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The Creative Process for Programmatic: A Toolkit for Creative Agencies

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What if, instead of receiving specs and marching orders,

you were able to sit at the brainstorm table with your client

and media agency and come up with a campaign strategy

in partnership? What if you had access to media data and

could help shape the audience segmentation strategy for

the campaign, then use that to form creative executions

targeted to each audience segment? And what if you could

do it all without tacking on a ton more development time for

your dev team?

The concepts and recommendations underlying data-driven

creative pave the way for all of these things.

It’s 10am, and you’re about to start brainstorming for a new display campaign. In your hand is a media spec sheet: dozens of banner sizes, all predetermined by the brand and media agency. You’re sure there’s some strategy behind it, but you have no idea what it is.

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So what is data-driven creative?Data-driven creative utilizes data signals from brands and

their media partners to dynamically serve ads that change

based on the audiences viewing them and the contexts and

environments in which they appear.

GILT GROUPE

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Data-driven creative is the ability for Gilt Groupe to show merchandise in their ads that matches specific search

queries their interested customers have already searched for.

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L’OREAL

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA

Or for L’oreal to show entirely different ad units

to women who have children vs. those who don’t

and test multiple product offers (or none at all),

all without having to build new ads because every

execution uses the same creative template.

Or for RBC Bank to run copy tests for

awareness headlines vs. product benefit

headlines and learn which ones perform

better for which audiences.

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Programmatic advertising accounts for 67% of all

digital display ad sales1. When you consider that

data-driven creative is the creative powerhouse

behind programmatic, and that 70% of a media

campaign’s performance hinges on the creative2,

it’s clear that knowing how to build data-driven

creative is a must for any agency with an eye

toward the future.

1. e-marketer, 2015

2. Internal data, Google Media campaigns, October 2015

Why is data-driven creative important?

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Global programmatic ad spend is expected to reach

$21.6B in 2016.

“Programmatic advertising lets you continually elevate creative in a way that’s almost impossible with traditional campaigns.”- Chris Pierantozzi, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi LA

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Closer collaboration with the brand marketer

and media agency, leading to stronger working

relationships and a better seat at the table.

Access to data about audiences and contexts that

can provide inspiration for cool new ideas.

A better understanding of how each creative

element in a campaign is performing and how

they perform in combination, which can heighten

creative knowledge, elevate the role of copywriters

and asset creators, and make for stronger, more

effective campaigns.

Getting on board with data-driven creative offers new

opportunities for agencies, such as:

“Today, data driven personalization is all about bringing real time relevance to the user. When we populate content in ads based on what we already know about users-- what they are interested in, where they’ve been, what they’ve considered-- we can further drive interest proving our product is for a person like them.”

- Kat Ott, Group Program Director, Huge

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The real power of data-driven creative lies in the knowledge it affords agencies: not only of the why behind the campaign strategy, but of what their work is really able to accomplish.

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How do I get started?Recently, DoubleClick partnered with several global brands and

their creative, media, and production agencies to determine

best practices for data-driven campaigns. The result was a

five-phase process that we outline in detail in The Creative

Process for Programmatic: A Guide for Marketers. To compile

this companion piece specifically for creative agencies, we

turned to agencies already excelling in this area:

F A N C Y P A N T S G R O U P

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Fancy Pants Group is a digital creative studio

dedicated to producing innovative, cross screen

and dynamic executions with notable agencies,

publishers, and brands.

HUGE is a digital agency providing strategy,

marketing, design, and technology services to

Fortune 100 companies.

Saatchi & Saatchi is a global communications and

advertising agency network with 140 offices in 76

countries and over 6,500 staff.

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Throughout this toolkit we’ll use one of the test cases from

our research, Gilt Groupe, to illustrate the five phases of

data-driven creative. Gilt Groupe is an online retailer that

offers discounted fashion and luxury goods to members.

“Traditionally, the creative process starts with multiple ideas boiling down to one winner. Data-driven campaigns allow you to expand the creative process, and cultivate more than one idea.”

