MIXPO GUIDE SERIES Mixpo Platform User Guide: Overview of Rich Media Ad Units RICH MEDIA
Welcome to Mixpo! The contents of this User Guide and appendices will help you effectively navigate the Mixpo platform and use the creative and campaign management tools to assemble, traffic, and report on ad units. 2 OF 22
CONTENTS Defining the Ad Type RICH MEDIA DEFINED Creating a Rich Media Ad Unit SETTING THE FRAMEWORK FOR A RICH MEDIA AD BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO PUBLISHING A RICH MEDIA AD PREVIEWING THE AD TRAFFICKING THE AD Additional Resources APPENDICES & RELATED DOCUMENTS 3 OF 22
Defining the Ad Type RICH MEDIA DEFINED Rich Media There are variations of the definition of Rich Media in the digital advertising industry. For Mixpo, Rich Media is an enhanced display ad product that can deliver interactive features, layers of content, and animation. Additionally, Rich Media ads can expand to deliver extra content. Rich media ad using a countdown timer, twitter widget and photo gallery 4 OF 22
SETTING THE FRAMEWORK FOR A RICH MEDIA AD 1. From the Dashboard of the Mixpo account you would like to build in, select the Create tab in the top right hand corner of the screen. As a best practice, enter the Name for the ad that you would like to use to identify the ad unit after it has been built. Also a best practice, enter the Clickthrough URL that will serve as the default clickthrough URL for the ad unit. 2. Select the Rich Media ad type. 3. Select the Environment where the ad will be placed. Your selection will customize the publishing options to reduce the number of steps needed to pull an ad tag & inform performance benchmarks. Multi-Screen: This is the most common selection. This option indicates that the ad could run on mobile, tablet or desktop inventory. For more information on optimizing your creative by device type see the Mobile Best Practices guide. Tablet & Phone: Select this option if the creative will run only on Tablets & Phones in mobile web inventory. Desktop: Select this option if the campaign is will targeted to desktop only. Tablet & Phone MRAID: Select this option if the creative will run only on Tablets & Phones in an in-app environment. 5 OF 22
SETTING THE FRAMEWORK FOR A RICH MEDIA AD 4. Select the embed Dimensions of the ad unit. If the preferred dimensions are not listed, select the Custom option to enter the correct dimensions. If applicable, select the Expanded Dimensions of the ad unit. If the preferred dimensions are not listed, select the Custom option to enter the correct dimensions. 5. Click the green Create button to enter the Mixpo Studio. Dropdown menus expanded 6 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO The Studio can contain two destination tabs you will use to build your ad: the Interactive Display tab and the Timeline Canvas tab. Note: The Timeline Canvas tab is not applicable if you are not building an expanding ad. 7 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO Canvas Preview Window Asset Management Tray The Interactive Display Tab The Interactive Display tab is where you will build your non-expanding ads and the initial state of the expanding ads. The Interactive Display tab contains two main sections: the canvas preview window (where you can preview your ad build), and the asset management tray (where you can add overlays and other interactive elements to your canvas). 8 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO Setting the Background In the Settings tab of the Interactive Display, select the background color or enable the Background Image option to set a custom background image. Custom background image shown 9 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO Enhance the ad by adding overlays. An Overlay is a text, image, or widget element added to an ad to aesthetically enhance and/ or add interactivity and increased functionality. There are three types of overlays. Text Overlay: You can create text elements directly in the Mixpo studio. In addition to editing the text itself, you can choose text attributes such as font, size, and color. Image Overlay: You can import images, such as a logo, into the Mixpo studio in the form of an image overlay. Images are pre-created and uploaded to the Mixpo media library. Widget Overlay: A widget is an overlay type that can contain animation and/or dynamic actions. Widgets are pre-set with configurable interactive behavior and design options. With the exception of three mobile only widgets, all Mixpo widgets are fully cross-screen compatible. 10 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO To add a text overlay to your Interactive Display: 1. Select the Overlays tab in the top right of your screen. 2. Select the + Text button. Select the shape of the overlay you want to create. 3. Enter the text you would like the overlay to display. Select the font for the text and the color. Select the background color and opacity for the overlay. 4. Expand the Actions tab to select the desired action to apply to the overlay (if applicable). 5. On the canvas, stretch the overlay to the correct size and position by dragging the corner handles. Tip: As a best practice, we recommend applying an overlay name to the overlays you create. Tip: For expanding ads, use the Expand Ad overlay action in the Interactive Display tab. Overlays with Expand Ad applied will respond to a viewer action by triggering the expansion. 11 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO To add an Image or Widget to your canvas: 1. Select the +Image or +Widget button 2. Select the image or widget from your library or the Mixpo stock library 3. Expand the Actions tab to select the desired action to apply to the overlay (if applicable). 4. On the canvas, stretch the overlay to the correct size and position. Tip: As a best practice, we recommend applying an overlay name to the overlays you create. When you have finished creating the Interactive Display, click Save. 12 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO Canvas Preview Window Asset Management Tray The Timeline Canvas Tab The Timeline Canvas tab is where you will add assets for the expanded state of the ad; which appears post-user action. The Timeline Canvas tab contains three main sections: the canvas preview window (where you can preview your ad build), the asset management tray (where you can add overlays, and other interactive elements to your canvas), and the timeline (where you can manipulate interactive element duration / stacking). Timeline 13 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO Duration and Background 1. In the Settings tab of the Timeline Canvas, set Canvas Animation Duration. This will determine the duration of the ad experience should you choose to use Enter or Exit transitions to power animation within the ad. 2. Under Canvas Settings, select the background color or enable the Background Image option to set a custom background image. 14 OF 22
