Creating an Adschedule from A to Z

Introduction:

This article describes how to assign creatives to mercury line items in Adschedule and link them with the Ad server export data.

Instructions:

Assigning creatives to Mercury lines in Adschedule is only possible if an Adserver placement ID was attributed to the line, please click here for more details on how to do that.

Note: Only AdOperations contacts are being picked up by the system in AdSchedules. Please make sure that an AdOperations contact was added for each publisher. If as an exception the Sales and Ad Operations contact is the same for a publisher, please check both boxes when creating the contact.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Adding creatives to the Asset Library
Creating Ad Schedules
Assigning creatives to Ad Schedules
Assigning Clicktracker links to Ad schedules
Synchronising Adschedules with the Adserver
Assigning Pixel URL's
Transferring the data to the Adserver/AdOps

Adding creatives to the Asset Library:

Creatives should be added to the asset library to be available for Adschedule slots creation.
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To add a creative to the Asset Library, click on the Adschedules button in the top right corner of the screen
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Choose the Ad server type of the campaign from the dropdown list
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Click on the "Asset Library" section and then on ⊕ Create Asset
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Select the type of the Asset from the dropdown list in the emerging window
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Available formats per Asset type:
- Link Ad: ".txt" files to be sent along with AI's+Clicks/Clicks placements
- Image Ad: ".jpg, .png, .gif" files
- Video Ad: ".webm, .mp4, .mov, .ogg, .x-flv" files
- HTML 5 Standard Ad: HTML5 creatives as ".zip" files
- HTML 5 Studio Ad: n.a. at the moment

Upload the creative in the right format by clicking on "Upload file"
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Important:
1. Files should be named according to the  existing naming convention (if any).
2. The ending of the file name (.jpg, .zip, .mp4 etc.) must be removed (including the dot) during the upload.
3. The file name should not be changed, as it might generate issues for the AdOps to assign the creatives.

Insert the Width and the Height of the file and click "Save"
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Important:
The inserted Height and Weight should correspond to the mediums dimensions provided during the campaign creation, otherwise they will not be available for attribution to the corresponding AdSlots.
After the assets uploading the dimensions can not be changed.

To delete an asset click on the trash bin icon on the right side of it.
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Creating Ad Schedules:

To create an Adschedule slot, click on the checkbox next to an Adserver placement ID and click on the ⊕ Create Adschedule button
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To create a redirect AdSchedule slot, select the "TAG" option, then click on the "Save" button in the emerged window
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For physical Adslots uploading, select the "physical" option and insert the Width and Height of the creative.
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For Video Ads, please check the box" This schedule will be configured with Video Ads"
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To edit the name of an Adslot, point with the mouse over it and click on the pen sign
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To delete an Adslot, click on the Delete option under it's name
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Assigning creatives to Ad Schedules:

To assign a creative to an Adslot click on the red exclamation sign below it
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An AdSlot Configuration sidebar will pop up
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To adjust the Runtimes of an Adslot click on it and a calendar will be displayed
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To assign a medium to an Adslot, click on ⊕ Create new and select between Image Ad and Html Ad for redirect and image types of ads.
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After selecting the Ad type, all the corresponding ads (matching file types and dimensions) will be available for selection
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The target URL for the medium should be inserted in the "Target URL" field
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The background color for the Ad will be communicated to the publisher if the "Set background color for Ad" text box is filled
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The name of the ad will be pre-populated in the field from the file name
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For video Ads, click on ⊕ Video Ad and select the corresponding video file from the Asset library
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Important: if a video, .zip or image file is not displayed for selection for a certain Adslot, the format provided in the asset library (file extension, dimensions) does not match the Adslot format

Assigning Clicktracker links to Ad schedules:

To assign a Clicktracker link to an Adschedule, click on ⊕ Add and select Click-Tracker
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A new Ad slot will be created under the respective Ad Schedule
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A Click-tracker Ad slot can be created for Click Tracking, Impression Tracking and Background Link Ads, based on the checkbox selection (multiple choice possible)
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Once the Asset was uploaded, an available Ad item will be displayed, to Assign it to the Adschedule, click on the "+" sign
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Once the Ad was attributed to the Adschedule and the assigning process was successful, the Adslot under the Adschedule will turn green
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To remove the media asset from an Adslot from an Adschedule, click on the green "i" sign and the Adslot Confirguration sidebar will be displayed again. Then locate the targeted Adslot and click on the "-" sign
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To delete an Adslot from an Adschedule, click on the green "i" sign and the Adslot configuration sidebar will be displayed. In the general settings section, click on "Delete Adslot"
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Other options:

Several motifs on one placement/motif change:

Multiple Adslots can be added to an Adschedule and will be displayed according to the provided dates or with an equal ratio between the slots by default. (For example 50/50% would be for 2 Adslots, and 25% would be for each of the 4 changing Adslots).
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To add an additional Adslot to an Adschedule, click on ⊕ Add and select the "Adslot" option and a new adslot will be displayed under the existing one
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To set up the running times for each Adslot, click on them and in the General settings section, select the targeted dates for each asset.
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Same motif for multiple Adschedules:

To assign the same Ad to multiple Adschedules, press and hold the "Shift" taste on your keyboard and select the targeted motif from the Multi-Edit sidebar, click on "+", if the assignment was successful both Adslots will turn green
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Synchronising Adschedules with the Adserver:

To synchronise the Adschedules with the Adserver, click on the "Activate" button and then confirm the operation
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After the Adschedule synchronisation, the status will change to Pending and a confirmation message will be displayed
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Assigning Pixel URL's:

Pixel URL's can be assigned in the "Assign Pixel URL's" section
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Assigning Pixel URL's:

To assign a Pixel URL to a plan item in Adschedule, click on the checkbox in front of it and a Pixel Library side bar will pop up
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To add a new Pixel to the library, click on ⊕ Add Pixel , select the type of the Pixel and insert it's name and link
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Once the pixels are added to the library, they can be attributed to a line item by clicking on the "+" sign
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Once a Pixel URL was attributed to the line item, it will be displayed in a blue box near it's name
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Transferring the data to the Adserver/AdOps:

The synchronisation of the data between Mercury and the Adserver can be checked according to the ToDo status for each line:
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To do meanings:

Create - Entry must be created on the AdServer

Update - Entry must be updated on the AdServer (See column What changed?)

Delete - Entry must be deleted on the AdServer

Synchronised - Entry is up to date

Based on the selected AdServer (Adform, Flashtalking, Google Campaign Manager) the format and contents of the import and export sheets might differ.

You can compare the current AdServer status at any time by uploading the AdServer export table. The todos shown will adapt accordingly. You can also download the information table displayed to upload it to the AdServer and have the entries created. Please note that banners and rotators are not created automatically and tags are not created if the required banner or rotator is not available in Adform. Please follow up the steps described for updating the Adserver status accordingly.

AdScheduling