- Robby Rigano, COO, Fancy Pants Group

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Multiple agencies. One team.

Data-driven creative works best when multiple agencies come together to work as a single team.

These agencies and players involved may include:

Generally, the brand manager on the brand side will act as the point person for the

entire campaign. However, each agency should designate their own point person as

well: generally, an account manager or digital producer whose responsibilities include:

• Communicating with other agencies and consolidating feedback

• Scheduling regular check-ins with brand and agency teams

• Monitoring schedules and timelines

• Choosing a communication system (such as e-mail, Basecamp,Trello, or Slack)

that all team members across all agencies can agree to use

• Brand manager

• Digital marketer

• Planner/buyer

• Account manager

• Analyst

• Ad ops team

• Strategist

• Copywriter

• Designer

• Account manager

• Developer

• Tech lead

• Account manager

• Digital producer

Brand Media agency

Creative agency Production agency

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The 20% rule

When starting out with data-driven creative, agencies should

budget at least 20% more time and financial resources than

they would for traditional campaigns. Budgeting this up front

can help in the long run, as you’re likely to save on costly

revisions and poor campaign performance. The extra 20% is

meant to cover:

• The increased time spent collaborating with brand

and agency partners

• The ramp-up period required to understand the data signals

and past campaign performance for the campaign

• Developing the messaging and creative matrix, creating a

template, and setting up a dynamic creative feed (if working

on a dynamic creative campaign)

• Additional time to execute the soft launch

Note: this figure may fluctuate for campaigns that are more or less complex. However,

once you begin to master dynamic creative campaigns, you may find that you’re able

to run them in less time and with fewer resources.

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Phase 1: Gather insights from available data sources

This phase is particularly exciting for agencies: now you

can be part of the discussion about data signals, and can

contribute your own expertise about how users respond to

creative and behave within digital environments.

The 5-phase process from an agency perspective

“Understanding available data signals and search behavior can spark new creative ideas and concepts.”- Robby Rigano, COO, Fancy Pants Group

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Audience signals: Information about the types of people you’re

trying to target

Media signals: Information about the content your user is

looking at where your message might appear

Environmental signals: External factors that may influence the

mindset of your users when they’re exposed to your marketing

Signal type What it tells us about the audience

Demographics Audience characteristics like age and gender

Affinity segments Users who have demonstrated a qualified and recent interest in a given topic

In-market segments Users who are intending to buy certain products or services in the near future

Similar audiences New and qualified consumers who share interests with your existing audiences

Website analytics Based on user interactions on your site like purchase history and previous pages visited

Search marketing data Users who clicked on your search ad, signaling intent

Social behavior If a user has shared, liked, favorited your brand

CRM Users from offline channels like store visits

Signal type What it tells us about the page the ad is on

Keyword contextual targeting Keyword content on page where ad is running

Category targeting Website or app category where ad is running

Media placement Location of your ad on a publication, for example sports page vs. news page

Data from publisher Information from the publisher about the page your ad is on, for example, travel destination page

Signal type What it tells us about the viewer’s environment

Device information The type of device the person is using: desktop, tablet, smartphone. The operating system of the user’s device: Android vs IOS

Location User’s country, city, postal code, or store proximity

Event information Information about an event happening at the same time your ad is seen like sporting events, TV schedules, financial markets, weather condition

Understanding data signals

1 2 3

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Keyword contextual targeting Keyword content on page where ad is running Best lipstick; healthy dog food

Category targeting Category or app where ad is running Health; music; news

Media placement Location of your ad on a publisher property Sports page; news page; homepage

Data from publisher Information from the publisher about the page your ad is on

Travel destination page; special content hub

Device information The type of device and operating system your audience is using

Desktop; smartphone; tablet; Android; iOS

Location The location of the user when viewing your ad Chicago; Alabama; 11211

Event information Information about an event occurring at the same time as your ad is seen

