Formatting Spotlight Activity Tag for DART for Advertisers or DoubleClick DFA

The DoubleClick DART for Advertisers (DFA) Spotlight Activity Tag is the primary conversion tracking methodology for both DART Display Ad and Paid Search Management. There are two types of Spotlight Activity Tags: Counter (which utilizes the counter type: standard, unique, per session) and Sales. Included are examples of both types of Spotlight Activity Tags in order to illuminate the differences between them. These will be dissected in order to highlight the similarities and differences between the two types of Activity Tags. 

We recommend using the Counter Tag format for Lead Generation "Thank You" page tracking and the Sales Tag format on eCommerce receipt pages.

Spotlight Counter Activity Tag: 

<img src="http://ad.co.doubleclick.net/activity;src=1234567;type=abcde123; cat=fghij456;u1=[friendlyname1];u2=[friendlyname2];ord=[Random Number]?" width="1" height="1"/>

Spotlight Sales Activity Tag: 

<img src="http://ad.co.doubleclick.net/activity;src=1234567;type=abcde123; cat=fghij456;u1=[friendlyname1];u2=[friendlyname2];qty=[Quantity]; cost=[Revenue];ord=[OrderID]?" width="1" height="1"/>

Anatomy of a Spotlight Activity Tag: 

<img src="http://ad.co.doubleclick.net/activity;src=1234567;type=abcde123; cat=fghij456;u1=[friendlyname1];u2=[friendlyname2];qty=[Quantity]; cost=[Revenue];ord=[OrderID]?" width="1" height="1"/>

Elements shared by both Tag Types:

img src: This the typical HTML image tag. The src parameter identifies the URL where the image is located for the Spotlight Tag it is the tracking pixel which is a 1x1 GIF.

ad.co.doubleclick.net: This is the URL of the DART ad server.

co: This is a country code for the ad server tracking the conversion event associated with the Spotlight Tag. DART DFA employs the standard two-letter country codes denoted through the IOS (International Organization for Standardization). For those advertisers in the United States, a country code is not necessary and the server URL is going to be   ad.doubleclick.net

activity: the final URL location parameter which specifies this type of tag as a Spotlight Activity Tag.

src=1234567: This is the advertiser to whom to attribute the conversion to. This value will always be your advertiser ID.

type=abcde123: This variable denotes the advertisers activity group for the particular Spotlight Tag. This has to be eight characters. Typically this is the first 5 letters of the activity group with an appended 3-digit random number. 

cat=fghij456: This variable denotes the advertisers activity tag string for the particular Spotlight Tag. This has to be eight characters. Typically this is the first 5 letters of the activity name with an appended 3-digit random number.  

u1=[friendlyname1];u2=[friendlyname2]: These are Key-values where any data can be passed back to DART. These custom variable have to fall with the brackets.

Here are the elements unique to sales activities:

qty=[Quantity]: This important eCom parameter is used to count sales activity. 

    * For counting transactions as a whole, regardless the number of items ordered then, the parameter is always qty=1.

    * For counting individual items or units sold, then the parameter is always going to be qty=[Quantity], at this point the Quantity has to be dynamically inserting by the back end shopping cart receipt generating logic and is has to be coded by the advertisers IT.

cost=[Revenue]: Same as with Quantity the Revenue figure has to be dynamically inserted by the back end shopping cart receipt generating logic and is has to be coded by the advertisers IT. The Revenue figure is the sale amount once the order or purchase has been processed by the shopping cart and is to be found on the receipt or order confirmation.

ord=[orderID]: As with the previous two variables the Order ID has to be dynamically inserted by the back end shopping cart receipt generating logic and is has to be coded by the advertisers IT. Each order needs to have a trackable unique OrderID.