BUILDING A RICH MEDIA AD IN THE STUDIO Adding Overlays You can add overlays to the Timeline Canvas following the same steps outlined above for adding overlays to the Interactive Display with one additional step: 1. On the Timeline, set the desired point in time of overlay entry in the ad experience and the duration for the overlay to persist. When you have finished creating the Interactive Display and Timeline Canvas, click Save. 15 OF 22
PUBLISHING A RICH MEDIA AD Required General ad unit information Once you save from studio, the Publishing Menu for your new ad appears Under Step 1 Ad Info, ensure the Ad Title and Clickthrough URL have populated and are correct. Note: Only the Ad Title and Clickthrough URL fields are required. Filling in the remaining fields in Step 1 are recommended but not required. The campaign impressions, cost, and flight dates are for forecasting purposes and will not affect the trafficking of your campaign. Optional 16 OF 22
PUBLISHING A RICH MEDIA AD If you have created an expandable ad, expand the Step 2 Customize Player menu. If the ad is non-expandable, this section will not be included in the Publishing menu. In the General Options tab you can select the preferred expansion mode (Roll Over, Click, or Auto). 17 OF 22
PUBLISHING A RICH MEDIA AD Expandable Options In the Expandable Options tab choose your preferred expansion type. Custom: This is the default selection. Leave this option selected for the most flexibility in setting the expandable anchor and direction. Use the arrows and radial buttons in the preview area to select the expansion direction as well as the anchor point. Note: In the live environment, the ad will be able to detect where it is being served on the page. If there is not room on the page for the ad to expand in the specified direction the ad will expand in the opposite direction. For example, an ad set to expand from left to right that is served to the right side of the page will serve from the right to the left. Push Down: Select when you re running a leaderboard-style ad that expands downward and pushes the page content down (rather than overlapping) as the ad expands. Full-Page Takeover: Select so that the expanded state of the ad it takes over the full size of the browser window. Use the slider to adjust the Lightbox Opacity. This will mask the site content visible around the expanded ad dimensions. Note: the Lightbox Opacity setting is not reflected in the preview area within the publishing menu. To see your changes, click Save and then preview ad from the Dashboard. 18 OF 22
PUBLISHING A RICH MEDIA AD Adjusting The Ad Tag If needed, expand the Copy Ad Tag menu. (This will either be Step 3 or Step 4 depending on whether you ve created an expandable ad) Ad tag formatting can be adjusted via the Ad Server / Tag Format panel on the right hand side of the menu. If the ad is running outside of owned inventory, such as a specific 3rd party property or ad network, it s best to select the tag format appropriate for the network/ property. Property-specific tags include clicktags and other requirements that will deliver the best performance and tracking experience. If you don t know what ad tag to use, select Generic JavaScript (default). Third Party Trackers If you are utilizing third party trackers, expand the Tracking URLs panel and insert your trackers. Read the Third Party Tracking guide for more information. When you have finished with the Publishing settings, click Save. 19 OF 22
PREVIEWING THE AD To preview the ad from the Publishing Menu: 1. Expand the Preview in Page menu (This will either be Step 2 or Step 3 depending on whether you ve created an expandable ad). 2. Click the blue Preview button. To preview the ad from the Dashboard: 1. Click on the Play Button on the thumbnail image of the ad. 20 OF 22
TRAFFICKING THE AD Generate an ad tag from the publishing menu Generate the Ad Tag From the Publishing Menu: 1. Expand the Copy Ad Tag menu. (This will either be Step 3 or Step 4 depending on whether you ve created an expandable ad) 2. Select the blue Copy Ad Tag button. From Power View in the Dashboard of the account: 1. Select the Power View display setting in the upper left hand corner above the ad tray. 2. Select the ads for which you want to export tags. 3. Click the Export button in the top right hand corner of the Dashboard. All tags will be exported in TXT format. Generate an ad tag from Power View in the Dashboard 21 OF 22
Additional Resources Visit the Appendices to learn more. The appendices contain detailed information on specific topics not covered in this user guide. Click one of the links below for information about that topic. Related Documents Introduction PDF Mixpo Platform Introduction Asset Specs Dayparting Glossary Introduction To Reporting Mobile Best Practices Overlay Actions And Widgets Third Party Tracking User Guides PDFs In-Stream Ads In-Banner Video Ads Appendix PDFs Asset Specs Dayparting Glossary Introduction To Reporting Mobile Best Practices Overlay Actions And Widgets Third Party Tracking Questions? Need help or have suggestions? Contact clientservices@mixpo.com or sign up for a training session. 22 OF 22