7.2.21.1 Creation of Ad Creative Templates and Variables

Challenge

This article explains the basics of how to make an Ad Creative Template and highlights the steps needed to set up Ad Creative Template Variables.

Solution

In order to set up the Creative Upload in ADvendio, Ad Creative Templates are required. Those templates control, which fields and settings will be available in the Creative Upload UI and thus which information your Sales Reps will be able to see.

Additionally, you can determine which Campaign Items, and which Creative Templates are available. This helps you for example to make sure to only use Print creatives for your Print Campaign Items and similar.

Underneath each Ad Creative Template in ADvendio, there are Template Variables, which can configure which fields are visible in the Creative Upload Screen.

The ADvendio Creative Data Model

Here is an overview of the data model and what it means:

Three important steps to set up Creative Upload:

To set up your Creative Upload for Google AdManager, Xandr or Kevel you will need to go through the following steps:

1. Create or Import Ad Creative Templates into ADvendio

2. Configure your Ad Creative Template Variables for each template (based on your non-digital products, GAM or Xandr requirements)

3. Connect Ad Creative Templates to Ad Types in ADvendio to make them available to your users

1. Ad Creative Template

There are two ways to create a creative Template

1.1 Import Ad Creative Template

Product-specific examples and screenshots of how to create, configure, and connect your Ad Creative Template:

How to set up the creative upload feature for non-digital products?

How to set up the creative upload features for Google Ad Manager?

How to set up the creative upload features for Xandr?

How to set up the creative upload features for Kevel ?

1.2 Create Ad Creative Template manually

Start by creating your Ad Creative Template in ADvendio; this will help you to configure the types of creatives you want to manage from ADvendio.

In Ad Creative Template View select the button “New”. It will open “New Ad Creative Template”:

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Generally, these fields need to be filled:

1. Creative Template Name: You can pick any name that you like. This name will be shown to the user when uploading a new creative to ADvendio, so we recommend using something which is relatable for your users

2. The following fields:

   1. Connection - links to the connection record, which represents your product network

   2. Creative Type - determines which type of Creative will be uploaded to your product network

   3. Template ID - enter the Creative Template ID which you are planning to use

   4. External Status - currently not used (it worked to import the current status template in the internal system. Useful when the user manually wants to decide which template to offer as active in Advendio)

3. Active: Please set your template to active; otherwise, inactive templates will not be shown during the creative upload process

2. Configure your Ad Creative Template Variables

Once the template is there, you will need to define which fields you want or need to use.

To manage the variables of a template, you need to switch to the related tab in your Ad Creative Template record and view the related list ‘Ad Creative Template Variables’.

Click the button new to create a new Variable. Depending on your creative type there are certain Variables which might be needed. Each Variable record you create will then be its own field in the Creative Upload window your user sees so that they can fill in the required information.

2.1. Ad Creative variable Fields and its meanings:

• Ad Creative Template Variable Name: A general name for your variable. This will also be shown as Field Name to the user during the creative upload process, so we recommend picking something your users can recognize

• Variable Type: Which data type is this variable? The selection will also reflect how your field will be shown to the users. Possible types are:

  • attachment: This type should be used for files.

  • boolean: This type represents a checkbox with true or false.

  • date: This type represents a date with a calendar selection.

  • integer: This type represents a whole number.

  • picklist: This type represents a list of multiple values.

  • string: This type represents a text.

  • textarea: This type represents a longer text.

  • attachmentURL: This type should be used for URLs to externally stored images.

  • ExternalAttachment: This is used for file attachments, which are supposed to be stored in an external storage solution, instead of Salesforce file storage.

  • adSizes: This type represents a Connection ID lookup for selecting an Ad Size (e.g., Kevel Ad Type ID) during creative upload. Selecting an ad size restricts file upload dimensions to that specific ad size.

• Required: Check this if the field is required for the user.

• Possible Values: Only applicable for picklist Variable Types to enter the possible values to be selected separated by a semicolon.
  Note: In order for the picklist values to be in a dropdown list you have to write the values separated by ; (semicolon)

• Variable ID: An Id to save the value in the background. This value needs to be set (for non-digital items you could set the same value as the name).

• Maximum File Size: A possible maximum file size of the upload (in Kilobytes).

• Default: A possible default value to support the user in the selection.

• Help Text: A possible help text displayed over the template field and which be shown in the UI.

• Placeholder: A placeholder text which will be displayed for each variable.

• Sort order: Unique sort number within the template to define in which position this field will be shown in UI (see more details in the section below).

• Possible Dimensions: The acceptable dimensions for the the upload. Enter the dimensions as a list separated by semicolons (e.g. 800x600;1920x1080).

• Unique key: Filled by Advendio to ensure that during automatic imports, we can identify any update for already existing creative template variables.

• Maximum number: The maximum count of characters that can be entered for a string and text area variable in the Ad Creative Template. This setting defines the limit for the length of text that users can input.

