About creative templates
Creative templates are used to configure the behavior of creatives displayed on the website. For instance, an HTML5 creative can be displayed as an interstitial using the
Interstitial creative template; with this creative template, the ad shows up on a blank screen for a few seconds before the actual page content is loaded.
Campaign managers can:
- select the creative template in the Creatives section in insertions
- configure the creative template by filling in the appropriate values for the variables in the creative template - e. g. colors, text values, boolean (true/false) options etc.; read more about creative configuration here.
There are 2 types of creative templates:
- official creative templates provided and maintained by Equativ for all customers; you cannot edit these creative templates
- custom creative templates created by Equativ’s customers, available only in the network where they have been created; the creation of these custom creative templates are explained below.
Using the creative template editor
You can create and maintain your own custom creative templates using the creative template editor. Campaign managers can then select custom creative templates in the
Creatives section in insertions and use them to configure the behavior of the creatives. The process is the same as for official creative templates.
Access
1. Go to
Inventory >
Template library
2. Click the
New creative template button.
About the tabs in the creative template editor
The setup of a creative template is done on the following three tabs:
- Configuration – general data of the creative template;
- Script – the code of the creative template including macros and user variables;
- Parameters – the list of parameters as they will be presented to the campaign manager who uses the creative template in an insertion;
Configuration tab

The following table describes each field on the
Configuration tab.
Field name / Option | Description |
---|
Template name | Name of the creative template |
Version | Version; increased by 1 when the template is published; click on the binocular icon to view the version history |
Description | Description of the creative template |
Documentation URL | URL pointing to documentation of the creative template (specifications) |
Impression Types | select from these impression types: Display, InStream, Native, OutStream, Unknown, Audio |
Environments | select from these environments: Web, Mobile Web, App (iOS Display SDK, Android Display SDK, iOS Instream SDK, Android Instream SDK, Other SDKs) |
Compatibility | Determines if the creative template supports asynchronous ad delivery (Ajax) |
Output format | Output (ad response) format: Javascript, JSON, XML, HTML (deprecated), VAST 2.0/3.0/4.0 |
Allow use of iFrames for delivery | Defines if iFrames can be used for the delivery of the ad |
Icon (100x75) | Icon in size 100x75px |
Interactions tracking | Defines if the creative template supports tracking of interactions (e. g. expand, collapse etc.) |
Asynchronous count | if enabled, an impression is counted when the browser fires the impression pixel URL sent in the ad response (client side impression counting); if disabled, the impression is already counted at the moment the ad call is received by the ad server (server side impression counting) |
Tags | Tags which describe which features the creative template supports |
Minimum number of creatives | Minimum number of creatives that must be uploaded/created in the insertion using this creative template |
Click the
Next button to switch to the
Script tab.
Script tab
On the
Script tab, you add the actual creative template code in the field
Main template.

In this field you can use two types of variables (macros):
- user variables in the format [user_myVariable]; these will show up for the campaign managers who will fill in the appropriate values for the insertion they are setting up;
- Equativ variables (shown in the panel on the right); see the Macros article for definitions of the variables (macros) and other useful information, in particular the chapters “Templating processor” and “About macro indexing”;
The following code illustrates the usage of
user variables and
Equativ variables:
const element = document.createElement('div');
element.setAttribute('id', '[sas_insertionId]');
document.body.insertBefore(element, document.getElementById('[user_myID]'));
The sample above:
- creates a div element;
- sets the div’s id to the id of the insertion that has delivered the code;
- adds the element before another element of which the id is the value of the user variable user_myID;
Enabling viewablity measurement in custom creative templatesYou can implement Equativ's viewability module to enable viewability measurement in your custom creative template – see the "Viewability measurement in custom creative templates" chapter in the
Viewability article.
Once you are done with script editing, click the
Generate parameters to generate the user parameters – you will be redirected to the
Parameters tab
where you can configure them; by default, user parameters have the type “Text”; the type can be changed in the
Parameters tab into Boolean, List etc. (see the chapter below).
Parameters tab
On the
Parameters tab, you will find each user variable you defined on the
Script tab.

For each variable, you can:
(1)
- type a name;
- choose the Type
- Text
- Boolean
- List
- Color; returns the color code only (e.g.: 0594C2), not the full hex code (e.g.: #0594C2)
- Number
- Textbox
- define the size of the text box;
- define the necessity, i.e. decide if the variable is required or optional;
- define a default value;
- define a help message;
(2)
- select a category (e.g. Ad Delivery, Border options, Tracking, etc.)
- change the order of the variables;
Publishing creative templates

Click the
Publish button to publish the creative template.
Editing creative templates
To edit an existing custom creative template:
- go to Administration > Creative template library
- locate the creative template and hover over it to display the "..." button
- select Edit

When you edit and update your creative template:
- click the Apply changes button to save the changes
- click the Publish button to make the creative template available for all users
- click the Generate parameters button in case of changes to variables in the Script tab
Creative template drafts in insertions
For testing purposes, you can also access the draft version of any custom creative template directly from an insertion (requires the permission “Create and edit creative templates”).
Creative template options
For existing creative templates in the library, you can access the options Edit, View insertions, Update insertions, Versions, Documentation, Replace, Deactivate and Delete. Each option is explained in section "Creative template options" in the Creative template library article.