Create Plain Text Creatives

You can use plain text creatives in a web task to display content on a web page or to inject JavaScript into a web page.

If your plain text creative contains valid JavaScript, it can be used to run JavaScript on a web page. However, the web task that uses the plain text creative must also use a JavaScript spot. Examples of what you can do with a plain text creative that contains JavaScript include displaying pop-ups on a web page and making data available to third parties.

1. On the navigation bar, click ContentCreatives.
2. Click . 
3. Edit the text. For example, enter the text that you want to display on your site or add the JavaScript that you want to run a web page. If you are using a text creative to run JavaScript on a web page, the text that is entered into the editor must be valid JavaScript.
4. 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.

   Note: You can add as many as 50 merge tags or variables to one creative. Existing creatives that contains more than 50 merge tags or variables 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 Overview of Personalizing Content.
   • For information about using merge tags and variables in creatives, including syntax details, see Use Merge Tags and Variables to Personalize Creatives.
5. 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.
   Note: Changes to a scheduled or active creative are not automatically propagated to the published version of the creative. You must republish the creative after you save it to resolve the Out of Sync status. Otherwise, the creative stays out of sync with the published version and the updates are not delivered.

Use these icons when working in the text editor: