience.
• Refine tone to match your values.

“Branding is no longer just about looking professional, but about standing out, being memorable, and expressing values clearly,” says Smith.

Human decisions still matter more than automated suggestions.

5. Focus on Emotional Storytelling and Consistency

Your branding must reflect who you are, not just what you sell.

Ask yourself:

• What problem am I solving?
• What do I want people to feel when they interact with my brand?
• How can my visual identity support that feeling?

Design without clarity is just decoration. Canva gives you the tools, but it’s your message and consistency that build trust.

6. Think Beyond Canva: Strategy Still Matters

Too many business owners believe the software will do the branding for them. It won’t.

Liam Smith reminds us: “The tools are accessible, but the strategy still needs thought. Branding is no longer just about looking professional, but about standing out, being memorable, and expressing values clearly.”

Ask yourself:

• What emotions do I want customers to associate with my brand?
• What story am I telling?
• Does my design support or distract from that story?

Canva helps you move fast, but without a clear direction, speed means nothing.

7. What to Prioritise in 2025: The New Branding Rules

Here are key strategies small business owners should focus on now:

• Personalisation over popularity: Don’t chase trends. Build what reflects you.
• Tactile connection: Use print to engage customers offline; at pop-ups, events, or in packaging.
• Emotional branding: People remember how you made them feel, not just what they saw.
• Hyper-personalisation: Stop blending in. Use visuals that are unmistakably you.
• Tactile experiences: Design for the real world; events, packaging, thank-you notes.
• Integrated branding: Your digital and print presence should feel like two sides of the same brand.

“Your story is your superpower. Canva just helps you tell it faster. The magic is in how you make it your own,” Smith stated

Small businesses can no longer afford to rely on Canva alone to look credible. In 2025, great branding means connecting emotionally, standing out visually, and showing up consistently.

The tools are in your hands. What you do with them is what counts.

Somewhere between the high cost of garri and the daily collapse of Nigeria’s power grid, the average Nigerian teacher, tailor, or trader—people in non-tech careers—is now expected to moonlight as a software engineer—pressured to learn tech skills like coding—or risk economic irrelevance.

Welcome to the age of economic Darwinism—tech edition—with survival being for those who know how to schedule a Zoom call and send a PDF, not just the strongest or the fastest.

The truth is, the world isn’t waiting for Nigeria, or anyone to catch up. In 2023 alone, 90% of global businesses engaged in digital transformation projects, with 40% scaling them up significantly. 

However, while 66% of large corporations have a digital strategy, only 49% of small businesses, the backbone of developing economies, have done the same. In Nigeria, where over 33 million MSMEs operate largely informally, this has gone beyond a gap to a canyon.

And still, many believe tech is “not for them.”

Let’s dismiss that.

Who This Is For (And Why You Shouldn’t Scroll Past)

This isn’t a discussion for coders. It’s for:

• The public school teacher surviving on delayed salaries and a broken chalkboard.
• The market woman whose entire accounting system fits in a leather purse.
• The civil servant knee-deep in file cabinets from the Babangida era.
• The young graduate with zero connections and a cracked phone.
• The pastor, plumber, pepper seller, or anyone earning a living in a system that rarely keeps its guarantees.

In other words—you.

If you’ve ever felt that tech belongs to another class of people; younger, richer, more “connected”, then this article is your rebuttal.

What Tech Really Means (It’s Not Coding, It’s Convenience)

Let’s simplify the tech conversation.

Tech isn’t always AI, machine learning, or writing 5,000 lines of Python. Sometimes, it’s using:

• WhatsApp Business to auto-reply when you’re asleep.
• Canva to design a poster without hiring a graphic designer.
• Google Forms to take customer orders or collect event registrations.
• Selar or Gumroad to sell your cooking lessons, hair tutorials, or sermon notes.

Tech is using tools—many of them free—to reduce your workload, increase your income, and gain visibility.

Here’s what it might look like in real life:

If you can use a smartphone, you’re already halfway there.

