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User’s Guide
 

Creating Messages

Messages give you flexible ways to group creatives that are associated with each other. For example, you can create a message that contains all of the creatives that are needed to support a particular campaign across multiple channels. Alternatively, you can create a message that contains all of the creatives for a specific channel.

Typically, a message contains one or more creatives and the creatives can be of different types. Messages that do not contain any creatives are not available for selection in tasks and planning items. However, direct marketing tasks are an exception to this rule, because those task types do not use creatives. If you are creating a direct marketing task, instead of adding creatives to your message, you must define the properties that need to be included in the export file on the Properties tab of the message.

To create a message:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Content Contentthen selectMessages.
  2. Click Create Message. 
  3. Add your creatives on the Creative tab using a combination of the following options:
    • Click New Creative or New creative to build a creative that is automatically added to the message. The new creative is also added to the list of creatives on the Creatives page.
    • Click Add Existing Creative or Add existing creative to add a creative that is already in the application. Select one or more creatives and click Done to add them to the message.
    • Click Options and select Add Creative from Asset to import an HTML asset as a creative. Only HTML assets can be imported into messages as creatives.
      Note: Mobile in-app message tasks and mobile push notification tasks do not support HTML creatives. As a result, you cannot use assets that are imported as creatives in either a mobile in-app message task or a mobile push notification task. However, you can use assets that are imported as creatives in other task types.
    Note: The Recommendation creative type is available only after a URL template has been created in the application. To create a URL template for Recommendation creative, click Administration Administrationthen selectGeneral Settings on the navigation bar and select Recommendation Task in the Applied Analytics section.

    The Recommendation creative type is available only after a URL template has been created in the application. To create a URL template for Recommendation creative, click Administration Administrationthen select Tasks. Click Recommendation Task in Digital.

  4. (Optional) Navigate to the Properties tab to add properties to the message. For example, if this message is going to be used in a direct marketing task, you can add custom properties that contain information that you want to be exported. For more information, see Message Properties.
  5. Click Save to save the message.
  6. When your message is ready to be published, navigate to the Orchestration tab and update the status.
    Note: If you have not already saved your message, you are prompted to save it now.
    • Select Mark ready to change the status from Designing to Ready. A Ready status indicates that this item is ready to be published. When you are ready to promote an item from a Ready status to an Active status, click Publish.
      Note: When you publish an item, you are prompted to publish any dependent items that are marked Ready.

      Items with a Ready status can be changed back to a Designing status by clicking Return to designing. Changing this status to Designing prevents the item from being published.

      Note: If your item has a Ready status and a start date, the item is not automatically published when the start date is reached. For example, if you are creating a task, it must be published in order for the start date to activate the task.
    • Select Mark ready and publish to change the status from Designing to Active. Items with an Active status cannot be changed back to Designing.
TipYou can edit, rename, or remove a creative that is included in a message from the Creative tab in the message. To access actions that are related to a creative, click Show Actions on the creative.

For more information about the different uses for messages and details about creating them, see these topics:

Last updated: August 11, 2026