Earlier this month, a senior team from Space & Time travelled to the heart of Dublin’s ‘Silicon Docks’ for an intensive, all-day workshop at Google’s EMEA headquarters.
Increasingly aware of how the rapid advancement of AI in recent years has significantly accelerated changes within the digital landscape, our main objective was to engage directly with Google’s product specialists and strategic leaders to develop the next generation of property and eCommerce playbooks, incorporating the latest innovations and strategic opportunities for our clients.
The day wasn’t just about absorbing information; it was about strengthening the bridge between our agency and our peers at Google. Representing Space & Time were myself, Heather Connearn, Paula Hijosa, Lesley Menzies, Ben Ladbrook, and Ed Allen, bringing together expertise in Media, Tech, Creative, and AI. We were then joined by an incredible Google cohort, including Luca Senatore (head of agency, UK & Ireland) and Silvia Cocciolillo (senior strategic agency manager, UK & Ireland), alongside specialists in AI, Cloud, Measurement, and Media Effectiveness.
The core of our discussion centred on a ‘Blueprint for Growth’. We focused on how to drive real business outcomes for our clients using a three-pillared approach. This included the importance of data, maximising AI solutions, and ensuring everything is tracked as robustly as possible.
One of the most exciting sessions, led by Kira Brakhage and Aidan O’Callaghan, delved into Google Cloud and the future of generative video and we explored the capabilities of Vertex AI and Veo 3.1. These tools are set to revolutionise how we produce high-end, yet affordable, video content for clients. The ability to generate professional-grade video assets at scale means we can deliver high-quality creative to maximise performance.
Having flown in from Spain for the workshop, our AI performance lead, Paula, found this part of the session especially useful: “Particularly how multimodal AI and agent‑based workflows are coming together in secure environments for creative and content development. The sessions sharpened our thinking around testing, from trying new channels and capabilities to always protecting space in budgets for experimentation that supports better decision‑making over time. Overall, the workshop helped us align more closely with how Google is thinking about the future of AI‑driven marketing.”
We spent significant time discussing the ‘High-Attention’ era of video. With the rise of Connected TV (CTV) and the explosive growth of YouTube Shorts, the platform has become a full-funnel powerhouse. Interestingly, we learned that nearly half of YouTube Shorts viewers in the UK aren’t on other short-form platforms, representing a massive, untapped audience for our property and eCommerce clients.
From a technical and measurement perspective, the focus was on Data Strength. As we move further away from traditional cookies, the implementation of Google Tag Gateway (GTG) and Enhanced Conversions for Leads (ECL) is no longer optional, but it is the foundation of growth.
Ed, our senior solutions analyst, found the advantages of having both server-side and Google Tag Gateway implemented, particularly insightful:“Although, on the surface, both technologies ostensibly achieve similar objectives, there’s nuances to the outcomes they provide; chiefly in how they address Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and third party scripts.”
Our performance lead, Ben, also found the section on Data Strength one of the highlights of the day “I found the GTG aspect particularly interesting, especially its role in enhancing our measurement offering and how it was described more like a VPN, making browsers treat the GTM tag as first-party instead of third-party, limiting their ability to restrict or block it. I’m enthusiastic about GTG adoption, as several of our eCommerce clients have implemented a number of features mentioned in the workshop and are seeing strong results. Their performance is only expected to improve further with GTG in place.”
Overall, it was a fascinating day, and we came away with our brains full of information and excited to start implementing new strategies for our clients. We left Dublin with a concrete roadmap for the next six months and a clear idea of what our immediate focus for clients should be.
We also created specific client roadmaps for both property and eCommerce, focused on durable and privacy-centric measurement, maximising conversions and utilising AI creative to fuel their campaigns and maximise performance.
As Ben said: “The sessions underlined the importance of adapting Google’s roadmap to each retailer’s needs. Factors such as tech stack, feed quality, margins, and data maturity should guide the pace of automation adoption.”
The workshop was a powerful reminder that what brought success in the past won’t be enough to lead in the future. By combining Space & Time’s deep sector expertise in property and eCommerce with Google’s cutting-edge AI and measurement tools, we are ensuring our clients stay ahead of the curve.
The day ended with a much-needed pint of Guinness after a full schedule of valuable insights and takeaways. A huge thank you to the Google team for hosting us. We’re back in the UK and already putting these playbooks into practice!
