Campaign Bulk Upload

Bulk Manager in GroundTruth Ads Manager is an advanced feature that allows you to create or edit a large number of ad groups in Microsoft Excel instead of the Ads Manager user interface.

Getting Started

In Ads Manager, you can bulk import and export campaign settings by uploading an Excel spreadsheet with campaign, ad group, and ad creative.

Don't know where to start? We've create ready-to-use campaign templates, pre-populated with tactics specifically designed for your vertical. Please find the templates below.

What is supported

• Upload of 2000 ad group rows max
• All options available within our bulk upload template

The template is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that lists the available columns, making it easy to input your data and upload it to Ads Manager. The template is made available in Ads Manager.

Importing a New Campaign

Importing a new campaign is a great way to speed up campaign creation if you plan on splitting your campaign into many ad groups. If your campaign is small and has only a few tactics with a few Ad Groups, the standard UI creation is likely easier than opting for Bulk Manager. 

For larger campaigns, follow these steps in Ads Manager to create a new campaign with Bulk Manager: 

1. On the Dashboard page, click the New Campaign Button
   
2. On the Create New Campaign window:
   • Add a Campaign Name
   • Toggle on (green) the Import bulk spreadsheet
   • Click the NEXT button
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3. You will receive confirmation of creation. Click the NEXT button to continue.
4. Now on the Bulk Manage page, click the template download icon.
5. Open the downloaded template in Microsoft Excel and view the Campaign spreadsheet Tab
   1. You will notice that the campaign name you entered on the previous screen is included along with other campaign settings 
   2. On each spreadsheet in the downloaded workbook, yellow columns represent required inputs. Selecting certain settings may add/remove additional required columns.
   3. Selecting each cell will provide a tooltip that provides instructions related to the input, acceptable values, and, if available, dropdown options for selection.
6. Select the Publisher Include Exclude Spreadsheet tab
   • Adding a campaign include list or exclude list is an optional setting that allows you to explicitly control your ad distribution to a list of apps or domain names.
     • Exclude list allows ad distribution to all publishers, except for the domain names or app bundles names/IDs (specified as List Type=exclude)
     • Include list allows ad distribution to no publishers, except for app bundles names/IDs specified on the whitelist (specified as List Type=include)
   • Users must specify:  
     • List Type: include or exclude 
     • Item Type: Domain or App
     • Name - must match Item Type
       • Domain Name: Website name - Domain name supports substring matching, meaning it will match any Url that includes your specified text string. For example, "gambling.com" would match the following (including, but not limited to): https://www.gambling.com, https://www.gambling.com/online-betting
       • Bundle ID 
         • A unique ID number associated with iOS apps. This is the most precise method to specify an application. 
         • Example: 518999768
       •  App Bundle Name  
         • A unique name associated with iOS and Android apps
         • Example: com.draftkings.dknativermg
   • Note: Including or excluding publishers can impact your campaign's performance based on the set targeting criteria. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact your GroundTruth representative, who will provide the necessary guidance tailored to your targeting parameters. Additionally, you can opt-in to our brand-safe publisher list, covering 90% of our overall publisher network.
7. Select the Ad Groups spreadsheet tab. This is one of the most important tabs in the Bulk Manage process because the Ad Group represents the tactic to fulfill your advertising goals. Each campaign can have multiple ad group tactics, each unique targeting strategy (Product), Status (Active/Pause), and standard targeting & settings (ie, demographics, technographics, optimization)
   • For new Ad Groups, leave the ID column empty. The platform will assign a unique ID.
   • Add an Ad Group Name: This will be the unique name you must use to associate additional targeting parameters and settings on other spreadsheet tabs in this bulk workbook.
   • Select the targeting Product from the drop-down list when you click on the cell. Options include:
     • Audience 
     • On Premise 
     • Geotargeting 
     • Weather 
     • Neighborhoods
   • Each of the above Products has a corresponding worksheet tab that requires you to enter the detailed targeting criteria.
   • The Status column allows you to set the ad group Active for ad serving or Pause to stop ad serving.
   • Columns E through R (light blue headers) are optional targeting criteria that you can apply to any targeting product.
     • The more granular targeting criteria may decrease available inventory and restrict the ad group's ability to fulfill delivery goals.
