Google Ads is emailing advertisers an offer of $400 in ad credit — but only after they spend $400 of their own money first. The promotion, sent to eligible accounts this week, is built around Google’s AI-powered Performance Max campaigns, the format where Google’s systems decide where ads appear and how budgets are spent.
The email pitches Performance Max as the low-effort route in: advertisers pick a marketing goal, set a budget and supply images, copy and video, and Google AI mixes the assets and optimises the campaign across Search, YouTube, Maps and other Google surfaces. The credit is the incentive to restart — the offer is aimed at advertisers new to Google Ads with a billing address in Pakistan, and at dormant accounts being coaxed back, which must have been inactive for at least 365 days to qualify on reactivation.
The terms carry two clocks. The promotional code must be entered within 10 days of reactivation, with a payment profile and a valid payment method added at signup, and one code is allowed per advertiser. Campaigns then have to accrue $400 in costs — excluding taxes and fees — within 60 days of the code being entered; simply paying $400 up front does not count. Once the spending threshold is met, the $400 credit is typically applied within 35 days, it covers future advertising costs only, and it expires 60 days after it lands. The account also has to be billed successfully and stay in good standing, or Google can remove the offer.
Why it matters: the structure is the story. Google is subsidising the on-ramp to its most automated campaign type, at a moment when it is also putting ads inside AI Mode and tightening how budgets flow through automated formats like the ones in its channel prioritisation rollout. A spend-matched credit lowers the risk of testing Performance Max, but it also means the advertiser’s conversion history, audiences and creative data accumulate inside Google’s AI systems — the switching cost that remains long after the credit is spent. For smaller advertisers, $400 in 60 days is a real commitment, and the credit’s own 60-day expiry means the “free” money has to be spent quickly too.
Source: Google Ads promotional email, October 13, 2026; Google Ads promotional offer terms
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