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Add a Microsoft Outlook versatile creative

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Microsoft Outlook creatives show up in the right-hand sidebar of the free Outlook.com webmail service after a user securely logs in. This page provides specifications for elements of Outlook creatives and shows you how to add them in Console.

Tip

What's New?

You no longer need to update pixels via the custom template. You can now use the standard Third-Party Impression Trackers feature to add pixels (see Step 4). This change will allow for Xandr macros to serve on impression trackers.

Creative specifications

Element Required? Description
Headline Yes The headline for the Outlook creative. This displays above the image.
- Maximum of 25 characters including spaces.
- Must not contain newline characters.
- Must not include two consecutive punctuation marks.
- Must not consist entirely of capital letters - only the first letter of a word may be capitalized.
- Must not start with punctuation.
Must not include double spaces.
- Must not include more than two consecutive one character words.
- Must not include special characters like:
< > * \ ^ ~ _ = { } [ ] | < > £.
Image Yes The image for the Outlook creative object.
- When you upload an image larger than 100x72, Monetize will resize the image to fit within 100x72 format. However, you must still select 100x72 as the creative size regardless of the size of the image.

Warning: If you don't select 100x72 as the creative size, the creative will not serve.

- Must be in one of the following formats: JPG, PNG, GIF.
- Must not be flash.
Must not include any animation.
- Initial load size must be less than 40 KB.

Warning: Outlook creatives with an initial load size of more than 40 kb will be subject to extra fees. Avoid these fees by making sure that the initial load sizes of your creatives are less than or equal to 40 kb.
Description Yes The description for the Outlook creative. This displays under the image.
- Maximum of 90 characters including spaces, with no word having more than 20 characters.
- Must not contain newline characters.
- Must not include two consecutive punctuation marks.
- Must not consist entirely of capital letters - only the first letter of a word may be capitalized.
- Must not start with punctuation.
- Must not include double spaces.
- Must not include more than two consecutive one character words.
- Must not include special characters like:
< > * \ ^ ~ _ = { } [ ] | < >.
Landing Page URL Yes The URL where users will be redirected when they click the Outlook ad.
- Maximum of 1024 characters.
- Must begin with "http://" or "https://".
- Must not contain newline characters.
Pixel URL No The final destination URL for a third-party impression tracking pixel. For more details, see Step 4.
- Maximum of 1024 characters.
- Must be secure (https) and contain a valid SSL/TLS certificate.
- Must not contain newline characters.
Flex Tile Label No The optional, additional description for the Outlook creative. Clicking on this label redirects users to the Landing Page URL.
- Maximum of 20 characters.
- Must not contain newline characters.

Auditing requirements

SSL audit

Since Outlook.com consists of secure inventory, Outlook creatives must pass Xandr' SSL audit in order to serve. Therefore, when adding your Outlook creatives to Xandr, secure settings are selected by default. Do not make any changes to the setting. (see Step 6). For details about checking the state of the secure audit, see Check the Audit Status of an Outlook Creative.

Microsoft creative acceptance policy

Tip

As of August 17, 2015, all creatives are automatically sent through the appropriate sensitive categories flagging process by the Xandr auditing team, and there is no longer a separate process at Xandr for auditing Microsoft creatives. Though the Also Audit for checkbox will still appear, there is no need to check it when submitting Microsoft creatives.

All creatives serving on Outlook.com inventory must pass Xandr platform audit, for which Xandr charges a standard audit fee. In addition, Microsoft will not accept creatives the Xandr auditing team has flagged with sensitive categories that violate their Creative Acceptance Policy. For more information on the new sensitive categories flags, see Sensitive Categories and Microsoft Audit.

Step 1: Start a new creative

On the Creative Manager screen, click the Create New button and then select Single Creative. This opens the Create New Creative dialog.

Tip

Disregard the Preview and Ad Servers tabs. Because it is not possible to preview an Outlook creative in Console and it is not necessary to declare third-party ad servers when serving on Microsoft Advertising Exchange inventory, you can simply skip over these tabs when adding your Outlook creative.

Step 2: Select the creative type

In the Type section, select whether you want to add a hosted or third-party creative.

  • Upload a file - Select this option to upload and host your Outlook creative with Xandr.
  • Third-party - Select this option to add a third-party Outlook creative to the Xandr system.

Serving on secure inventory is selected by default. Because Outlook contains only secure inventory, do not change this setting.

Step 3: Define basic details

Hosted

  • File - Browse for the image to use in your Outlook creative. The image must be 100x72 pixels (if it is larger, it will be scaled proportionally to fit 100x72) and in one of the following formats: JPG, PNG, or GIF. Note that, unlike standard banner creatives, this must be an actual image or redirect to an image - no html or javascript will be rendered. The initial load of the image must be less than 40KB.

