Buyer readiness
Advertiser intake worksheet
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About 10 min read
Use this worksheet before a contextual campaign is priced, trafficked, or summarized. It turns buyer objective, package lane, creative and destination handoff, floor inputs, reporting cadence, and readout boundary into one proposal record.
The intake record should be clear enough for sales, ad operations, analytics, and the buyer to use the same source of truth. It does not replace a campaign brief or final report; it prevents those documents from starting with different assumptions.
Proposal-quality packet
Before the worksheet becomes a price quote or launch task, make the five records below visible enough for the next owner to reuse without guessing.
Buyer and reader fit is named
Record the buyer category, offer type, reader problem, clean-fit context, and any context where the offer should not appear.
Package scope is trafficable
Name the package ID, deal key, eligible page set, placement mix, device classes, and whether the campaign includes native or display only.
Creative and destination are traceable
Capture creative IDs, native fields, click path, destination URL, source capture, consent state, and routing owner before launch work starts.
Floor and availability have evidence
Attach the floor rationale, eligible supply, pacing limits, blackout dates, refresh expectations, and makegood rule that support the proposal.
Measurement language is bounded
Fix the primary signal, comparison rule, reporting cadence, buyer-side fields, and strongest allowed readout language before results arrive.
Before pricing, check the intake record
The worksheet should produce a decision record, not just a set of blank fields. Use the table below to decide whether the proposal can move into pricing, needs a narrower revision, or should remain on hold until the buyer or operations owner supplies stronger evidence.
| Record | Ready pattern | Revise before pricing when |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer fit | The offer helps the reader continue a task already served by the page set, and excluded contexts are named. | The offer is plausible for the publication but too broad for the proposed package lane. |
| Package lane | The buyer-facing package, eligible pages, exclusions, placement IDs, formats, and reporting key can be copied into a brief. | The package name exists, but the actual page set, device rule, or native/display boundary is still implied. |
| Creative and destination | Assets, native fields, click URL, destination, form path, source fields, and routing owner are complete enough for launch QA. | The destination can be fixed, but the current handoff would hide message mismatch, source loss, or lead-routing risk. |
| Floor and availability | The floor rationale is tied to context fit, eligible supply, reservation tradeoff, pacing limits, and makegood rules. | The floor is written as a desired price without enough supply, scarcity, or exposure-quality support. |
| Reporting boundary | The primary signal, comparison rule, reporting cadence, and strongest allowed readout language are locked before launch. | The buyer expects lift, quality, or renewal language that the planned reporting fields cannot support. |
Hold or revise when
01
The reader job is still generic. Ask for the professional task, page set, and offer value before the package is priced.
02
The package lane cannot be trafficked. Rebuild the eligible context, placement IDs, accepted sizes, device classes, and exclusion list before launch approval.
03
The destination would blur the result. Fix the landing page, source fields, consent path, and routing owner before paid traffic starts.
04
The readout asks too much of the setup. Choose descriptive reporting unless a comparison, holdout, matched market, or randomized design was planned before launch.
How to use the result
If the record is ready, turn it into the campaign brief and trafficking handoff without changing the package ID, placement list, source fields, or readout boundary. If the record needs revision, ask for the missing buyer, creative, destination, availability, or comparison field before pricing. If the record is on hold, narrow the package, change the destination, or choose descriptive reporting before the campaign moves forward.
Primary source trail and a bounded gate
These first-party references support the worksheet's field choices; they do not provide campaign results for this page. OpenRTB 2.6 describes the private-marketplace object and deal fields, including deal ID, bid floor, currency, buyer-seat restrictions, and advertiser-domain restrictions. Google documents the difference between a final URL and an optional tracking template, and its Ad Manager guidance distinguishes reportable key-values from undefined values. Google also warns that targeting parameters must not carry personally identifiable information.
- IAB Tech Lab OpenRTB 2.6 specification — see the impression, private marketplace, deal, and site fields that make package scope trafficable.
- Google Ads: About the different types of URLs — distinguishes the final URL from an optional tracking template and requires the landing-page domain to remain clear.