   • The orange column headers are associated with Bidding & Scheduling the ad delivery, as well as tracking pixels. Bid Price and Bid Type are required inputs for each Ad Group row.
     • Bid Price: enter the bid price specified.
     • Bid Type: Select CPM.
8. Time Period Budgets is a required tab where you must specify the ad group flight dates and budget.
   • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the Budget settings to a new Ad Group.
   • Enter Start Date
   • Enter End Date
   • Enter Budget
9. Location Filters is an option setting that allows you to restrict the ad distribution to a specific geographic location(s). Location filters can be applied to any targeting Product selected in the Ad Group tab. If this tab is left blank, the ad group will be eligible to be distributed nationwide.
   • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the location filter settings to a new Ad Group.
   • Then select the location filter Type from the provided drop-down list. Once selected, additional required columns will be highlighted in yellow, indicating additional inputs required.
10. Drive-to Locations is used when the Ad Group needs to track visitation to a real-world/physical store location. This setting is a very common setting for GroundTruth advertisers but remains optional. This option is not needed for advertisers of an online business without a brick-and-mortar storefront. In these cases, you will be driving the user to a website - which is specified on the Creatives tab.
    • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the Drive-to Locations settings to a new Ad Group.
    • Select the Drive-to Type from the provided drop-down list
      • Brand - preconfigured retail location from GroundTruth’s Point of Interest (POI) database and automatically add the location to your ad group. (ie, selecting the CVS brand will add all the CVS locations nationwide)
        • View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Location Group - You can create a custom list of locations not configured in the GroundTruth POI DB by creating and managing a list of locations using GroundTruth Location Manager. Upload locations, geocode the addresses for targeting accuracy, and save by naming the location Group. Then, target your custom list of locations in Ads Manager using the Location Group name. 
      • Enter the Name of the desired Brand or Location Group
        • Each row can only have one Name. In most cases, an ad group will only drive to one Brand or Location Group
        • If you want to drive users to multiple Brands or Location Groups, you can have multiple rows, each with one drive to name, all associated with the same Ad Group Name.
11. If On-Premise is selected on the Ad Groups tab, you must specify the detailed targeting criteria on the On-Premise Targeting tab.
    • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the On-Premise settings to a new Ad Group.
    • Select the Location Type from the provided drop-down list
      • Brand - preconfigured retail locations from GroundTruth’s Point of Interest (POI) database and automatically add the location to your ad group. (i.e., selecting the brand will add all the CVS locations nationwide)
        • View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Category - preconfigured retail locations from GroundTruth’s Point of Interest (POI) database and automatically add the location to your ad group. (i.e., selecting the Bars category will add all the Bar locations nationwide)
        • View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Location Group - You can create a custom list of locations not configured in the GroundTruth POI DB by creating and managing a list of locations using the GroundTruth Location Manager. Upload locations, geocode the addresses for targeting accuracy, and save by naming the location Group. Then, target your custom list of locations in Ads Manager using the Location Group name. 
    •  Enter the Name of the desired Brand or Location Group
    • Select Proximity Mode from the provided drop-down list
      • In-Store: target consumers within the blueprinted polygon that represents the physical boundaries of a retail store
      • On Lot: target consumers within the blueprinted polygon that represent the physical boundaries of a retail store and the associated parking lot near the store. Not all stores have a parking lot. In such cases, the in-store area will be targeted.
      • Retail Block: target consumers within the blueprinted polygon that represents the physical boundaries of the shopping center/mall that the selected store resides in.
      • Radial: Radial targeting allows you to specify the radius around each store location. Users within that radial fence will be eligible to view your ad.
12. Neighborhood Targeting sends ads to people in nearby areas that show high visitation frequency to a particular store or location. This proprietary technology can be thought of as a store's "trade area" or as "lookalike audiences". Send ads to people in areas that index high for visiting a particular store. If Neighborhood is selected on the Ad Groups tab, you must specify the detailed targeting criteria on the Neighborhood Targeting tab.
    • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the Neighborhood settings to a new Ad Group.
    • Select the Neighborhood Type from the provided drop-down list
