Manage creatives

Replace or remove creatives

Replace creatives

This feature swaps creatives out of your ads and assigns new ones in their place. When you replace a creative, you replace it with a different creative in all its assigned ads. You might also replace several creatives with a different group.

If you need to replace creatives in your ads, this feature is quicker than editing your assignments manually. With the replace feature, Campaign Manager 360 finds all the assigned ads and switches in your new creatives in a single step.

Steps to replace creatives

  1. Select creatives that you want to replace with other creatives in the assigned ads. Do this in your campaign view.

  2. Click Assignments > Replace creatives.

  3. Select the creatives you want to swap in to your ads.

  4. Click Next and Confirm. Now all the ads in your campaign have your replacement creatives instead of the original creatives. See the example below.

Example

Creative 1 is assigned to a Book Ad and a Movie Ad in your campaign. You want to use Creative 2 in these ads instead.

In your campaign, you select Creative 1 and replace it with Creative 2. Campaign Manager 360 finds every ad that has Creative 1 and assigns Creative 2 in its place.

Start... ...replace Creative 1 with Creative 2... ...Finish
BOOK AD MOVIE AD BOOK AD MOVIE AD
Creative 1 Creative 1 Creative 2 Creative 2
Creative 6 Creative 3 Creative 6 Creative 3
Creative 4 Creative 5 Creative 4 Creative 5

Note the following:

  • Default creatives involve an extra step. If your selection includes a creative in a default ad, Campaign Manager 360 helps you choose which creative to replace it with. This is useful if you want to replace a whole group of creatives at once. You can only assign one creative to your default ad at a time, so Campaign Manager 360 requires you to choose which creative in your replacement group you want in the default ad.

  • You must pick assignable replacements. The creatives you select to swap in must be able to work on the same assigned ads and placements as the originals. For example, you must replace your creative with others that can fit the same size ad.

    • Don't see a creative you need? The Assignable list shows you all eligible replacements. Click All and hover over the alert icons to see reasons why a creative is not eligible for replacement, such as compatibility issues.

Remove creatives

You cannot delete creatives from Campaign Manager 360. If you no longer wish to serve a creative or see it in Campaign Manager 360, set its status to Archived in your campaign or advertiser. This stops the creative from serving in all campaigns and removes it from your list of active/inactive creatives. Just first make sure that no other ads in any campaign need this creative. When you deactivate a creative, it deactivates everywhere.

All your options

Deactivate: Stop a creative from serving

Deactivate a creative to stop it from serving in all campaigns. This means it will stop serving in all ads and campaigns across your advertiser.

To deactivate a creative, set its status to Inactive in your campaign or advertiser. Remember that this deactivates the creative everywhere, in all campaigns.

Note: Before you deactivate/archive a creative, make sure there are no ads that need it. Find the creative in your advertiser "Creatives" tab and open it. Then check under "Ads" in the creative properties. This shows you which ads are assigned. (Remember to open the creative in your advertiser, not in your campaign; otherwise, you will not see all the assigned ads across all campaigns. Otherwise, Campaign Manager 360 may have nothing to serve except a default ad and default creative, or no creative at all (on placements that don't have default ads, such as video inventory).

Archive: Stop a creative from serving and archive it

Archiving a creative deactivates it and removes it from your list of active/inactive creatives. This means it will stop serving in all ads and campaigns across your advertiser, and it also will not appear in any campaign or advertiser unless you include "Archived" creatives in your filters (click the search bar to set status filters).

To archive a creative, set its status to Archived in your campaign or advertiser. Remember that this deactivates the creative everywhere and removes it from your view of active/inactive creatives.

Note: Before you deactivate/archive a creative, make sure there are no ads that need it. Find the creative in your advertiser "Creatives" tab and open it. Then check under "Ads" in the creative properties. This shows you which ads are assigned. (Remember to open the creative in your advertiser, not in your campaign; otherwise, you will not see all the assigned ads across all campaigns. Otherwise, Campaign Manager 360 may have nothing to serve except a default ad and default creative, or no creative at all (on placements that don't have default ads, such as video inventory).

Exclude from rotation: Stop a creative from serving in just one ad

If you want to stop a creative from serving in a particular ad, you don't have to deactivate it. Simply remove the creative from rotation in that ad. You can do this in two ways:

  • View your campaign and find the assigned ad. Then find the creative under that assigned ad. In the "Include in rotation" column, change the setting to No.

  • Open the assigned ad and view the "Creative assignments" section. You'll see rows for each assigned creative and an "Include in rotation" column. Set rotation to OFF here. Then save your ad.

This is useful if you want to change whether a creative can serve in one of your ads without deactivating it across your all your ads in all campaigns.

Note: Before you remove a creative from rotation, make sure there are other creatives assigned to the ad. Otherwise, Campaign Manager 360 may have nothing to serve except a default ad and default creative, or no creative at all (on placements that don't have default ads, such as video inventory).

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