Inventory Items form the basis of Inventory Management in Mercury. They represent the generally available Inventories that you can use to provide them as Proposals to a Company (another Pool) or a Campaign (an end customer).
Purpose and Content of an Inventory Item
An Inventory Item contains all information relevant to the Buying Side:
- Buying-Relevant Data: It includes the purchase price and all discounts based on buying conditions.
- Structure: Like a normal plan line in the Media Plan, an Item consists of Publisher, Medium, Placement, Ad Format (Creative), and more.
- Metrics: The available metrics (e.g., Impressions, Clicks, Volume) are Forecast Values, as this section only relates to planning.
Unspecific vs. Specific Information
The Inventory Item is in most cases unspecific regarding the final briefing details:
- The Item provides the basic inventory without specifying target groups, frequencies, or flight dates.
- Specific information such as target audience, targeting, or the final flight dates are added later on the selling side level (in the Buy Item within the Proposal).
If you require a specific Inventory Item with details on flight dates, targeting, or other parameters, you can add them at any time. You determine how detailed the information should be.
Relationship to Other Elements
A Proposal Template can be created from an Inventory Item. If a Proposal is generated from this template, Mercury automatically saves a copy of the Inventory Item as a Buy Item within the Proposal.