Cortex dynamic creative support

A dynamic creative is any creative that changes automatically based on variables, such as user behavior, location, time, and so on. Dynamic creatives provide the flexibility to reach the right audience at the right time, instead of showing one generalized creative to all. Dynamic creative support is available for agent integrations and full Cortex integrations (see Integration types for more information).

Note: Dynamic creatives can only run on Window, Linux and WebOS Signature. 

Example use cases for dynamic creatives
Example Description
Geo-targeting You can configure dynamic creatives to respond to specific location touch points, therefore targeting your audience with specific ads. The location data could be sourced from IP addresses or GPS locations. For example, you can show the current temperature for the zip code that a screen is currently located.
Demographic targeting Dynamic creatives enable you to serve the best ad to the right demographic fit. For example, millennials in a metropolitan area could be more drawn to ads around festivals and travel than an older generation.
Feed-based targeting For a brand advertising during the course of a sports season, such as football or basketball playoffs, dynamic creatives allow the flexibility to display creatives based on the teams playing, the dates, and the locations of the games.

The industry-recommended standard for serving dynamic creatives in digital advertising is by way of HTML5 assets. See IAB for more information.

While Vistar can support the upload and serving of dynamic creatives, your organization must implement the logic to render the creatives as desired.

Set up the dynamic creative

To ensure that the dynamic creatives play properly on your devices, the creative must be configured properly, depending on whether you have an agent integration or full Cortex integration using the player. The creative can then be uploaded to the ad platform.

If you are working with a buyer (Step 1a.) that wants to use a dynamic creative or you are uploading your own dynamic creative (Step 1b.), see the corresponding procedure.

Complete the following procedures to set up your dynamic creative.

Step 1a. Configure the dynamic creative for the buyer

To configure the dynamic creative for the player
  1. Inform the media buyer that they must configure their dynamic creative based on this template
    Note 1: The Cortex player only accepts dynamic creatives in the form of an HTML5 asset.
    Note 2: The sample dynamic creative format is specific to the Cortex Player, which requires vistar-visible and vistar-hidden events.
  2. Developers can also write specific event listeners:

    • cortex-ready - this event is fired when the HTML is loaded, but not visible on the screen

    • cortex-visible - this event is fired when the HTML is visible on the screen

    • cortex-hidden - this event is fired right before the HTML is taken off the screen.

// Register a listener for the cortex-visible event.
window.addEventListener('cortex-visible', this.onVisible.bind(this));
}

To properly zip the dynamic creative (for proper rendering), the Cortex player expects the index.html file to exist in the root directory (top level) of the .zip file, in order for the creative to display properly. The player cannot find the index.html file if it is located within a folder. All of the other assets (images, JavaScript, and so on) can be in any structure. See below for an example of a properly zipped dynamic creative:

Dynamic_creative_zip.png

  1. Configure the asset to listen for specific events:
    • The desired display time (when the asset should be visible on the screen) needs to be accounted for during asset configuration. This can be achieved through vistar-visible and vistar-hidden events. In order for the asset to display on the screen at the proper time, the asset needs to listen for the vistar-visible event. Items can be loaded in the background, but the asset must listen for the vistar-visible event in order for the asset to appear at the proper time.
  2. Run the creative in a Chrome browser to validate that it can display content.

    Note: Chrome is the only supported browser.

Cortex supports dynamic creatives through the ad server through the ad platform. Cortex does not support dynamic content when it is directly added to a strategy in Fleet.

For the player, you can view Troubleshoot dynamic creatives for the player.

Now, complete the procedure to set up the dynamic creative in the ad platform.

To configure the dynamic creative for the agent
  1. The agent only accepts dynamic creatives in the form of an HTML5 asset.
  2. We recommend adding the index.html file to the root directory (top level) of the .zip file, in order for the creative to display properly. However, the agent can find the index.html file even if it is not in the root directory. All of the other assets (images, JavaScript, and so on) can be in any structure. See below for an example of a properly zipped dynamic creative:

    Dynamic_creative_zip.png
  3. Run the creative in a Chrome browser to validate that it can display content.

Note: Chrome is the only supported browser.

The agent supports dynamic creatives served through the ad server through the ad platform.

Now, complete the procedure to set up the dynamic creative in the ad platform.

Step 1b. Configure your own dynamic creative, depending on your operating system.

Note: The following instructions work for both the player and agent integrations.

Linux and Mac
  1. Open a Terminal window.
  2. Navigate to the directory that contains all of the elements to be zipped.
  3. Run the following command: zip -r archive_name.zip *
    • archive_name.zip is what you want your zip folder to be called.
    • * means zip all of the elements in the directory.

Now, complete the procedure to set up the dynamic creative in the ad platform.

Windows
  1. Navigate to the folder that contains all of the elements to be zipped.
  2. Select all of the elements.
  3. Right click the elements and select 7-Zip.
  4. Select Add to “folder_name.zip”.

Or, you can do the following:

  1. Navigate to the folder that contains all of the elements to be zipped.
  2. Select all of the elements.
  3. Right click the element and select Send to.
  4. Select Compressed (zipped) folder.
  5. Name the zip folder.

Now, complete the procedure to set up the dynamic creative in the ad platform.

Step 2. Set up the dynamic creative in the ad platform

To set up in the ad platform
  1. Log in to the ad platform at trafficking.vistarmedia.com.
  2. Upload the dynamic creative as a .zip file. The general structure of the zip file is a package of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images.
  3. Set the following fields in the Add Creatives modal after the dynamic creative is uploaded:
    • The width and height of the creative (in pixels)
    • The desired duration of the creative
  4. Click Add Creatives. The dynamic creative is added to your order.

Step 3. Set up the dynamic creative in Cortex Fleet

To set up in Fleet

Note: If you do not have access to Fleet, contact your Vistar account representative to ensure that this part of the procedure is set up correctly.

  1. Log in to Fleet at fleet.cortexpowered.com.
  2. Update your network parameters or device parameters and add application/cortex-bundle as a value for the vistar.mime_type parameter.
  3. Deploy a strategy that has the Vistar Media Ads app in the Main Loop and fallback content in the Fallback Loop.
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