    Note

    The name of your file will show up under Details. You can edit the name, if necessary. The name does not affect the appearance of the Outlook creative, but you will later be able to search for and report on the creative using the name.

  • Landing Page - Enter the URL where users will be redirected when they click the Outlook ad. This can be a maximum of 1024 characters and must begin with "http://" or "https://".

  • Media Type - Select the Image and Text: Outlook.com media type.

  • Template - Once you select the media type, the standard Xandr template for Outlook.com should be selected by default (Xandr: Outlook.com One-Tile versaTILES One-Tile v2).

  • Size - Select 100x72.  Even if the actual image is not 100x72, you still must set this field to 100x72 to serve properly.

Third-party URL

  • Creative Format - Select Third-party URL.

  • URL - Enter the URL where the image for your creative resides on a third-party CDN or ad server.

  • Secure URL - Enter the secure URL where the image for your creative resides on a third-party CDN or ad server.

    Note

    For the creative to pass SSL audit, the image must be sourced from a secure server.

  • Output Type - Select Image.

  • Media Type - Select the Image and Text: Outlook.com media type.

  • Template - Once you select the media type, the standard Xandr template for Outlook.com should be selected by default.

  • Size - Select 100x72. Even if the actual image is not 100x72, you still must set this field to 100x72 to serve properly.

  • Name - Enter the name for your creative. The name does not affect the appearance of the Outlook creative, but you will later be able to search for and report on the creative using the name.

Step 4: Attach third-party tracking pixels (optional)

Xandr records all impressions. If you wish to use another system to record impressions as well, you can attach third-party impression tracking pixels to your creative.

To attach an existing third-party pixel to this creative, click the Third-Party Pixels tab (notice that there may already be pixels attached to this creative based on the Advertiser and Network to which it belongs).

Then, depending on whether you are attaching Network or Advertiser level pixels to this creative or adding pixels directly to this creative, follow one of these procedures

  • To create a new pixel and attach it to this creative, click Add New Pixel. Select the appropriate Format option for the pixel you are creating and enter its URL or the Raw JavaScript. Then, click Add Pixel.

    Note

    If the inventory you are serving on is secure, then all tracking pixels must have a secure version.

    Creative Audit

    If the creative you are attaching the pixel to has already been uploaded, attaching the pixel will cause the creative to be re-audited. If you are uploading this creative for the first time, the pixel will be audited along with the creative.

  • To attach additional pixels that have been created on the Network or Advertiser level, click the Add button next to each of the pixels (in the Available List) you would like to attach.

    Click Save when done.

If you want to create a new third-party tracking pixel at the Network or Advertiser level, follow one of the following procedures:

Step 5: Define the text of the Outlook creative

On the Template tab, enter the language that will display in the Outlook creative.

  • Headline - Enter the headline of the creative. This can be a maximum of 25 characters including spaces. For additional limitations, see Creative specifications above.

  • Description - Enter the description for the creative. This can be a maximum of 90 characters including spaces, with no word having more than 20 characters. For additional limitations, see Creative specifications above.

  • Flex Label (optional) - Enter the additional description for the Outlook creative. Clicking on this label redirects users to the Landing Page URL. This can be a maximum of 20 characters.

    Note

    To use double quotes (") in the Headline, Flex Label or Description fields, you must wrap the quotes using the HTML code " or \" (or \\\" via the API).

    Sample text - This is the "DESCRIPTION".

    Input in Console - This is the "DESCRIPTION" or This is the \"DESCRIPTION\"

    Input in API - This is the "DESCRIPTION" or This is the \\\ "DESCRIPTION\\\"

Note

Outlook creatives cannot be previewed in the UI.

Step 6: Select auditing options

On the Creative Attributes tab, select the Platform audit radio button and then choose to also audit for Microsoft Advertising Exchange and Google Ad Exchange.

Note

All creatives serving on Outlook.com inventory must pass Xandr' platform audit and the Microsoft Creative Acceptance Policy audit, so it is very important to select both of the options above. To learn more about these auditing processes, see Auditing requirements. Creatives must also pass the Outlook Creative Acceptance Policy in order to serve.

Step 7: Associate the creative to campaigns or line items

Click Associate Creatives in the side navigation, then select the Campaigns or Line Items tab. Select the line items or campaigns to which you want to associate the creative. If you have not yet set up a campaign to target Outlook inventory, see Create a Web Campaign.

Tip

You can also associate the creative to campaigns at a later time from the Campaign Manager. For more details, see Associate Creatives to a Campaign.

Step 8: Add users to segments (optional)

You can add users who view or click on the creative to specific segments for targeting or retargeting purposes. On the Segments tab, select the segments to which users should be added on view and/or on click from the All Segments list and click Add to move them to the Selected Segments list. To remove segments that are already in the Selected Segments list, choose those segments and click Remove.

Step 9: Set frequency caps (optional)

On the Budget tab, under Creative Frequency, you can cap how frequently the Outlook creative can be shown to a given user.

  • Show ___ imps over lifetime - The creative will not be shown to a given user more than the specified number of times over the lifetime of the creative.
  • Show ___ imps per user per day - The creative will not be shown to a given user more than the specified number of times per day.
  • 1 imp per user per ___ minutes/hours/days - A minimum of the specified number of minutes/hours/days must pass before a given user can be shown the creative.
  • Show to users without cookies - Once you set a frequency cap, you can choose to show the creative to users without cookies, but be aware that your frequency caps will not apply to such users.

Tip

Frequency caps can be set at the advertiser, line item, and campaign levels as well. The most restrictive setting always takes precedence. For more details, see Frequency and Recency.

Step 10: Set the budget for the creative (optional)

On the Budget tab, under Creative Budget, you can set an impression or media cost budget for the Outlook creative. By default, the budget is unlimited. If you prefer, you can define exactly how much you are willing to spend on buying inventory for the creative. Note that media cost is in USD rather than the advertiser's currency because USD is the currency in which Xandr transacts.

Tip

You can set budgets at the insertion order, line item, and campaign levels as well. These parent budgets takes precedence over your creative budget. When the campaign budget runs out, for example, all creatives associated to the campaign will stop buying impression for that campaign, whether or not they have reached their own budgets. For more details about budgeting, see Budget and Pacing.

  • Lifetime- This is the budget that you are willing to spend over the entire lifetime of the campaign. There are two options:
    • Unlimited - Select this option to leave your lifetime budget undefined.
    • Custom - Select this option to enter a specific amount of impressions or dollars.
  • Daily- This is the budget that you are willing to spend on any single day. There are three options:
    • Unlimited - Select this option to leave your daily budget undefined.
    • Custom - Select this option to enter a specific amount of impressions or dollars. When you enter a custom daily budget, you must select one of the following options:
      • Pace evenly throughout the day- Select this option, otherwise known as "daily pacing", if you want to prevent your daily budget from being spent all at once by distributing your spend evenly by hour throughout the day.

        Note

        If you use Daypart Targeting to restrict the hours during which the campaign can serve, daily pacing will adjust to distribute your spend evenly across only the targeted hours. For more details, see Daily Pacing.

      • Spend as fast as possible - Select this option if you do not want to pace your daily budget at all.

        Note

        This option could lead to your entire daily budget being spent in a very short amount of time.

Step 11: Save the creative

Confirm that the Outlook creative details are correct and then click the Save button to finish adding the creative to Xandr. The creative is then added to the list of creatives in the Creative Manager.

Next steps

Check the audit status of an Outlook creative

Once you've added an Outlook creative and submitted it for Platform Secure and Microsoft Advertising Exchange audit, there are three possible audit statuses that your creative can have:

Platform secure audit

  • Pending - The creative is being SSL audited by Xandr.
  • Allowed - The creative has passed Xandr SSL audit and is eligible to serve on secure inventory.
  • Rejected - The creative has been rejected for SSL audit and is not eligible to serve on secure inventory.

Microsoft Advertiser Exchange audit

  • Pending - The creative is being audited for Microsoft Creative Acceptance Policy by Xandr.
  • Allowed - The creative has passed Microsoft CAP audit and is eligible to serve on Microsoft Advertising Exchange.
  • Rejected - The creative has been rejected for Microsoft CAP audit and is not eligible to serve on Microsoft Advertising Exchange .

To check these statuses, go to Advertisers > Creatives and locate the creative in the list. Select the creative and then scroll down in the Creative Details section until you see the Audit Status and SSL Status sections.

Note

If an Outlook creative fails the Xandr SSL audit, you can submit it for a re-test (once you've fixed the downstream non-secure content) by clicking Resubmit for SSL Audit. There is no additional charge for SSL audit. However, if you change the content in the Xandr creative (image URL/tag or pixel), the creative will automatically be opted into platform re-audit that will incur an auditing fee.

If an Outlook creative fails the Microsoft audit, you must resubmit the creative for audit after making the required changes.

Create an Outlook campaign

Once you've added your Outlook creative to Xandr, you can set up a standard web campaign and then associated your creative to the campaign. Your Outlook creatives will serve only on Outlook.com inventory initially, but we recommend using domain targeting to target outlook.com as well. For details on setting up a web campaign, see Create a Web Campaign.