      • Brand - preconfigured retail locations from GroundTruth’s Point of Interest (POI) database and automatically add the location to your ad group. (i.e., selecting the brand will add all the CVS locations nationwide)
        • View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Category - preconfigured retail locations from GroundTruth’s Point of Interest (POI) database and automatically add the location to your ad group. (i.e., selecting the Bars category will add all the Bar locations nationwide)
        • View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Behavioral - target GroundTruth's proprietary offline behavioral audience segments based on real-world visitation patterns. 
    • Enter the name of the desired Neighborhood. 
13. Audience Targeting allows you to reach users associated with audience segment groups based on the real-world visitation history, demographics, or audiences from your ad group’s “Build an audience” selection.
    • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the audience settings to a new Ad Group.
    • Select the Audience Type from the provided drop-down box:
      • Location Audience: Powered by Blueprints, GroundTruth’s Location Audience enables marketers to target consumers based on past visitation behavior to specific business locations or points of interest.
        View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Behavioral Audience: Access GroundTruth's proprietary offline behavioral segments based on real-world visitation patterns. View list of GroundTruth’s Audiences, Brands, and Categories
      • Segments: Target the custom audience segment name, preconfigured from a previous ad group distribution for remarketing strategies
    • Enter the name of the desired audience segment. 
14. Weather Targeting allows you to reach customers based on actual weather conditions of future forecasted conditions.
    • Enter Ad Group Name to associate the weather settings to a new Ad Group
    • Select the Weather Trigger from the provided drop-down list 
      • once selected additional required columns will be highlighted in yellow, indicating additional inputs required
      • Populate the highlighted columns
15. The Creative tab configures the visual ads that the mobile user will see and the mobile web page that will be viewed when the user clicks the banner to view more information. This is a required section.
    • You must enter Ad Group Name to associate the Creative settings to a new Ad Group.
    • Leave the Creative ID column empty when creating a new ad creative. The platform will assign a unique ID when imported into the platform.
    • Enter an Ad Creative Name in column D.
    • Status, Start Date & End Date, Rotation Weight, and Frequency Cap settings are optional.
    • Select the Creative Type from the provided drop-down list
      • Once selected, additional required columns will be highlighted in yellow, indicating additional inputs required.
    • Images used for the ad creative and landing page templates can be added as a URL where the image is stored, such as box.com.
    • Applying text overlays is a complex operation and not easy in a spreadsheet. A text overhaul overall can include macros that call dynamic text to be inserted at run time, and formatting is configured using Text Overlay CSS. 
16. The final Reference tab provides the acceptable text inputs for inputs that will accept comma-separate inputs, including:
    • Publisher categories 
    • Exchange publishers 
    • Custom publishers 
    • Carriers 
    • Behaviors 
17. Once you have added all the required and desired optional ad group settings to the Bulk Manage spreadsheet, save your changes in MS Excel, and then return to the Campaign Summary screen. Click the Bulk Manage button (next to the New Ad Group button).
18. Add your saved bulk manage spreadsheet by using your computer’s finder to drag and drop the file into the gray upload area or click the Select from storage button.
19. Once the file is added, Ads Manager will start processing the bulk manage spreadsheet. The Bulk Manager Campaign screen will show a progress bar.
    • Click the X icon in the upper right corner of the screen to minimize the Bulk Manage Campaign screen. A process indicator will be located in the left of Ad Manager. Clicking it will open the full Bulk Manage Campaign UI.
    • For larger spreadsheets with 100's of ad groups and creatives, the processing could take hours.
    • You are able to continue to work on other campaigns in Ads Manager during the processing time.
20. Once the upload processing is complete, Ads Manager will provide a message indicating if the upload was successful or if errors occurred. Click the green text to download results for your bulk upload.
    • The results spreadsheet will be processed bulk manage spreadsheet with a new Results column at the end of each tab which either indicates Updated for successful ingestion or related Errors that occurred on each row.  
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21. Make the required changes indicated as an Error in the Results column of the download results spreadsheet.
22. When you return to the Ads Manager UI, you must click the OK button to update the UI with recent updates.   