Real Nigerians, Real Outcomes

Consider Amaka, a home economics teacher in Enugu who couldn’t make ends meet. She began recording short lessons on her phone, uploaded them to YouTube, and linked them to a ₦1,000/month subscription on Selar. Within 6 months, she had 700 subscribers.

Then there’s Chukwudi, a spare parts dealer in Aba. He didn’t build an app. He just started listing his inventory on WhatsApp Business and responding faster. Orders tripled—especially from Lagos mechanics.

This isn’t Silicon Valley. It’s Aba, Yaba, Enugu—and it’s working.

The 5-Step Tech Plan for Non-Tech People

Here’s how to make tech work for you:

1. Audit Your Workflow
   What do you do manually every day that drains time or limits reach? Deliveries, payments, stock records, advertising?
2. Choose 2 Tools
   Not 10. Not 20. Just two that solve your biggest headache. For example:

• For visibility: TikTok or Google Business
• For payments: Paystack or Flutterwave Store
• For admin: Notion or Trello (for organised minds)

3. Learn on Your Own Terms
   YouTube. Free online courses. Watch. Pause. Repeat. You don’t need a four-year degree to send bulk SMS or automate responses.
4. Apply it to a Real Problem
   Don’t just “learn tech” in theory. Use it to solve something today—even if it’s just scheduling customer appointments digitally.
5. Grow Consistently
   Track what’s working. Learn new tools as your needs grow. Upskill if you’re ready, or delegate to someone who can.

The Global Reality (And Why You Should Care)

Let’s take this seriously: AI is projected to impact 40% of global jobs, transforming how work is done and who gets paid. The same algorithms that power ChatGPT now decide which CV gets seen or which bank loan is approved.

However, paradoxically, only 1% of companies consider themselves fully AI-integrated, meaning there’s still time for you to adapt.

Meanwhile, global IT services are growing at twice the rate of the world economy, creating jobs at six times the rate. If Nigeria’s workforce, even outside tech, doesn’t plug in, we’ll not only be spectators to a global revolution; we’ll be casualties.

The Big Picture: Why It’s Not Just About You

When ordinary Nigerians start using tech adequately, something changes:

• Efficiency improves: Less waiting, more doing.
• Income grows: Side hustles become SMEs.
• Opportunities widen: Education, health, and commerce all get better.

Imagine if even 10 million Nigerian workers outside tech adopted just two digital tools. The productivity boom alone could ripple through the economy, reducing friction in everything from school admissions to market deliveries.

It’s Not Too Late, But It Will Be Soon

You don’t need to be in tech to win with tech.
You just need to stop standing on the sidelines.

Be you a shop owner, teacher, photographer or pharmacist, the digital world is already shaping your reality. The thing is: will you shape it back?

This week, pick one tech tool. Learn it. Apply it. Repeat.
And when it works, share it with someone else who thinks “tech isn’t for people like them.”

Because it is.

The price hike will primarily affect users of the Canva Teams subscription, a service designed for businesses that allow multiple users to collaborate on projects. 

The company is attributing these changes to the expansion of its product offerings, particularly the integration of advanced tools.

For some users in the United States, the cost of a Canva Teams plan, previously priced at $120 per year for up to five users, is poised to soar to $500 annually. 

While a 40% discount will be applied for the first year, reducing the fee to $300, this still represents a substantial increase. Australian customers are also facing abrupt hikes, with the previous flat fee of $39.99 AUD per month for five users being replaced by a per-user charge of $13.50 AUD. This change could lead to a rise in costs by more than 68% for some teams.

This change will particularly impact those customers who had been enjoying lower legacy pricing, as Canva had earlier revised its pricing structure for new subscribers without notifying existing users. 

Starting in September, existing Canva Teams subscribers will be transitioned to the new pricing model, which requires a minimum of three users per team and charges $10 per user per month.

Canva’s spokesperson, Louisa Green, defended the decision by pointing to the platform’s expanded offerings. “Our suite of products has significantly evolved, with the launch of new tools like the Visual Suite and Magic Studio,” Green noted in a statement, highlighting the value these additions bring to the platform. 