Football game; snowstorm; stock market dip

Mediasignals

Audience signals

Environmental signals

Signal type What it tells us about the audience Examples

Demographics Audience characteristics and attributes Age; gender; household income

Affinity segments Users who have demonstrated a qualified and recent interest in a given topic

Dog lovers; thrill seekers; luxury shoppers; technophiles

In-market segments Users who are intending to buy certain products or services in the near future

In-market for a family car; in-market for a smartphone

Similar audiences New and qualified consumers who share interests with your existing users

Fashion enthusiasts; people who have purchased a monthly subscription

Website analytics Based on user interactions on your site such as purchase history and previous pages visited

Purchased in the past month; visited a product page but didn’t purchase

Search marketing data Users who clicked on your ad, signaling intent Search ad Click-through rate; conversion rate

Social behavior If a user has shared, liked, or favorited your brand

Twitter follows; Facebook post shares; Instagram likes

CRM Users from offline channels such as store visits

Loyalty program member; recently used discount code

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Previous campaigns Audience insights Additional sourcesCreative performance: which format types have provided the most engagement and conversions for your brand?

1st party data: marketer-owned and typically collected from brand websites and ad creative using pixels. Can also be collected in the offline environment through loyalty cards, call centers or store transactions

Marketing research for deeper insight about your users

Audience performance: which audience targeting strategies have worked well previously?

3rd party data sellers::companies that aggregate data and resell it to marketers.

Focus groups or brand lift surveys you may have done to assess how campaigns affect brand perception.

Media performance: which media tactics work well for your brand?

Data from media partners: for example, Google provides access to demographic, affinity, and in-market audience data

Expertise and best practices from your agency partners.

Device performance: which devices provide the best reach for your target?

Data from paid search campaigns: provide insight into user intent

Industry tools such as Google Trends.

Purchase data: how have previous campaigns affected purchase behavior?

Information on your content strategies that can aid in the creative ideation process.

Where data signals come from

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Phase 1 in action: Gilt Groupe used three different insights and signals to devise their campaign strategy:

Insight Where it came from Who provided it

Gilt has four different content sections of their website, so we used those sections to segment the audience and drive people to relevant areas of the website

Gilt’s website Gilt marketing manager

Google search trends helped us determine which types of products from the Gilt website would be most interesting to viewers within each audience segment

Top search keywords report in DoubleClick Campaign Manager

Idea came from Gilt’s marketing manager; media team pulled he report

Because Gilt already had Google Search Ads running on select keywords, we built a lower funnel strategy to retarget people who clicked on those ads, but never signed up for a membership

Gilt’s search advertising campaign Gilt’s search marketing team

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Phase 2: The all-hands kick-off

The all-hands kick-off meeting gets all participating agencies

and brand partners together to develop a working digital brief.

Everyone from your agency should try to attend, as this is a

key time to get questions answered and start collaborating

with the team. At the most productive kick-offs, the full

team will begin to map out the campaign’s structure on a

whiteboard, taking data signals, campaign goals, and media

plans into account.

Who is your target audience and what are your initial thoughts on segmentation?

What type of messaging do you want to communicate to each segment?

What type of assets do you have available for each segment?

What 1st party data do you have access to?

What signals can be used to reach and segment your audience?

Do you have key learnings you can share from previous campaigns?

What platforms do you intend to target?

What are your success metrics/KPIs? What will we define as a conversion?

What type of formats are you planning to run? Display, mobile, video, etc?

How long will the campaign be running and what is the expected reporting/optimization schedule?

The Fancy Pants Group master checklist of questions for the all-hands kick-off:

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In the room:

• Gilt Groupe marketing manager and marketing director

• Creative production agency strategist, dynamic specialist,

designers and developers

• Data analysts

Key goal:

• Driving Gilt membership and subsequent online purchase

KPI:

• New member sign-ups to the Gilt website

Target audiences:

• Women interested in fashion

• Women interested in home decor

• Women interested in kids and parenting

• Men interested in fashion

Full decision tree for Gilt’s campaign strategyTargeting strategy Audience-based strategy:

Uses affinity lists, in-market audiences, and 1st party remarketing lists from Gilt’s website

Search-to-display remarketing:Uses remarketing lists built from Gilt’s search advertising campaigns, for specific top keywords

Creative strategy Women:DressesSandalsHandbagGeneric

Men:JeansTuxedoShoesGeneric

Kids/maternity:Maternity dressesBaby dressesMaternity clothingGeneric

Home:FurnitureHeadboardBeddingGeneric

Creative imagery test Lifestyle imagery Product imagery

Creative format test In-page ad format Interactive ad format

Copy tests End frame copy:“The Best Brands”“The Best Designers”

CTA:“Shop Now”“See More”

Phase 2 in action: Gilt Groupe’s all-hands kick-off call

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Similarly, the creative template provides parameters for variables such as:

Character counts for copy, Length of animations. Size and location of images

Within those parameters, the team can experiment with different headlines,

images, and types of animations, as well as other factors.

Exhibit #6: Dynamic creative primer –

Copy Video

ImagesLanding Pages

Call to action

Logo

Phase 3: Design and develop the creative

In this phase, the creative production agency takes control.

This is where you’ll design the creative template and develop

the dynamic creative feed (if you’ve decided to use a full

dynamic creative strategy), which work together to form the

functional backbone of the campaign.

The creative template

Much like the blueprint for a house, this serves as the structure

of the ad unit. When you use a blueprint, variables such as the

type of flooring and color of the exterior may change, but the

“bones” of the house will remain the same.

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The dynamic creative feed

This houses the creative assets that will get plugged into the

creative template, as well as the logic that dictates which assets

will be served to which viewers based on your data signals and

campaign strategy. Using a feed to control your dynamic campaign

strategy gives you maximum flexibility, allowing you to quickly and

easily make changes to your creative on the fly.

THE MOST POPULAR CREATIVE ELEMENTS THAT YOU CAN MAKE DYNAMIC INCLUDE:

Copy (Headlines, prices, CTA)

Images (Product, Background, button)

Object color Exit URL Font Video

“The creative template does the heavy lifting you couldn’t do in social and other channels.”- Chris Pierantozzi, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi LA

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Track your lift

When testing two or more variables, it’s important to pinpoint which

variable results in the lift. That’s why we recommend A/B testing no

more than one variable at a time, with equal sample sizes for each.

Once you’re able to track a proven winner, you can pivot the campaign

to test other variables.

In the example below, you’ll see that the Gilt campaign ran completely

separate tests for the CTA and body copy, allowing them to see exactly

where the lift occurred.

Keep it simple

When you’re first working with data-driven creative, plan to keep the

concept simple and start with just one or two variables to test. Based

on your learnings, you can optimize and add other elements later on.

Understand dependent elements

Dynamic elements may sometimes clash in unexpected ways.

For example, if static text is white and one of the dynamic background

images is ivory, the text becomes unreadable. Always test how

dynamic elements will perform in tandem and have fixes at the ready,

such as making text color variable dependent on background image.

Follow best practices

Best practices for dynamic creative sometimes differ from those

for traditional banner campaigns. You can find a full description of

dynamic creative design best practices here.

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Creative development best practicesThe agency-approved tips below can help you work efficiently and produce cleaner,

more creative work during this crucial phase.

A/B

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Phase 3 in action: Gilt Groupe’s creative variations

The Gilt campaign used a multi-pronged creative approach

to reach users at all stages of their consideration process.

First, we used the website’s four merchandise sections to

determine which types of merchandise would show in

the ads:

• Women’s fashion

• Men’s fashion

• Home goods

• Kids and parenting

We then built ads around the three top-performing

keywords from a previous Gilt display campaign for each

segment. For men, these were: shoes, tuxedos, and jeans.

For women, we built ads for dresses, shoes and handbags.

