Google’s Brandformance LA 2025 Summit: Granular Insights

10/28/25

Last month, Granular was invited to Brandformance LA 2025 at the Spruce Goose campus in Los Angeles. This was an invite-only, closed-door event: a sign of how seriously Google takes our role as trusted partners for our clients. Jordon and I were there representing our team and clients, gaining first-hand access to Google’s product leadership and roadmap.

What Stood Out to Me

Proof That Brand + Performance Can Finally Be Measured Together: Google is leaning hard into Meridian, its open-source marketing mix model. It connects MMM, incrementality testing and attribution into a single framework. For years, clients have asked us to prove brand investments drive sales. Meridian and the new Attributed Brand Search metric (tying YouTube exposure to Google Search lift) are tangible steps toward answering that.
AI Is Here, But It Needs a Human in the Loop: The big push was on AI-powered creative: Veo for video, Imagen for visuals, Lyria for music. The message was clear: AI can cut production costs and multiply assets, but it can’t supply the vision. An example was shown showing how the restaurant chain Checkers and Rally’s had a “no-shoot studio” created to showcase AI’s efficiency. Importantly, this reinforced why human judgment and taste matter more than ever. This is exactly where Granular comes in: helping clients decide what’s worth amplifying and how to keep brand voice intact.
Creators Drive Commerce: Kevin Espiritu from Epic Gardening told his story, from hobbyist blogger to building a multi-million-dollar product line. Because this was a Google event, it was heavily centered around YouTube. For me, this reinforced that creators are not just influencers, they are commerce engines. That’s a lesson we can bring directly to D2C and retail clients thinking about how to blend storytelling with measurable growth.
Marketing Reframed as a Profit Driver: Google had Q&A panels with brands like Mizzen+Main, Lucid Motors, and Sambazon showing how those teams have successfully repositioned digital advertising to boards and CFOs as an investment, not a cost center. They showed it was not just a language shift, but the KPIs and measurement methodologies shifting as well to prove out incrementality of top of funnel channels like CTV, aligning to revenue and using Google’s tools to validate full-funnel ROI. It was interesting to see how they worked through communication and KPI evolution to land on an approach that resonates with executives.

Why It Matters for Our Clients

Exclusivity & Early Access: Granular was in the room. We’re one of the very few that have direct insight into Google’s next wave of tools, well before they’re mainstream. We often get access to Beta and Alpha programs for our clients long before the majority of advertisers have access to them.
Human in the Loop: AI will accelerate the what. Granular ensures clients don’t lose the why. Our role is to apply strategy, creative discipline and performance expertise to make these tools work in-market.
Stronger Proof of Value: From Meridian to Attributed Brand Search, Google is finally addressing the measurement gap. We’ll help clients cut through the noise, test and build the business case with their CFOs to show incremental lift of our advertising efforts.