• Minimum number: The minimum count of characters that can be entered for an integer, string, and text area variable in the Ad Creative Template. This setting defines the limit for the length of text that users can input.

With version 2.179, the following new fields have been added to Ad Material Management

• Read Only: This setting makes the variable read-only in the Ad Material Management

• Hidden: This setting makes the variable hidden in the Ad Material Management

2.2. Sort Order of fields

Sort Order of fields - a unique sort number in the template. It defines in which order this field will be visually displayed in the UI.

In the screenshot below, you can see that when you select ‘Target Size GAM' sort order 'position 1’ then the target size variable is moved to the top of the page in the UI.

Screenshot of the variable with the sort order field:

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“Target Size GAM' sort order field is set to position '1'

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“Target Size GAM' variable is displayed on the top of the upload UI (above the Creative file, Click URL and Destination URL fields)

3. Connect your Template to Ad Types

Once the template is created with all its Ad Creative variables, you will need to define which Ad Types you would like to assign this template. Without assigning the Templates to Ad Types, you won’t be able to create new Creatives in the UI as described in: 4.12.2 How to upload Ad Materials (Creatives) to ADvendio?

To connect the template to one or multiple Ad Types, please go to the related lists of the Ad Creative Template record. For the related list “Assigned Ad Types“ you need to hit the New button in order to select the relevant Ad Type for which this template and its variables should be usable. After you select the Ad Type, you can hit the Save button if you just want to assign one Ad Type. If you would like to assign multiple Ad Types, you can also hit the Save & New button.

3.1. Assign Connection IDs (Ad Sizes) to Ad Creative Templates

Administrators can restrict which Connection IDs (Ad Sizes) appear in the adSizes variable lookup during creative upload by configuring Template Connection ID Assignments.

Prerequisites & Setup

• Lightning App Builder Page Setup: The component Template Connection Id Assignments (creativeTemplateConnectionIdAssignments) is not added to standard page layouts by default and must be added manually:

  1. Navigate to an Ad Creative Template record in Lightning Experience.

  2. Click the Setup (Gear) icon in the header and select Edit Page.

  3. In the component palette under Custom, locate Template Connection Id Assignments (creativeTemplateConnectionIdAssignments).

  4. Drag and drop the component onto the page layout (e.g. within the Related tab).

  5. Verify Record ID is set to {!recordId} and Full View is unchecked (false).

  6. Click Save and Activate the page as Org/App Default.

• Connection Requirement: An active Connection (ADvendio__Connection__c) must be defined on the template. If no Connection is set, the New button is disabled, and clicking it displays the error toast: "This template has no Connection. Set a Connection before adding assignments."

Creating an Assignment

1. Open the Ad Creative Template record page and locate the Template Connection Id Assignments card.

2. Click New in the card header to open the New Template Connection Id Assignment modal dialog.

3. In the modal form, the Ad Creative Template field is pre-populated with the current template record name, is disabled, and cannot be cleared.

4. Click into the Connection Id lookup input and select a Connection ID record (ADvendio__AdServer_ID__c). For Kevel connections, the lookup displays only Connection IDs where Category = 'Inventory' and Type = 'Format'.

5. Click Save. A success toast ("Assignment created successfully.") is displayed, the modal closes, and the new assignment row appears in the table showing the Assignment Name and Connection Id.

Whitelist Effect on Creative Upload

• Once Connection IDs are assigned to an Ad Creative Template through this component, only those assigned values will appear in the adSizes variable lookup during creative upload in Ad Material Management.

4. Ad Creative Templates with External File Storage

Starting Release ADvendio Summer 2024 (2.171) we’re supporting our customers in using external storage solutions together with their Creative Uploads. These will require dedicated steps to set up.

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Once activated, all Variables of the type: Attachment will need to be replaced with ‘ExternalAttachment’. This way, our creative upload will transfer the files to the external storage solution and then continue the process, without using Salesforce Storage. To ensure this, you need to additionally go through these steps:

1. Update Configuration of Creative Templates: In order to use our Creative templates with the external storage, you will need to adjust your connection record and then run the import of creative templates:

   1. Go to Setup → Object Manager → Connection and modify the picklist field Connection Features (API Name: ADvendio__AdServerFeatures__c) make sure the following picklist value exists and is available for the needed Connection: “Import External Storage Creative Templates”

   2. It might be required to manually define the picklist value; you can simply click the ‘new’ button in the values section

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   3. For your Connection records, make sure the value is chosen in the Connection Features field

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   4. Click ‘Transfer to ADvendio’ and start the import for Creative Templates. This should ensure that all Variables of the type ‘Attachment’ will now be imported as the Type ‘ExternalAttachment’, which is needed for external storage solutions.

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   6. At any time you can modify the ‘Connection Features’ field and run the transfer to ADvendio again, in order to switch between internal and external storage creative templates.

2. You are ready to go. Just use your Creative Upload features as usual and notice the small message during upload saying that the upload is running to an External system. Also, instead of saving the image file for the Ad Creative, the publicURL will be saved.