She also explained that the original pricing had remained unchanged for four years and was due for an update to align with the platform’s enhanced capabilities.

Despite these explanations, the Canva price hike announcement has not been well received. The changes were communicated primarily through emails to affected customers, rather than through a public announcement, which has led to displeasure among users. 

Many have expressed their dissatisfaction online, with some stating their intention to cancel their subscriptions and switch to other design platforms, such as Adobe.

This latest price adjustment is a departure from Canva’s original positioning as a cost-effective alternative to more expensive design software. 

It also comes in the wake of the company’s acquisition of Serif, the firm behind the Affinity suite of creative tools, for a reported sum of several hundred million British pounds. 

These developments are taking place as Canva prepares for a potential public listing in the United States by 2026.

Last week Google Ads introduced a suite of new AI-powered tools that enhance creativity and performance, such as advanced reporting, AI-powered image editing, generative AI for asset creation, streamlined access, and seamless integrations with creative platforms.

These tools empower marketers to uncover hidden insights, unleash their creativity, accelerate content creation, simplify their workflow, and expand their creative network.

These new features build upon the foundation of Performance Max, providing marketers with even more tools to unleash their creativity and drive results.

5 Ways Google Ads is Transforming Creative Performance

1. Uncover Hidden Insights with Advanced Reporting:

Ever wondered which of your ad creatives are truly hitting the mark? Now you can find out! Google Ads is introducing detailed conversion metrics right within your asset-level reporting for Performance Max campaigns.

See exactly which images, videos, and headlines are driving the most valuable actions from your audience.

Additionally, you can now track where your video ads are appearing on YouTube, ensuring your brand is showcased in suitable environments. If you spot something amiss, you have the power to exclude specific placements.

This level of transparency puts you in control, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that optimise your campaigns for maximum impact.

To access these reporting tools, navigate to the “Reports” section in your Google Ads account and select the relevant campaign.

2. Unleash Your Creativity with AI-Powered Image Editing:

Forget the hassle of outsourcing image edits or learning complex software. Google Ads now offers AI-powered image editing tools that put the power of creativity at your fingertips.

Remove unwanted objects, add new elements, expand backgrounds, and even crop images to different aspect ratios, all with a few simple clicks.

This empowers you to create a wider variety of eye-catching visuals, tailored to different platforms and audiences, without breaking the bank or slowing down your workflow.

To try out these features, head to the “Assets” section of your Google Ads account and select the image you want to edit.

3. Accelerate Asset Creation with Generative AI:

Struggling to keep up with the demand for fresh creative content? Google Ads’ asset generation feature is here to help. Now available in App and Display campaigns, this powerful tool leverages AI to generate high-quality images in a flash.

Simply provide a few prompts and let the AI do the heavy lifting, saving you valuable time and resources.

You’ll also gain access to enhanced asset reporting for App campaigns, so you can track the performance of your AI-generated images and fine-tune your strategy. To explore asset generation, go to the “Create” menu in Google Ads and select “Assets.”

4. Simplify Your Workflow with Streamlined Access:

No more jumping through hoops to create and manage your assets. Google Ads has simplified the process, making it easier than ever to access essential tools. You can now generate images, create videos, and upload assets directly from the “Create” menu.

This streamlined workflow saves you time and eliminates unnecessary clicks, allowing you to focus on what matters most – crafting compelling campaigns.

5. Expand Your Creative Network with Seamless Integrations:

Collaboration is key to success, but it can be challenging when your creative team uses different platforms. Google Ads has partnered with leading creative platforms like Canva, Smartly, and Pencil to bridge the gap.

Typeface will now be joining the fold. This integration enables seamless implementation of assets built with Typeface directly into Google Ads campaigns. Now, teams can focus on their creative strengths, while marketers enjoy a smooth and efficient workflow.

Embrace the Power of Innovation

Google Ads is committed to providing marketers with the tools they need to thrive in the digital age.

These new features, powered by AI and a focus on user experience, offer endless opportunities to elevate your campaigns, captivate your audience, and achieve your marketing goals.

[Featured Photo Credit]