Edit assignments

You can assign or unassign items in Campaign Manager 360 from your campaign view, or in your ad properties.

You may want to change the creatives, ads, or placements assigned for just one item. Here are steps. Or you may want to make batch edits and change assignments for many items at once.

What are assignments?

Assignments package your items together for delivery by adding creatives to ads that serve to placements.

• Assign creatives to an ad to determine what kinds of media the ad delivers.

• Assign your ads to a placement to determine where the ad's creative (or rotation of creatives) will appear when the ad serves to a site.

• Assign creatives directly to a placement to automatically create ads that deliver your creatives to the placement.

• Unassign items to undo an assignment.

Assignments aren't exclusive. You can assign the same creatives to multiple ads, or the same ad to multiple placements.

All that matters is that your items work together in the same environment and fit the same dimensions. To learn more about assignment requirements, read about assignment requirements and compatibility.

Steps to edit assignments for a single item

1. Open your campaign. Find the row for the item you want to edit.

2. Under the Assignments column, click an icon to change assignments.

   The icons show you which creatives, ads, or placements are already assigned to your item.

   • For example, say you want to change the ads assigned to your placement. Find the placement's row in your campaign. Under Assignments, click the ad icon. Campaign Manager 360 will show a list of all the ads in your campaign that you can assign or unassign for that placement.

3. Set the radio buttons to Assigned or Unassigned to change assignments.

   If you can't find an item you want to assign, check the FAQ. Quick tip: you can only assign creatives to default ads from within the default ad properties.

4. Click Next, review your choices, and click Confirm.

You can assign creatives and placements to an ad right from the ad properties. Open the ad, open the assignments workflow from the Creative assignments or Placement assignments section, and then skip to step 3 above.

Batch edit assignments

To manage assignments in bulk, select one kind of item (ads, creatives, or placements) in your campaign. Then click Assignments, choose an assignment type, and assign or unassign your selection in the workflow. See below for detailed steps.

1. Open your campaign.

2. Select one or more items by clicking their checkboxes. Your items must all be the same type: only ads, only creatives, or only placements, not a mix.

   You can select items across pages of your campaign. Here are some tips to narrow your list:

   • Note the "All" and "Selected" toggles on the upper left. "All" shows all the items in your list. "Selected" shows only the items you have selected.

   • Click the Views button and select the default Creatives view. Or filter for your items by clicking the search box in your campaign.

   • Search for the items you need and select from the results.

3. Click the Assignments button. Choose what kind of assignment you'd like to edit. Your options depend on your selection.

   I selected placements

   Edit ad assignments: Choose this option to assign ads to your placements, or unassign ads from them.

   Assign creatives: Choose this option to assign creatives to your placements.

   When you assign creatives to placements, Campaign Manager 360 creates ads for your creatives as well. Note that you can’t unassign creatives directly from placements. Instead, unassign the creatives from their ads or unassign the ads from placements.

   I selected ads

   Edit creative assignments: Choose this option to assign creatives to your ads, or unassign creatives from them.

   Edit placement assignments: Choose this option to assign yours ads to placements, or unassign them.

   I selected creatives

   Edit ad assignments: Choose this option to assign your creatives to ads, or unassign them.

   Assign to placements: Choose this option to assign your creatives to placements.

   • When you assign creatives to placements, Campaign Manager 360 creates ads for your creatives and assigns them to placements. Note that you can’t unassign creatives directly from placements. Instead, unassign the creatives from their ads or unassign the ads from placements.

4. Review your selection and click Next at the bottom.

   Campaign Manager 360 says I need to revise my selection.

   This means your items don't meet the right requirements. Typically, the issue is that the dimensions of your items don't fit. You cannot make batch edits to assignments unless all your items work together. This protects you from making invalid assignments.

   Next steps

   You need to deselect some of your items before you can continue. To deselect items, set their radio buttons to Deselect. Or click the Edit selection button at the top to filter your selection down to items of the same type, compatibility, or dimensions.

   Check the bulk assignment requirements list for help, or try a quick overview of the assignment requirements below.

   Assignment requirements

   • Your items must all be the same type: only ads, only creatives, or only placements, not a mix.

   • If you select a group of creatives or a group of ads, they must fit the dimensions.

   • Your items must also share at least one compatibility—which means the creative, ad, and placement all work for the same kind of environment.

   • You cannot assign/unassign creatives for default ads in this workflow. Open the default ad properties to change the default creative.

   • Certain types of creatives and ads can't be assigned together. Learn more.

   I need to assign all my selected items. I don't want to deselect any of them.

   If your items don't all work together, you'll need to deselect some before you can finish your assignments.

   However, you may have selected a group of items because you want to assign them together. You might have several creatives that must all go to the same ad, or several ads you want to serve to the same placement. Here are your options:

   • Creatives: You may have selected a group of creatives because you want to assign them all to the same ad or placement. Once you deselect a creative, make a note of it. Check your advertiser or campaign for other versions of this creative that work with your selection. If you can't find one, ask your developer.

