YouTube Campaign Workflow (Google Ads)

General

For YouTube campaigns in Flight Control, similar to campaigns for closed-garden platforms like Meta and TikTok, Clinch doesn't act as a third-party ad server. Instead, Flight Control manages the creation, rendering, and upload of video creatives to the advertiser's YouTube channel, which can be transacted via Google Ads.

YouTube campaigns utilize the YouTube channel integration to upload and host video creatives created and rendered in Flight Control. You can then use your Google Ads account to run these YouTube ad campaigns.

When ads are published in Flight Control, the YouTube ads are automatically created and pushed to the Google Ads campaign, and ads are toggled on and off based on real-time decisioning logic.

This article outlines the campaign workflow for setting up and activating YouTube campaigns run via Google Ads, which entails:

• Syncing Google ads and ad groups with a Flight Control campaign.
• Configuring your decisioning logic to toggle ads on and off on Google Ads.
• Generating and rendering ads based on the campaign logic.
• Publishing ads from Flight Control into Google Ads under the specified campaigns.
• Collecting insights and analytics, which are then utilized in cross-channel dashboards.

Supported Ad Types & Specifications

Flight Control supports the following YouTube ad types for Google Ads:

• Skippable In-Stream
• Non-Skippable
• Bumper
• In-Feed
• Responsive
• Shorts

Supported ad placements

Video partners on the Display Network, YouTube, CTV/Google TV

Supported objectives for YouTube Google Ads

• Sales
• Website Traffic
• Awareness and Consideration

Supported campaign metrics:

• Clicks
• Impressions
• Conversions
• Sales
• Cost
• 1st Quarter
• 1st Quarter Rate
• Mid Point
• Mid Point Rate
• 3rd Quarter
• 3rd Quarter Rate
• Completed
• Completion Rate
• Conversion Rate

User Permissions 

• You need the Campaigns user permission to create or edit campaigns.

Prerequisites

• Connect your Flight Control account to your Google Ads account.
• Create video-supported campaigns and ad groups in Google Ads.
• Connect your YouTube channels to your Flight Control account.
• Have video creatives to use in your account's Creative Library.

Note: To add these connections in Flight Control, go to Account > Integrations. For more information, see Integrations Overview.

YouTube Campaign Workflow for Google Ads

Once you've started a new campaign by clicking Create from the Campaigns page and selecting YouTube > Google Ads as the campaign type, follow the steps below to set up and activate your YouTube campaign in Flight Control.

At a high level, the setup process follows the steps outlined in the campaign header:

1. Configure General Campaign Settings.
2. Sync Google Ads Account with Flight Control.
3. Set Up the Campaign Logic.
4. Generate and Render Ads.
5. Publish Ads.
6. Activate the Campaign Version.

Detailed Campaign Setup and Activation Workflow

1. General Campaign Settings

The Campaign Homepage is the first step of the campaign, where you can: 

1. Add a campaign description.
2. Select any premium services (e.g., Sports, Weather).
3. Add campaign tags for reporting purposes.

2. Sync Google Ads Account with Flight Control

1. Navigate to the campaign's Ad Groups step of the workflow in the Header.
   • This is where you can connect your Flight Control campaign to the Google Ads account.
2. Click Add.
3. Select the Google Ads Account.
4. Select the Google Ads Campaign.
5. Click OK.

Flight Control will sync the ad groups from the Google Ads campaign into Flight Control.

3. Set up the Campaign Logic

1. Go to the Campaign Logic step in the campaign header.
   • This is where you can configure your decisioning logic to toggle ads on and off on YouTube.
2. Add and connect decision cards to your campaign card as needed for your strategy:
   • Product Selection Card - This card selects a product from a product feed to display in an ad using a specified selection strategy.
   • Content Selection Card - This card selects a content item from a content feed to display in an ad using a specified selection strategy.
   • Condition Card - This card conditions by one or more attributes (usually ad sets/groups) and selects which card output and creative to use for an impression.
   • Schedule Card - This card lets you perform campaign actions like dayparting and other date/time ad-serving specifications.
   • Distribution Card - This card generates multiple ads for each ad set/group based on the number of card outputs used. The social media platform optimizes the ad serving between these ads using their personal optimization methods.
   • Creative Cards - Each creative card represents one or more ads that will be created for the social platform. Social campaign creatives come from your account's Creative Library.
3. Open the Creative Card Settings pane to customize each creative. See the table below for information on fields in YouTube campaign creative cards:

Field	Description	Bumper	In-Feed	Skippable	Responsive	Non-Skippable
Ad Name	Allows you to define the name of the ad that will be created. If nothing is inserted, the creative name will be used.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Video Name	Allows you to create a name for the video asset published to the social platform (instead of using the creative ID as the default name). Note: YouTube video names can't contain more than 100 characters.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Landing Page	Lets you choose the source for the ad's landing page.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Landing Page URL	Lets you enter a URL to use as the ad's landing page.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Display URL	Lets you enter a URL "name" displayed in the ad.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
YouTube Channel	Lets you select a YouTube channel to publish the ad to.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Description 1	Lets you enter an ad description.	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Description 2	Lets you enter a second ad description.	No	Yes	No	No	No
Headline	Lets you enter a headline for the ad.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Long Headline	Lets you enter a long headline for the ad.	No	No	No	Yes	No
Call to Action	Select from predefined CTAs.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Tip: You can copy and paste cards from one campaign to another within the same account using Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V (Windows) or Command + C and Command + V (Mac). Only cards that are relevant to a specific campaign type can be pasted in the campaign map.

Step 4: Generate and Render Ads

Once the campaign logic has been set up without any errors, the Generate Ads icon on the far right section of the header will become highlighted.

You must now generate all possible ad variations (outcomes) from your campaign map logic:

1. Click Generate Ads within the campaign's header to begin the ad generation process. Once ads have been generated, the system will automatically start rendering the ads.
   • You'll be directed to the campaign's Ads step once ads start generating.
2. Review your rendered ad variations within the Ads table.
   • Note: These are simulated social media previews. Minor preview discrepancies may exist before publishing ads to a social media platform.
3. Optional. Update ad variation elements individually or in bulk as needed (examples: primary text, headline, and CTA changes).

Note: The campaign logic will be locked once ad generation begins. Changes made to the campaign's feeds or creatives won't affect the campaign unless you click Generate Ads again.

5. Publish Ads

Once all ads have been automatically generated, the Publish icon on the far right section of the header will become highlighted, indicating that ads are ready to be published.

1. Click Publish to upload the generated ads to the YouTube platform. This will bring up the Publish Ads window, where you can:

   Review the number of ads being published, updated, or deleted between the last version and the current version being published. Choose whether to pause all ads from the previous version or keep them running until the new version activates. Decide whether to permanently delete or simply turn off ads marked for deletion in the connected social media account. Choose whether the campaign version should activate automatically after ads are published, with options to enter a custom version name and description. Schedule a future activation time and determine what happens if ads fail to publish or are rejected by the social platform. Select how you want to activate the campaign: Once the first ad is approved (Recommended) Once all ads complete the review process, and at least one is approved Only if all ads are approved Click Publish and Activate or Publish, depending on the previously selected activation settings.

   2. Await the "published" status for all ad variations in the Ads step.
      • Note: Campaign version actions are disabled while ads are being published to social media platforms.

If publishing is successful, all ad variations in the Ads step will display a "published" status, and their social media platform ad IDs will populate. At this point, Flight Control uses actual social media placement renderings for creative previews.

Ads published to social media platforms are paused until you activate your Flight Control campaign, which is outlined in the last step of the workflow.

6. Activate the Campaign Version

Once ads are successfully published, the Activate icon on the far right section of the Header will become highlighted, indicating that the campaign version is ready to be activated.

To activate the campaign version:

Click Activate in the campaign Header. The Activate Ads window will be displayed. Optional. Enter a custom version name. Optional. Enter a version description. Select the Set time for future activation  checkbox and enter a day and time for the version to activate on. To cancel the scheduled activation, click the "x" symbol of the Scheduled Activation badge in the campaign header. You can then click Activate to initiate or reschedule activation. Select how you want to activate the campaign: Once the first ad is approved (Recommended) Once all ads complete the review process, and at least one is approved Only if all ads are approved Click Activate.

The campaign version will be activated and "locked" by default after activation occurs. Once a campaign version is activated, Flight Control will begin serving ads on YouTube, toggling ads on and off according to your campaign map configurations.

Important: Once your campaign is running on the social platform, you must make changes to Flight Control-related ads directly within Flight Control, not the social platform. Otherwise, unintentional changes and data overwrites may occur.