We also created a "generic" ad image with a mix of

merchandise for all four groups.IMAGERY: DRESSES, SANDALS, HANDBAGS, GENERIC

FRAME ONE FRAME TWO

WOMEN CATEGORY TESTMEN CATEGORY TEST

FRAME ONE

IMAGERY: JEANS, TUXEDO, SHOES, GENERIC

FRAME TWO

(Example: Men’s Jeans, lifestyle) (Example: Dresses, lifestyle)

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For users who were likely to be interested in Gilt but may

not know about the site, we looked at audiences with

aligned interests, such as fashion and clothing, or with

similar characteristics to Gilt’s existing customers. We

showed all four creative executions on random rotation to

everyone who fell into the segment: for instance, a woman

might see the shoe creative, the dress creative, the handbag

creative or a generic creative.

Finally, we had a strategy for audiences who were already

aware of Gilt. Since Gilt was running a search campaign at

the time, if someone searched for something, saw a Gilt

ad in the search results, clicked through to their website

but then left before signing up, Gilt could reach them again

with a relevant ad unit. Since we already had three creative

executions that were each tailored to a specific keyword,

we could show them to people who had searched for the

relevant item. For example, a woman who searched for a

dress would later see the ad unit that contained a dress.

For all other search queries, we showed them the generic

ad creative that contained a mixture of merchandise for the

given segment.

HOME CATEGORY TEST

IMAGERY: FURNITURE, HEADBOARD, BEDDING, GENERIC

FRAME THREE FRAME FOURFRAME ONE FRAME TWO

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Phase 4: QA, traffic and launch

This phase is a key integration point between the creative

agency, which leads the QA process, and the media agency,

which leads trafficking and launch.

Which platforms are integrating?

If you’re not using an end-to-end solution, make sure

that your buy-side, sell-side, and creative platforms are

integrating correctly and not interfering with each other.

Which updates are being made, and when?

Communication between the creative agency’s

development team and the media agency is crucial. Note

how and when campaign updates will be made, and who

will oversee them. Spotlight: QA certification with DoubleClick

The QA certification process with DoubleClick takes you

through the most important elements of conducting a

thorough QA. Education and certification are done online,

on your own time, making it easy for busy professionals.

Conducting the QAMake sure to ask the following questions:

Which specific data signals will be used as triggers in

the feed?

Make sure these signals are inserted correctly in your dynamic

feed and are triggering creative with all key elements in place.

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Check that the proper

creative is being served.

Keep a close eye out for

backup images or other

creative elements, which

may find their way in as you

transition from staging

to serving.

Review how the creative

looks in context.

Make sure everything is lining

up properly and rendering

correctly—and as long as

you’re at it, give the copy one

more solid proofread.

Ensure that the correct

metrics are tracking.

Have your media agency pull

reports at both the campaign

level and the dynamic

creative level to gain a bird's-

eye-view of your campaign,

as well as a sense of which

dynamic elements are

performing best.

Check your

impressions.

Your media strategy

should dictate what type of

impressions are served, and

how many of each. Check

that you’re meeting these

impression goals; if you’re

lacking a certain type of

impressions, you may have a

trafficking issue.

The soft launch

In a soft launch, you’ll run your campaign for a short amount

of time (experts recommend 4-7 days) at a minimal daily

budget (as low as $10 day). Use this time to look for bugs

and make sure everything is performing correctly:

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F A N C Y P A N T S G R O U P

F A N C Y P A N T S G R O U POrganize test strategies

Execute campaigns across formats,

channels, screens

Measure for impactFull-funnel unified reporting, site

analytics, A/B testing

Design compelling creative

Reach audiences across formats,

channels, screens

Phase 4 in action: Gilt Groupe used Google Web Designer and the DoubleClick Digital Marketing Platform to execute their data-driven creative campaign:

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Conduct an optimization meeting

Go over the reports and see what’s been working so far and

where you can optimize. This should be a cross-agency meeting,

similar to the all-hands kick-off. Since some optimizations

are on the media level and others are creative, so stakeholder

communication is key.