   • Ads: Your ad's dimensions and compatibility properties are based on the other creatives or placements it's already assigned to. You can unassign creatives or placements that don't work with the other ads you selected, but note that this will change your campaign. It may be better to just create a new ad.

   • Placements: Your placement's compatibility requirements are based on the ads and creatives it already has assigned, and on the type of site it goes to (e.g., does the site accept ads with in-stream video creatives?). You can unassign creatives or ads that don't work with the other placements you selected, but note that this will change your campaign. It may be better to just create a new placement.

5. Your selection is in the upper left. You can assign or unassign items in the list below.

   Set an item to Assigned to assign it to your selection. Set an item to Unassigned to unassign it from your selection.

   If you can't find an item you need, it may not be "assignable"—for more information, see the FAQ below.

   Example

   1. Say you select five creatives in your campaign and click Assignments > Edit ad assignments.

   2. Next, Campaign Manager 360 shows a list of all the ads you can assign your five creatives to. You can see these creatives listed in the upper left of the assignments box.

   3. If you select the Assigned radio button next to an ad, all five creatives will be assigned to it. If you select Unassigned, all five creatives will be unassigned.

   All vs Assignable

   You can see Assignable and All buttons above your list of items.

   • By default, your list is set to Assignable. Your workflow will only list items that can be assigned to your selection.

   • You can also check the All list, which includes everything in your campaign. Unassignable items in the All list are greyed out and include an alert icon . Hover over the alert to see why an item is unassignable.

6. Click Next and review your assignments. If you need to change something, just click the previous step on the upper left of your workflow.

7. Click Confirm to confirm your assignments and return to your campaign.

   You can also click Confirm and view to confirm your assignments and filter your campaign to see all the rows that were affected by your assignment edits. Campaign Manager 360 will show any items that have gained or lost assignments due to your changes, plus their other assignments at that level.

   For example, say you assign an ad to three placements and unassign it from all its other placements. In this case Campaign Manager 360 will show you the following: the placements that now have your ad; the placements that you removed the ad from; and all the other ads assigned to these placements.

Are you assigning creatives to placements? After you click Next, Campaign Manager 360 will help you choose an ad creation method. Campaign Manager 360 will create ads for your creatives so that they can be added to the placements you chose.

FAQ

Why are some items already marked Assigned or Unassigned?

If an item is already assigned to everything you selected, it will be marked Assigned. It's not assigned to anything you selected, it will be marked Unassigned.

What does the middle radio button mean?

That means some items in your header are assigned to the item in this row, but others are not. You can leave this as it is or changed to Assigned or Unassigned to change all assignments for this row.

For example, say you select 5 ads and click Assignments > Edit creative assignments. Next you see a middle radio button in one of the creatives in your list. That means the creative is assigned to some of the 5 ads, but not all of them.

I don’t see the item I need

The item is either not assignable or not in your campaign.

1. Click the All button in your assignments workflow.

   • I see my item in the All list but not the Assignable list: This means the item is in your campaign but cannot be assigned. It has the wrong type, dimensions, or compatibility for your selection. Hover over the alert icon next to your item to see why it is not assignable. Learn more

   • I don't see the item in the All list: This means the item is not in your campaign.

2. Your next step is to find a version of the item you can assign. The version must meet the requirements listed in the Requirements header.

   • Creatives: Check your advertiser's Creatives tab for a version that works and add it to your campaign. You may need to ask your developer for this creative. Note that you must assign/unassign default creatives from within the default ad properties.

   • Ads: Your ad's dimensions and compatibility are determined by its other assignments. You can unassign other creatives and placements from this ad and then try to make assignments with it. Or you can create a new ad. Note that you can only change creative assigned to your default ads from within the default ad properties. Note that you must assign/unassign default creatives from within the default ad properties.

   • Placements: Make sure the placement you need is on a site that accept the right kind of creative. For example, if your placement's site doesn't accept in-stream creatives, you won't be able to assign in-stream creatives (or ads with in-stream creatives) to the placement.

     Your placement's dimensions and compatibility can also be determined by its other assignments. You may be able to unassign other creatives and ads from this placement to expand your assignment options. Or you can create a new placement.

Why does my Assignable list change when I assign or unassign items?

As you make assignments, your options may change. If an item becomes unassignable, it may disappear from your Assignable list or become grey in your All list. If more items become assignable, Campaign Manager 360 alerts you in your workflow.

For example, say you select an ad and assign creatives. Once you assign an in-stream video creative, Campaign Manager 360 will only allow in-stream creatives on your ad. After all, the ad will have to serve to a video player in order to deliver its in-stream creative, so every creative in the ad will also have to be a video.

At this point, your Assignable list should only show in-stream creatives. However, if you unassign that first video creative, the list should grow to show other creatives with other compatibilities.

What are the assignment requirements for multi-size creatives, ads, and placements

You can assign many creatives to a single display placement that supports multiple sizes. Display placements can have many sizes, and the ads assigned to them need to have at least one creative of each size. Ads can have more sizes than placement, but only the creatives that match the placement sizes will serve.