Run a campaign you sold yourself

A direct-sold campaign is an ad you sold to a sponsor yourself. You keep the sponsor's fee and MailAdx charges a serving fee per 1,000 impressions. See direct-sold in the glossary.

Before you start

• Your account must be approved, and you need the Owner, Admin or Manager permission.
• You need an active ad unit with its tag in your template.
• If you see Wallet in your menu, you need a balance above $0 or free impressions, because the serving fee is charged there. Your rate is under Platform Fee Schedule on Account, and the default is $0.40 per 1,000 impressions.

Steps

1. Add the creative

1. Open Creatives and select New Creative.
2. Enter a Creative Name. The owner reads Your direct-sold inventory.
3. Choose the Creative Type. Use Image or Native. An HTML-only creative can't show through the ad tag.
4. Enter the Click-Through URL and add the image.
5. Select Create Creative. It goes to MailAdx for review.

An image must match a size your slot accepts. See Create an ad unit.

2. Create the order

1. Open Orders and select New Order.
2. Enter an Order Name, the Sponsor and, if you like, the Sponsor contact.
3. Set Start Date, End Date and an optional Total Budget ($).
4. Answer whether this is a political or issue ad.
5. Select Create Order.

3. Create the line item

1. Open Line Items and select New Line Item.
2. Choose your order and the Creative.
3. Choose a Type: Roadblock, Sponsorship or Standard. A Roadblock is shown before all other inventory and uses flat-rate pricing.
4. Choose a Pricing Model: CPM or Flat Rate. Flat Rate takes the sponsor's fixed fee.
5. Set the dates, any goal, caps and targeting.
6. Under Ad Format, choose the format that matches your slot.
7. Select Create Line Item.

4. Go live

Set the Status of the order and the line item to Active. You control this yourself. No MailAdx approval is needed for the campaign, only for the creative.

What happens next

The campaign serves once all of this is true:

• The order and the line item are Active.
• The creative is approved.
• Today is inside the line item's dates.
• You have a wallet balance or free impressions, if your account has a wallet.

There is no ad unit picker on a line item. It can run in any of your slots that match its format and creative size.

Your campaign stays on your newsletter only, whatever your other demand settings are. It doesn't need your ads.txt line.

If something goes wrong

• "Your account is pending admin approval." You can save drafts, but you can set Active only once your account is approved.
• The creative shows Rejected. The reason is on the creative. Change it and save, and it returns to review.
• Your CPM campaign doesn't show. It must meet the slot's floor. See Set a floor price.
• "— None (ads won't serve without a creative) —" is selected. Choose a creative on the line item.
• Nothing shows at all. See No ads are showing.