- Google Ad Manager: Predefined and dynamic key-values — explains when key-values appear in reports and why undefined values do not.
- Google Ad Manager: Use acceptable key-values — warns against passing information that could be recognized as personally identifiable.
Simulated worked example — not a live campaign: assume a proposed deal has 120,000 forecast eligible impressions, reserves 72,000, delivers 64,800, and records complete source fields for 60,000 delivered impressions. Reserved coverage is 72,000 / 120,000 = 60%; delivery against reserved supply is 64,800 / 72,000 = 90%; source-field completeness is 60,000 / 64,800 = 92.59%. The bounded decision is “ready for descriptive delivery review, with a source-capture repair,” not “proved effective” or “ready for renewal.” The conclusion changes if the denominator, reservation scope, source-field definition, or comparison rule changes.
What the sources establish for this worksheet: use a stable deal or package identifier to make the supply contract traceable; keep the final landing-page domain aligned with the advertised domain while placing tracking instructions in the tracking field; report only defined key-values; and keep user-identifying values out of ad parameters. Those are handoff and privacy controls, not proof that inventory will deliver, a destination will convert, or a campaign caused an outcome.
Simulated intake acceptance gate
This gate converts the worksheet into a handoff decision. It is a fictional test of the numbers above, not a benchmark for a real advertiser. A packet can be numerically complete and still require revision when its field definitions or comparison boundary are unclear.
| Gate | Pass condition | Simulated result |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Buyer fit | Offer, reader problem, eligible context, and exclusions are written in language the next owner can reuse. | Pass - the packet names the buyer/reader fit fields. |
| 2. Package contract | Deal or package identity, page set, placement IDs, formats, devices, and native/display boundary are trafficable. | Pass - the packet has a defined package lane. |
| 3. Creative and destination | Creative IDs, final destination, tracking arrangement, source capture, consent path, and routing owner can be checked. | Pass - the handoff fields are present for launch QA. |
| 4. Supply basis | Forecast, reservation, delivery, floor basis, pacing limits, blackout dates, and makegood rule share one denominator and owner. | Pass for this simulation - 72,000 / 120,000 = 60% reserved coverage and 64,800 / 72,000 = 90% delivery against reservation are reproducible. |
| 5. Source-field definition | "Complete source fields" names the required fields, missing-value rule, and denominator before reporting begins. | Hold - 60,000 / 64,800 = 92.59% is calculable, but the field dictionary is not attached. |
| 6. Readout boundary | Primary signal, comparison rule, cadence, and strongest allowed claim are fixed before launch. | Hold - no comparison or lift design is supplied, so the packet cannot support an effectiveness or renewal claim. |
Result: 4/6 gates pass. The simulated packet is ready for descriptive delivery review only; revise the source-field definition and comparison boundary before pricing language implies performance, lift, or renewal. Reproduce the result by marking each row Pass only when the named artifact is attached, then divide passing gates by six. This gate does not estimate revenue, conversion, incrementality, or campaign quality.
Choose the next proposal-quality check.
Use these routes when the intake exposes a missing buyer-fit, source-quality, package, launch, inventory, or reporting field.
Audience fitConfirm reader intentMatch the buyer offer to the reader job before choosing a package lane.
Source qualityReview the offer trailCheck source, destination, claim quality, and sponsor fit before acceptance.
Package proofName the scopeWrite eligible context, exclusions, placement scope, and reporting grain.
LaunchApprove the campaign recordCheck package proof, creative approval, destination QA, inventory, and readout fields.
InventoryCheck placement contractsMatch placement IDs, sizes, device classes, refresh rules, and reporting keys.
ReportingPreserve fieldsKeep package, placement, creative, traffic-quality, outcome, and comparison records aligned.
Pair with
Use this worksheet after the audience intent map and media kit, then carry the result into the private marketplace package brief template, private marketplace deal review checklist, and contextual campaign brief template. Use the private marketplace buying terms guide for term definitions, the creative asset acceptance checklist and landing-page QA worksheet before trafficking, and the reporting field dictionary before final readout language is drafted.