Create HTML Creatives

You can create HTML creatives for all web tasks, except Recommendation tasks and Next Best Action tasks. In addition, you can reuse an HTML creative in other tasks, such as a Mobile Spot task.

If you are creating a Recommendation task, then you need to create a Recommendation creative.

You can edit the HTML source of an HTML creative, embed content from a URL, or add an asset to the creative. You can also add a merge tag to personalize the creative with customer information, such as a name, or behavioral information, such as a cart total.

To create an HTML creative:

1. On the navigation bar, click ContentCreatives.
2. Click . 
3. Click HTML and edit the HTML source or use the available actions to embed content from a URL, add an asset, or insert a merge tag.

   Creating an HTML creative automatically opens the HTML editor. However, you might need to update the properties of the creative before you can complete your work in the editor. In that case, click Done to save your changes and close the editor. When you are ready to return to the editor, navigate to ContentLayout and click Edit.

   TipYou can customize the editor settings by clicking . These settings persist throughout the site.
4. To insert an image, click to embed content from a URL or add an asset.

   In the Add Image window, choose one of these options:

   • Select From Assets and click to select an item from the Assets repository in SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
   • Select From URL and enter a URL.
     Note: The URL must reference a publicly available image for the creative to render correctly.
   • Select From Frontify to select an image from your Frontify account. If you have not authenticated with Frontify before, follow these steps:
     1. Click .
     2. Sign in to Frontify through the authorization window.
     3. Click Allow Access to enable integration between Frontify and SAS Customer Intelligence 360.

     Use Frontify's content browser to select an image, and click Choose.

5. To add an image or an HTML asset from the assets repository, click ContentAssets

   At the top of the Asset Selection window, select an entry from the Content source drop-down list:

   • Select SAS Digital Asset Management to add assets from the internal repository in SAS Customer Intelligence 360. This option is selected by default.
   • Select the name of a third-party CMS to add assets from an external content management system (CMS) that is integrated with SAS Customer Intelligence 360.

     For information about integrating content management systems with SAS Customer Intelligence 360, see Integrating with Content Management Systems in SAS Customer Intelligence 360: Administration Guide.

     Note: Make sure that an asset’s format is a type that can be included where you are inserting it. The asset’s format is specified in the type attribute in the corresponding SAS format file.
6. To add personalized information, insert a merge tag into the creative. To add a merge tag, click and either select the merge tag or enter a variable. The available merge tags are retrieved from imported customer data and are displayed consistently across tasks. For example, a creative with a merge tag that displays a customer’s name always displays a customer name when used in a task, regardless of which task it is used in.

   You can choose to insert a variable instead of a merge tag. Variables give you more flexibility by allowing the merge tag to be selected later, after the creative is added to a task. In addition, personalization variables can display either imported customer information or behavioral information. The behavioral information, such as a cart total or the name of a product that a person has added to their cart, is retrieved from an event or data view. Because personalization variables enable you to select the merge tag while designing the task, you can reuse the same creative to display different types of personalized information. For example, in a web task, a creative with a variable can display a cart total and in a mobile task the same creative can display a customer name.

   For HTML creatives used in web tasks, personalization variables can also be substituted with text. This action results in the web task delivering the same text in all instances of the creative on the site. For example, you might want to use different promotions for different tasks. In this case, you can add a personalization variable in your content and specify a different promotion in each task . To substitute text for the variable, enter the text in the Default Value field without selecting a merge tag.

   Note: You can add as many as 10 merge tags or variables to one creative. Existing creatives that contains more than 10 merge tags or variables will continue to work. However, once you update a creative, the restriction becomes active for that creative.
   • To learn about merge tags and their prerequisites, see Personalizing Content.
   • For information about using merge tags and variables in creatives, including syntax details, see Use Merge Tags and Variables to Personalize Creatives.
7. When your creative is ready to be published, navigate to the Orchestration tab and update the status.
   • 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.

   If the content of a published item is changed and saved, that item becomes out of sync with the published version. To synchronize the content, select Republish. Otherwise, the item stays out of sync with the published version and the updates are not delivered.

   For more information, see Republishing Out of Sync Items.