How to Manage Sub Affiliate Payouts Using Directed Campaigns

Directed Campaigns are a unique CAKE feature that allow you to manage certain elements of an affiliate's campaign based on sub affiliate(s) or creative(s). More commonly, Directed Campaigns are leveraged to assign unique payouts based on a sub affiliate ID.

In CAKE, the initial campaign you create for an affiliate is considered the Original Campaign. Each proceeding campaign for the same offer or offer contract, with the same price format, will be considered a Directed Campaign.

To create a Directed Campaign, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Affiliate or Offer Card.
2. Click on the Campaigns tab
3. Search Campaigns to ensure the affiliate has an existing Original Campaign for the offer. 
4. Click the Add Campaign button

An exception is required for the system to properly filter traffic to the Directed Campaign. You will notice on a Directed Campaign, CAKE asks for Allowed SubAffiliates and/or Allowed Creatives to be added. On the Original Campaign, CAKE asks for Blocked SubAffiliates and/or Blocked Creatives to be added. Any Allowed exceptions do not also need to be Blocked and vice versa.

To add an Exception, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Exceptions tab on the campaign card
2. Click Add under the SubAffiliate and/or Creatives section
3. Type ahead  to search for an existing SubAffiliate
4. Select a creative from the dropdown list
5. Click Update to save

After exceptions have been added in the system, they need to be referenced in the CAKE tracking link. A standard tracking link includes a creative ID (&c=) and the sub affiliate ID (&s1=) parameter. Simply add the ID to the associated parameter to begin filtering traffic to the Directed Campaign. Below is an example of a link formatted for a sub affiliate Id exception of 1234.

The simplest way to understand which campaigns are Original and which are Directed is to use the "Directed" column in the campaigns tab of the Affiliate or Offer card. Additionally, each individual campaign will indicate if they are Directed or Original in red letters under the campaign name.

Does the Affiliate pixel on the Original Campaign need to be placed each time a new Directed Campaign is created?

    No, Directed Campaigns have a setting enabled by default that is located under the pixels sub tab to "Use Pixel From Original Campaign."

If I block a subId or creative on the original, and have multiple directed campaigns, which one does it track under?

    CAKE will track a blocked sub affiliate ID or creative under the first directed campaign that was created

If you have any questions, please reach out to your dedicated CAKE Client Success Manager/Account Manager or contact the CAKE Support Team at support@getCAKE.com.