Combo Creatives as the name indicates are a way to combine the functionality of several of the other feature types in the one rendering. Using HTML markup, every Creative presentation may be customized for the same Ad Feed/ Ad Product.
Editing template details
Combo Creative templates are more complex to set up than the individual counterparts for text, image or flash however the functionality available is more powerful. The configuration set up in the template will control the fields that are presented against a Campaign or Advertisement.
The table below describes the individual fields in the form with additional sub-sections describing the individual types of definitions that can be added to the template.
For fields that show options for Hidden, Mandatory, Optional the effect of selection is the same and is described below
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Hidden: This will not present the field for collection.
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Mandatory: The field will be presented and must be filled in for the creative to be saved.
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Optional: The field will be presented, but does not have to be entered.
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Template Name |
When multiple templates are added against the one product this name will be displayed in the tab shown to the person adding a Combo Creative feature. |
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Scope |
Check whether to allow collection at a Campaign and/or Advertisement level. |
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Dimensions (W x H) |
It will be used by the AdServer to determine suitability for presentation against an AdSpace. This will be the overall size that will be taken up in the publishing site. In most cases this size should encompass all of the images/flash and text that is going to be collected. This may not be the case for certain rendering such as expanding ads where the initial size is different to the size when a mouse over event has occurred. |
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Impression-Tracking URL |
For more details please see the impression-tracking URL page. |
Additional definition types
Each definition listed below must have a name entered. This name is used to label the form field when adding a Combo Creative against a Campaign or Advertisement. The check box determines whether the details are optional or mandatory. The red cross icon will remove the definition. As you can see from the detail below the flash and image definitions allow similar constraints to be placed against the uploaded data as is available in the Flash and Image templates.
Text Definition
Each text definition must define the minimum and maximum line length limits for text entry.
Image Definition
Each image definition has a width/height that must be specified along with a maximum allowable file size (in kilobytes). The format of the uploaded image is also able to be controlled.
Flash Definition
Each flash definition has a width/height that must be specified along with a maximum allowable file size (in kilobytes). The minimum flash version and maximum allowable frame rate are also able to be constrained.
Updating existing templates
At any time you are able to update existing templates. When saving we check existing Combo Creative features that are saved against this template. If the changes cause any existing features to become invalid the action is prevented.
Types of changes that generally succeed
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Making a mandatory field optional
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Changing the template name
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Adding new optional definitions
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Increasing length limits within existing definitions
Types of changes that usually fail
In some cases the following changes will save correctly depending on what is already in the system.
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Decreasing the length maximum or increasing the minimum
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Making a mandatory field hidden. There will be features in the system that have the detail populated so we can not ignore this data.
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Removing mandatory field definitions
Viewing Template Details
The above screen shot shows the current configuration for a Combo Creative template that has been added. Careful consideration has been taken into account to display the configuration in a way that is easy to read.
In this example we have just clicked save from the previous screen shot showing the editor. You can see the settings that were saved and what will be displayed in this case.
Clicking the pencil icon will allow editing of the template details. Depending on the changes that are required saving the template may not be possible. See above for more details on this.
Clicking the cross icon will delete the template. In some cases this icon will be disabled. Hovering over the icon should tell you why it has been disabled. If this icon is enabled it means that there are no existing features that have been created against the template. In this case all updates to template configuration will succeed as there is no possibility of making existing features invalid.
Adding Multiple Templates
The above screen shot shows configuration where two Combo Creative templates have been added against one Product.
The top template has no features assigned to it and is showing an enabled delete icon. The bottom template has a feature in the system that is using this template configuration so deleting it has been disabled.
You can also see the difference in configuration for each of the templates:
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The dimensions are different.
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The second template will not present the Impression-Tracking URL field
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The set of field definitions is different between the two templates
Implementation
Combo Creative Advertisements are sent using XML, so each AdSpace must interpret the XML and generate the appropriate HTML/CSS markup as required.
Two example presentations of the same creative
