Dynamic Distance Overlay

Emily Truong

September 01, 2026 22:50

GroundTruth’s Dynamic Distance Overlay (DDO) dynamically displays real-time proximity text on your ad creatives, such as "0.5 miles away" or "Nearest location is 0.5 miles away," to drive foot traffic and guide users to your nearest physical store.

Technical Requirements & Guidelines

Supported Ad Formats

Static Image Banners: Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop display ads (320x50, 300x250, 728x90).
Scrollable Text Banners: 320x50 mobile text banner creatives configured via the Ads Manager Text Banner Builder.

⚠️ Important Restriction: DDO cannot be combined with custom HTML5 banner builds. It is strictly supported on static image banners and the Text Banner Builder.

Campaign & Asset Prerequisites

Objective: Driving foot traffic to physical business locations.
Location List: A .xls or .csv file containing the business name, street address, city, state, zip code (5-digit only, no +4 extension), and phone number uploaded into a Location Group [Read more about Using Location Manager]
Clear Space Requirements in Asset
- 320x50: Minimum clear layout area of 80 × 15 px
- 300x250 & 728x90: Minimum clear layout area of 120 × 20 px

Styling Options

Size: 8 pt minimum, 60 pt maximum
Approved Fonts: Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Verdana
Weights: Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic
Color: Custom Hex color code

💡 Note: If you do not see your text immediately in the preview, try changing the color to a contrasting color. The text defaults to black, so if your creative has a dark background, switching to white will help you locate the text bounding box and configure it accordingly.

Setup Instructions

Upload Creative: Upload your static creative asset.
Enable Overlay: Once the image is uploaded, toggle on Create dynamic text overlay. This feature appears below the Website URL section and only after an asset has been uploaded.
Configure Typography: Use the formatting options above and around the text box to adjust alignment, font family, weight, size (8 pt min – 60 pt max), and hex color code.
Insert Dynamic Macros: Beneath the text configurations, use the Add macros section to quickly add and remove dynamic tags. Insert the macros needed for your campaign copy, mixing in static text as needed (e.g., Only %%DISTANCE%% %%DISTANCEUNIT%% away!)
Position and Resize Overlay: In the live ad preview area:
- Move: Click and drag the text overlay box to your desired position.
- Resize: Click and drag the square corner handles to scale the text bounding box.
- Expand Advanced overlay options to format text placement precisely by X, Y, width, and height pixel inputs.

Available Macros Reference

In the creative preview, you'll see the macro tag appear in the Text overlay box, while the example output is rendered as a placeholder in the visual preview. Once the ad goes live, those macros dynamically update according to the ad viewer's real-time location and your location group details.

Macro	Variable Name	Description	Example Output
`%%DISTANCE%%`	Distance	Numerical distance to the nearest store	0.5
`%%DISTANCEUNIT%%`	Distance Unit	Market standard unit (mi for US/UK, km elsewhere)	mi
`%%STREET%%`	Street	Street address of the nearest location	123 Main St
`%%CITY%%`	City	City of the nearest location	New York
`%%STATE%%`	State	State of the nearest location	NY
`%%ZIPCODE%%`	Zip Code	5-digit zip code	10001
`%%PHONE%%`	Phone Number	Business phone number	(555) 123-4567
`%%BUSINESSNAME%%`	Location Group Name	Overall business/brand name	Your Business
`%%BUSINESS_LOCATION_NAME%%`	Store Location Name	Specific location name	Your Business Location
`%%CATEGORY%%`	Category	Business category designation	Restaurant

Need Help?

For additional support and to ensure your campaign is set up for success, please reach out to your dedicated GroundTruth representative, or our Self-Serve team (selfservehelp@groundtruth.com) to be connected to a representative.