Welcome to this week’s PPC Pulse, where this week’s focus is on scenario-based planning in both Google and Microsoft platforms.
Google introduced a new Scenario Planner within Meridian, giving marketers the ability to model budget allocation shifts before committing spend. Microsoft launched a scenario-based Performance Max learning path designed to walk advertisers through practical campaign situations.
Both updates point to a growing emphasis on improving decisions before campaigns go live.
Here’s what happened this week and why it matters for advertisers.
Google Introduces Scenario Planner For Meridian
Google announced a new Scenario Planner within Meridian, its Marketing Mix Modeling platform. The tool allows marketers to test budget allocation scenarios and forecast potential outcomes using Meridian’s modeled insights.
Instead of waiting for quarterly MMM reports or static insights, advertisers can now simulate how shifting spend across channels might impact performance metrics like revenue, conversions, or return on investment.
According to Google, the goal is to make MMM insights more accessible and actionable for marketers who need to defend budgets and make planning decisions in real time. It also reiterated that coding isn’t required to use this tool.
It looks to be a promising planning tool built for higher-level strategy conversations between advertisers and key decision-makers.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
Marketing Mix Modeling has traditionally been handled at a higher level of the organization. It tends to show up in quarterly reviews, annual planning decks, or conversations led by finance and analytics teams. Most PPC managers are not sitting inside MMM tools on a weekly basis.
What makes this update notable is that Google is moving those insights closer to the teams actually managing budgets day to day.
PPC marketers are being asked more frequently to justify budget increases or reallocations with something stronger than last-click performance.
A tool like this could influence how those conversations happen. Instead of pointing only to recent return on ad spend (ROAS) trends, teams may start leaning more on modeled projections and incremental impact estimates when proposing changes.
What PPC Professionals Are Saying
Ginny Marvin, Ads Liaison for Google, shared the announcement on LinkedIn. Here’s what she emphasized about the Scenario Planner:
“No technical MMM experience needed to go from ‘what happened?’ to ‘what’s next?'”
Advertisers like Ivan Walker are “very excited!” about the update, while others like Ashley V. are curious about hearing feedback from others who have started using it.
Microsoft Launches Scenario-Based Performance Max Learning Path
Along the same lines of planning, Microsoft Advertising announced a new Performance Max learning path within its Learning Lab.
Unlike standard certification modules, this path walks advertisers through real-world scenarios designed to build hands-on expertise. The training focuses on practical decision-making across campaign setup, optimization, and troubleshooting.
I appreciate how Microsoft is positioning – that Performance Max success requires understanding, context, and strategy instead of focusing solely on what settings to toggle.
The learning path is designed to help advertisers think through situations they are likely to encounter in live accounts. For example, how to approach budget allocation, how to evaluate asset performance, and how to troubleshoot underperformance.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
Performance Max is not new at this point. Most advertisers have at least tested it, and many are running it at scale. What has changed is the level of thinking required to run it well.
There is still a misconception that PMax runs on its own once you flip it on. In reality, outcomes are heavily influenced by how campaigns are structured, what signals are being fed into the system, and how clearly conversion goals are defined.
Microsoft is leaning into the idea that automation does not remove the need for strategy. It shifts where strategy shows up. Instead of spending time adjusting bids manually, advertisers are spending time making decisions around inputs, segmentation, creative quality, and measurement alignment.
For agencies and in-house teams, scenario-based training could be useful for onboarding or leveling up junior team members. It provides context around the types of situations teams actually encounter, rather than just explaining what each setting does.
Theme Of The Week: Planning Before Spending
Both updates this week center around the same idea, which is trying to improve the quality of decisions before money is spent.
Google is giving marketers a way to test budget allocation scenarios before shifting spend to other platforms. Microsoft is walking advertisers through realistic campaign situations before they are live in their accounts.
While many industry updates focus on optimizations after campaigns are running, these ones focus on the earlier stage. How confident are you in the structure? How confident are you in the allocation? How confident are you in the assumptions behind the strategy?
Especially with budgets under tighter scrutiny than ever, and automation handling much more of campaign execution, the planning phase definitely carries more weight than it used to.
More Resources:
- How Much Of Your Paid Media Budget Should Be Allocated To Upper Funnel?
- Why Do Budgets Overspend Even With A Target ROAS or CPA? – Ask A PPC
- PPC Trends 2026
Featured Image: Kansuda2 Kaewwannarat/Shutterstock; Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
