How to Traffic Mediaplex Creatives in DoubleClick DFP

Mediaplex is a third party ad serving service – you’re bound to be asked to traffic MediaPlex creatives at some point, so here are the guidelines.

Mediaplex tags do not come with macros already inserted, so you will need to insert them yourself: use random numbers (%n) to bust caching and %c count clicks. The tags should arrive with detailed instructions as to where to insert these elements.

In DFP, you will need to traffic these tags as custom rich media creatives: once you have created the campaign, create a new ad and select “Standard” as product type, fill in the ad details, then assign to it a “custom” creative where you can enter the tags discussed below.

1) Standard/Banner tags

In general the tags will arrive in a format such as this for a simple Ad Creative ( Image GIF or JPG):

<a href=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/1234-12345-1234-1?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]“>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/1234-12345-1234-1?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]” alt=”Click Here”></a>

This A HREF/IMG SRC combination maybe trafficked in the Rich Media field in DART or (more simply) as a Redirect Creative.

To traffic as a Redirect creative simply extract the 2 URLs from the code above, replace [CACHEBUSTER] with %n and insert the appropriate URLs into your redirect creative. The A HREF URL is the Click Through and the IMG SRC URL is the Image Redirect.

e.g. Redirect URLs for Sample Mediaplex Creative.

Click Through = http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/1234-12345-1234-1?mpt=%n
Image = http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/1234-12345-1234-1?mpt=%n

Alternatively, if you wish to traffic your ad in the Rich Media field you should take the entire Mediaplex code fragment, replacing %n where necessary. As the creative is being set in the Rich Media field it is necessary to indicate to DART where the clickthrough is to be counted by placing the %c…%3a%2f%2f macro on the A HREF URL.

e.g. Rich Media Code for Sample Mediaplex Creative.

<a href=”%chttp%3a%2f%2faltfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/1234-12345-1234-1?mpt%n”>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/1234-12345-1234-1?mpt=%n” alt=”Click Here”></a>

For Richmedia ads ( such as Flash banner,expandables, popups, layers …), tags will more often be sent as Iframe/Ilayer, Iframe/Javascript or Javascript only tags.

To ensure accurate tracking, you are required to implement a Cache Buster on your end. Please replace all occurrences of [CACHEBUSTER] in the ad tags below with our %n macro.

To track clicks using the iframe/ilayer/script tags provided, please insert our redirect string %c as the value following “mpvc=”.

Alternatively for the A HREF/IMG call in these tags, do the same modifications as described just above for trafficking the redirect tag in the Richmedia field.

2) IFRAME/ILAYER tags

Initial code:

<!– Begin of Mediaplex Iframe/Ilayer insertion order fragment –>
<nolayer>
<iframe src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/fm/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]&mpvc=” width=728 height=90 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no bordercolor=”#000000″>
<a href=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]“>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]” alt=”Click Here” border=”0″></a>
</iframe>
</nolayer>
<ilayer src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/fm/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]&mpvc=” width=728 height=90></ilayer>
<!– End of Mediaplex Iframe/Ilayer fragment –>

Modified code:

<!– Begin of Mediaplex Iframe/Ilayer insertion order fragment –>
<nolayer>
<iframe src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/fm/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n&mpvc=%c” width=728 height=90 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no bordercolor=”#000000″>
<a href=”%chttp%3a%2f%2faltfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n”>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n” alt=”Click Here” border=”0″>
</a>
</iframe>
</nolayer>
<ilayer src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/fm/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n&mpvc=%c” width=728 height=90></ilayer>
<!– End of Mediaplex Iframe/Ilayer fragment –>

3) IFRAME/JAVASCRIPT tags

Initial code:

<!– Begin of Mediaplex Iframe/JavaScript insertion order fragment –>
<iframe src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/fm/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]&mpvc=” width=728 height=90 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no bordercolor=”#000000″>
<script language=”JavaScript1.1″ src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]&mpvc=”>
</script>
<noscript>
<a href=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]“>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]” alt=”Click Here” border=”0″></a>
</noscript>
</iframe>

Modified code:

<!– Begin of Mediaplex Iframe/JavaScript insertion order fragment –>
<iframe src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/fm/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n&mpvc=%c” width=728 height=90 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no bordercolor=”#000000″>
<script language=”JavaScript1.1″ src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n&mpvc=%c”>
</script>
<noscript>
<a href=”%chttp%3a%2f%2faltfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n”>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n” alt=”Click Here” border=”0″>
</a>
</noscript>
</iframe>

4) JAVASCRIPT only tags

Initial code:

<!– JavaScript Only –>
<script language=”JavaScript1.1″ src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/4214-21200-8666-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]&mpvc=”></script>
<noscript>
<a href=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]“>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/0-0-0-0?mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]” alt=”Click Here” border=”0″></a>
</noscript>

Modified code:

<!– JavaScript Only –>
<script language=”JavaScript1.1″ src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n&mpvc=%c”>
</script>
<noscript>
<a href=”%chttp%3a%2f%2faltfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n”>
<img src=”http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/bn/0-0-0-0?mpt=%n” alt=”Click Here” border=”0″>
</a>
</noscript>