Use your dynamic template and creative feed

Because you already developed these in Phase 3, refining your

work is now as simple as updating the creative feed and using it

to input new elements into the creative template. In some cases,

the creative template may need to shift to accommodate new

creative variables.

Go beyond CTR

Data-driven creative allows you to deep-dive into metrics

beyond CTR, such as engagement, conversion, and purchase

intent. Closely track how your KPIs may have shifted since you

first developed the creative brief, and how your learnings have

changed since the beginning of the campaign.

Always ask why

It isn’t enough just to understand what is working in the

campaign. Always ask why. This takes you beyond observation

and into insight, which can generate powerful new ideas for

current and future campaigns.

All agency partners take equal responsibility during this

phase. The media agency is responsible for monitoring

reports and sharing them weekly with the team, and

everyone will pitch in to help make changes on the fly.

During this phase, it’s important to:

Phase 5: Optimize and learn

“The initial launch is just the beginning. The success of the campaign depends on how well you learn and optimize from both a media and creative perspective. That’s the fun part!” - Robby Rigano, COO, Fancy Pants Group

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Learnings

Future optimizations

• Test outperformed control for male segment by 80%

• While CTA and end frame copy tests drove more clicks, it had minimal impact on

conversion. Test copy variants in isolation

• Display creative served as a good testing ground for potential new segments:

men, home, kids

• Re-use the search-to-display targeting strategy for an activation campaign — don’t have

to remove people who have already registered so get more reach + good performance

• Rethink mobile strategy for prospecting campaigns. Figure out a way to buy on mobile

inventory in addition to desktop

• Re-use the dynamic template, but focus on the women and men’s segments and get rid

of home and kids

• Leverage learnings from previous campaigns on best way to display merchandise

• Test one creative variable at a time

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Phase 5 in action: Learn and optimize

Gilt Groupe learned that their new middle funnel search-to-

display targeting strategy worked really well! They also saw

great performance for the men’s segment specifically.

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Taking your agency into the future with data-driven advertisingJust as the data-driven creative process is designed to provide valuable

learnings about each campaign, it also offers insight into the process itself. You

may find that after a few dynamic creative campaigns, you’ll see more savings in

time and effort, and your teams will discover more flexibility and freedom to be

truly creative and strategic.

The fun really begins once you become accustomed to using the dynamic feed

and creative template and working more closely with your brand and media

agency partners. Then you can start to take risks, experiment, and learn even

more about what really makes advertising work and users tick.

Becoming an expert in data-driven campaigns can also give your agency a

competitive advantage. By mastering the new process and embracing a more

scientific and collaborative approach to advertising, you’re positioning yourself

as a leader in the digital space, willing to take risks and realize greater rewards.

The future of advertising is here. Are you ready to be a part of it?

“This is simply the future of advertising. The better you know it and the more you understand, the more valuable you’ll be to your clients.”

- Chris Pierantozzi, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi LA

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Appendix

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Proper planning is paramount for project success. Take the time to develop a

detailed brief with input from all project partners. Start-to-finish collaboration is key.

Don’t rush it. Dynamic campaigns require at least 20% more time and resources than

traditional display campaigns. But don’t worry, it’s well worth it.

Know your roles. Clearly outline key points of contact to streamline communications.

Outline roles and responsibilities for media and development and creative teams,

especially for feed development and optimizations.

Give the team the info they need to get creative. Educate everyone on data sources

available, learnings from previous campaigns and user behavior.

Concept creative around meaningful KPIs. Dynamic campaigns are about so much

more than CTR. Decide what you want users to do, and set up your KPIs (and build

your creative) accordingly. Consider metrics like in-banner engagement, view-through

activity, and cross-device conversions.

If you have an offer, flaunt it. Offer-based ads perform best when you don’t build

in the key messaging and imagery—just get right to it.

Don’t over-segment. If you have too many iterations, you could face reduced

impression levels per test and end up with statistically insignificant results that

make it difficult to optimize.