Tips & Best Practices

1. TEXT INPUTS REQUIRE EXACT NAMING
   • Please use the Reference tab to see available inputs and proper spelling.
2. UPON UPLOAD COMPLETION FOR NEW CAMPAIGNS
   • To make further updates, use the results sheet or refresh and download a new template to re-upload
   • Using the original sheet without the IDs generated on the original upload will result in new records being created.
3. TRUE/FALSE FIELDS
   • All fields default to FALSE if there is no input, except for Run of Network, which defaults to TRUE.
4. ADGROUP STATUS
   • New Ad Groups will not be activated if the status is set to active and there are errors with the ad group or its related entities (creative, location filters, etc.).
   • For existing, active ad groups, the status will remain active despite errors.
5. GENDER
   • If a user inputs both Male and Female, the ad group will be targeted to all (Male, Female, Unknown)
   • Same behavior as in the UI – because Unknown has to be either Male or Female, it is selected.
6. ALCOHOL AGE & DEMO
   • If Alcohol Age = True, Age Groups cannot be used (and vice versa)
   • Same behavior as in the UI
7. OTHER BEST PRACTICES
   • Remove / Delete any rows or tabs that are not necessary to your bulk edit or creation.
     • Use case: Every time to eliminate processing of any tabs or ad groups that are essentially unchanged in your edit
   • Save multiple versions so that you always have a backup
     • Use case: Every upload, to ensure if there’s any issue, you can revert changes.
   •  Use filters to help quickly sort large spreadsheets
     • Use case: Filter to active ad groups or creatives to make necessary changes or filter to expired or paused ad groups to delete them from the template
   • Use filters to help quickly sort large spreadsheets
     • Use case: Filter to active ad groups or creatives to make necessary changes or filter to expired or paused ad groups to delete them from the template
   • Find & Replace is useful
     • Use case: Mass cloning for campaigns using monthly budgets
   •  Drive to Location business/brand names need to be exact
     • Ex: Arbys should be Arby’s, or this will be skipped on upload
   •  Creative setup can be done in one ad group. The template can be downloaded & used to duplicate across other ad groups
     • Use case: Same banner image, Dynamic Distance Overlay placements, Landing Page across multiple ad groups.
   •  To create a campaign retargeting ad group, two separate steps are required.
     • First, create an ad group that builds the custom segment (Bulk or UI)
     • Then with a separate effort (Bulk or UI) create the ad group that targets the custom segment.

Campaign Templates

The attached spreadsheets are our newly introduced GroundTruth Campaign Templates. They are ready-to-use campaigns, pre-populated with tactics tailored for both general campaigns and specific verticals.

Generic Template:

• Campaign Template - Generic

Vertical Templates:

• Campaign Template - Automotive
• Campaign Template - Media & Entertainment
• Campaign Template - Restaurants
• Campaign Template - Retail
• Campaign Template - Services

How do you use it?

Click the link below to watch a short video explaining how to utilize the GroundTruth Campaign Template. It  will cover the following five steps to using the template:

1. Log into Ads Manager
2. Click the "new campaign" button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, name the campaign as stated in the “Campaign” tab in the GroundTruth Campaign Template, and flick on the "import bulk spreadsheet" button
3. Upload the GroundTruth Campaign Template file
4. Allow a few moments (usually 2-3 minutes) for the template to load.
5. Make any necessary targeting changes to your ad groups, add creatives, set your budget & flight dates, and launch when ready!

Frequently Asked Questions