This article will cover the following:
What Is an Advertiser in CAKE?
In CAKE, an advertiser is a company or individual who wants to promote their products or services through your network. Advertisers own the offers that affiliates promote — they're the brands or clients on the "buying" side of your network.
Advertisers in CAKE are separate from affiliates. Advertisers fund the offers; affiliates drive traffic to them. Each has their own profile type, login access, and reporting view.
Creating and Editing Advertiser Profiles
Creating a New Advertiser
Editing an Existing Advertiser
Use the Notes field to record internal context — account manager name, contract start date, or special billing arrangements. This keeps your team aligned without cluttering reports.
Advertiser Statuses
| Status | What It Means | Effect on Offers |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Fully set up and operational. | Offers can run and receive traffic normally. |
| Inactive | Account exists but not currently running. | Offers linked to this advertiser will not serve traffic. |
| Pending | Being onboarded or awaiting approval. | Offers may be set up but should not go live until status moves to Active. |
| Suspended | Temporarily disabled, often due to billing or compliance. | All linked offers are paused until resolved. |
Changing an advertiser's status to Inactive or Suspended immediately halts traffic to all their offers. Notify affiliates running those offers before making this change.
How Advertisers Link to Offers
Every offer in CAKE must be associated with an advertiser. When you create a new offer, select the advertiser from the required Advertiser dropdown. Once saved, the offer appears in that advertiser's profile under their Offers tab, and all reporting for that offer rolls up to their account.
A single advertiser can have multiple offers — for example, a client running separate campaigns for different product lines or regions. Each offer is managed independently, but they all live under one advertiser record.
You cannot link an offer to more than one advertiser. If a campaign is co-funded by two parties, designate one as the primary account holder for that offer.
Billing Cycle Assignment
CAKE allows you to assign a billing cycle to each advertiser so your network can generate invoices on a consistent schedule.
Changing a billing cycle mid-month can cause partial billing periods. Whenever possible, align cycle changes with the start of a new billing period and notify the advertiser in advance.
Best Practices for Onboarding Advertisers
Before You Create the Profile
- Collect all key contact information upfront — company name, billing contact, primary email, and phone number.
- Confirm the advertiser's preferred billing schedule before assigning a billing cycle.
- Ask for approved creative assets, offer restrictions, and geographic targeting rules in advance.
When Setting Up the Profile
- Use consistent naming conventions for advertiser company names across your network.
- Set the status to Pending rather than Active until their first offer has been tested and confirmed live.
- Fill in the Notes field with the assigned account manager and any important contract terms.
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.