Don’t go font crazy. Limit the number of fonts used and try to utilize cloud based

fonts (don’t worry—there are lots of great ones available these days) to save file

size.

Schedule regular check-ins for each project phase with media, creative, and

development to discuss project status and ensure partners are aligned on key

initiatives.

Allow time for a soft launch. Give yourself a two to five day buffer, depending

on the complexity of the campaign. This will help ensure that everything is

functioning as planned before your full media buy begins.

Ten tips for building data-driven creative

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1 6

7

8

9

10.

3

4

5

These recommendations were put together by Fancy Pants Group, based on their experience building the campaigns for the research project.

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Layer comps allow you to easily

view and manipulate multiple

campaign treatments in a single

Photoshop file.

Visual matrices give creative

teams a sense of the scale of

dynamic creative elements

involved in a campaign, and

how they may be incorporated

into real creative executions.

They’re a good alternative to a

data-heavy dynamic creative

feed when communicating

with visually-minded creative

teams.

Wireframes help illustrate to

your client and other teams

how the creative template

will be laid out. You may want

to create two wireframes: a

“before” and “after” to show how

the template has changed over

the course of the campaign.

Google Web Designer is a free

HTML5 authoring tool that

developers can use to build

HTML5 ad creatives. It has a

dynamic creative workflow

built into the tool to help you

build better data-driven creative

strategies.

DoubleClick Digital Marketing

Platform combines audience

insights, creative solutions, and

measurement in one end-to-

end platform. Understand your

audience with unified insights,

reach them wherever they are in

the moment, and measure what

matters so you can make better

decisions for your campaign,

virtually in real-time.

Google Dynamic Feed Validator

is a chrome extension you can

add to your Google Sheets, to

make sure your dynamic feed is

free of formatting and content

errors before it’s uploaded

Using the right tools can make the creative and production process run more smoothly.

Consider adding these to your arsenal.

Tool for success

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TermsA

D

I

B

C

Audience segment

Data signal

Attribution tools

Dynamic creative template

Brand safety

Dynamic feed

Conversions

Dynamic optimization

Creative variable

Inventory

Cross-device

A user sub-group based on defined criteria such as age, gender, location, interests, needs, behavioral patterns, etc.

Information about your audience or their context that can influence your campaign.

Reporting tools that allow teams to attribute credit for a campaign’s performance to specific elements within the campaign.

The creative template that provides the structure into which dynamic creative elements will be fed.

Brand safety helps ensure that ads that are displayed are appropriate, safe and relevant to viewers.

Houses the creative assets that will get plugged into the creative template, as well as the logic that dictates which assets will be served to which viewers based on data signals and campaign strategy.

Clicks on an ad that lead directly to user behavior deemed valuable, such as a purchase, sign up, page view, or lead.

An algorithm that “learns” which variables perform best, taking clicks or conversions into account. It then automatically serves the higher-performing creative more often.

A creative element in a campaign that can change based on data signals (examples: headline, background image, CTA button).

The ad placements a publisher has available within a specified timeframe.

Able to live across electronic devices such as desktop, mobile, and tablet.

O

K

P R

KCT (Keyword Contextual Targeting)

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

OKR (Objectives and Key Results)

Post-view Reporting suite ROI (Return on investment)

Used to match keyword-targeted ads (also referred to as automatic placements) to sites within the Google Display Network.

A performance metric used to evaluate a campaign’s success (examples: CTR, engagement, view-through)

A method of defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes.

Conversions in which a user saw, but did not click, an ad.

The reports that a media agency is able to pull for a campaign’s performance.

The value of a business initiative, such as an ad campaign, relative to its cost.

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Search-to-display remarketing Sample size Soft launch

View-through

A remarketing tactic that allows advertisers to serve display ads to users based on terms the user has searched.

The number of impressions served with each iteration of an ad.

A soft launch allows a campaign to be run for a short amount of time at a minimal daily budget, during which time the team makes sure that everything is performing correctly.

Conversions in which a user saw, but did not click, an ad.