Indie Ads Manager has two types of campaigns. Once you have created a campaign, you can assign it to a zone or a channel to serve the ads in the campaign.
Campaigns are a great way to manage multiple ad items, but they can also contain a single ad item. When you assign a campaign to a zone, you assign all the ad items under it. The ad items will have the same assignment details, but each ad item can be assigned a specific weight to allow you to prioritize one over another.
If a campaign contains ad items of varying sizes, only ad items compatible with the requesting zone will be considered for serving.
Types of Campaigns
Indie Ads Manager has two types of campaigns. Once you have created a campaign, you can assign it to a zone or a channel to serve the ads in the campaign.
Standard Campaigns
Standard campaigns can be assigned to Standard ad zones and Email ad zones. You can assign any number or combination of image and HTML5/Rich media ad items to a standard campaign.
Each campaign behaves as a single unit. When using unique delivery in a zone, a campaign will only display one ad item per page, regardless of how many ad items it has.
VAST Campaigns
VAST campaigns can hold only VAST ad items, and can be assigned only to VAST ad zones.
Each VAST ad item can have multiple file types. We recommend you take advantage of this feature to ensure compatibility with various VAST-compliant video players. Do not use this feature to upload different ads within a single ad item. It's meant only to accommodate multiple formats of the same ad.
If your video is not encoded correctly, some VAST video players may make multiple requests to download the file, which can result in additional bandwidth usage and slow load times.
Creating a Campaign
Log into Indie Ads manager and navigate to the relevant advertiser.
Click Add Campaign above the table of campaigns. The Create Campaign window will appear.
Choose whether to create a Standard or a VAST campaign.
Name the campaign.
Choose whether you want to configure any apply targeting options to the whole campaign or per ad item. You cannot change this setting once the campaign has been created.
Choose whether you want to configure and apply scheduling options to the whole campaign or per ad item. You cannot change this setting once the campaign has been created.
Click Create Campaign
Assigning Campaigns to Zones or Channels
A campaign must be assigned to a zone or a channel (i.e. a group of zones) so you can serve the ad items in that campaign. It must have at least one ad item so that it can be assigned.
You can assign a campaign only to a zone of the corresponding type.
Image and HTML5/Rich media ad items need to be in a standard campaign and must be assigned to a standard ad zone.
Email ad items need to be in a standard campaign and must be assigned to an email ad zone.
VAST ad items need to be created in a VAST campaign and assigned to a VAST ad zone.
Similarly, remember that a channel is a group of zones. While Indie Ads Manager will let you assign a campaign to any channel, the campaign will be selected to serve only if the channel to which it was assigned has a zone that is compatible with the campaign.
Navigate to the relevant campaign in Indie Ads Manager.
Click on Assign to Zone below the Zone Assignments table or Assign to Channel below the Channels table. A list of eligible zones or channels will appear.
Click on your desired zone or channel. If you are selecting a channel, choose the channel and then click Select. The assignment page will appear.
Configure the campaigns assignment details.
Click Save after configuring the zone assignment details or click Save Campaign after configuring the channel assignment details.
Ad Item Level Targeting
If the campaign's scheduling level, targeting level, or both were set to the Ad Item Level when it was created, you will be able to change those options only on a per ad item basis. When assigning the campaign to a zone or a channel, you will configure only its financial and frequency capping options.
Campaign Level Targeting
If the campaign's scheduling level, targeting level, or both were set to Campaign Level when it was created, whatever you set for those options will apply to all ad items in the campaign. Similarly, when you make changes to the campaign assignment's scheduling and targeting, those changes will apply to all the ad items in the campaign.
Duplicating a Campaign
Duplicating a campaign is an easy way to copy all or part of the main components of a campaign: the ad items, the zone assignments, and the channel assignments. Duplicating one or more of these components lets you quickly prepare ad setups for different periods or test different combinations of ad items or assignment details.
Navigate to the relevant advertiser.
In the Campaigns table, tick the checkbox beside the campaign that you want to duplicate.
Click Duplicate at the bottom of the table. The Duplicate Campaign window will appear.
Select the advertiser to which the duplicate campaign will be assigned. To assign the duplicate campaign to the same advertiser, click Use Current Advertiser.
Select the campaign components to duplicate.
Click Duplicate. The duplicate campaign will appear in the Campaigns table of the advertiser you assigned it to.
Note: The name of the duplicate campaign will be the name of the original campaign prepended by "_COPY_". You can edit a campaign's name by clicking on the campaign then clicking Edit Properties at the top of its section.
Pausing a Campaign
You can pause or reactivate a campaign from its section or from the zone's section.
Pausing from the campaign's section
Navigate to the relevant advertiser and campaign.
Under the Zone Assignments table, you will see a list of zones that the campaign is assigned to. Click on Active under the Status column of a zone. It will change the status to Paused. You can do the same thing in the Channels table.
Pausing from the zone's section
Navigate to your publication's record.
Under the Assigned Campaigns table, you will see a list of the campaigns that are assigned to the zone. Click on Active under the Status column of a zone. It will change to Inactive.
Click Inactive to reactivate the campaign.
Archiving a Campaign
You can archive one or more campaigns from the section of the advertiser to which they are assigned. The ad items assigned to those campaigns and the configuration of their zone or channel assignments will be preserved.
Note: Campaigns and ad items can always be unarchived but their previous assignments will be restored only if the zones or channels still exist.
Navigate to the relevant advertiser.
In the table of campaigns, click on the checkbox beside the name of the campaign or campaigns you want to archive.
Click Archive at the bottom of the table.
Unarchiving a Campaign
Navigate to the relevant advertiser.
Click on the View Archived Campaign(s) link at the bottom of the table. The list of archived campaigns will appear.
Click on the checkbox beside the name of the campaign or campaign you want to unarchive.
Click Unarchive.
Click OK in the confirmation window that appears.
Deleting a Campaign
Warning: You can delete a campaign, but we highly recommend archiving campaigns instead of deleting them unless you are absolutely sure that you no longer need the campaign or ad items included.
Archiving deactivates the chosen element and removes them from the table of campaigns. But it is an easily reversible process that preserves the archived element's contents.
Navigate to the Advertiser to which the campaign you want to delete is assigned.
In the table of campaigns, click on the checkbox beside the name of the campaign or campaigns you want to delete.
Click Delete at the bottom of the table. A confirmation window will appear.
Click OK.