• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 5, 2012

Google has stepped up efforts to re-engineer systems that plan, buy, sell and deliver online ads. Neal Mohan, Google VP of display ads, said the platform will help make that transformation at a customer conference on Tuesday. 

The DoubleClick ad platform upgrade, once known as DoubleClick for Advertisers, ties together technologies that large advertisers and agencies use to buy digital media. It claims to improve on several core Google components, including Invite Media rebuilt on the Google stack, rebranded DoubleClick Digital Marketing Bid Manager and DoubleClick Search.

Google said in a blog post Monday that Search Query reporting was released in May. The feature provides insights into the search queries, or terms, that are driving visits for a company's ads and the revenue it derives from these queries.

DoubleClick Digital Marketing also integrates DoubleClick Studio, the company rich media creative solution, with Teracent's dynamic creative technology to powers ad units. In 2011, rich media ads accounted for 10% of all display ads, doubling in volume over 12 months.

Agencies, publishers and brands want one platform that integrates ideas and processes.

Combining the creative concept and building block tools to deliver ads should help agencies improve return on investment for campaigns. Panelists from Vivaki, R/GA, Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Mobile Marketing Association and others during Google's DoubleClick conference voiced concerns about challenges related to crafting creative campaigns backed by data. Some also talked about technology companies spending too much time on the process and not enough time on the creative.

Is technology too integrated into the creative process? One panelist wants to "banish technologists" from the creative suite because he believes companies like Google and DoubleClick should be the "great simplifiers that give creative people the platform to bring ideas to life."