Adding an HTML template in CAKE Basic enables you to load an image or Flash creative and provide the Affiliate with HTML Code. This allows you to simplify the process for providing creatives for Affiliates by providing them with a fully code-ready banner creative.
Creatives In CAKE Basic
CAKE Basic has 4 different creative types: Link, Email, Flash and Image.
All but the link type allow for files to be uploaded. Normally if you upload a image file (jpg, gif, png), the Affiliate will have to wrap the image in the appropriate HTML wrapper with the link, but using the template will both simplify and streamline the process giving you the flexibility to provide your Affiliates with HTML banners although you're only uploading the image files.
Activating The HTML Template Feature
The first step in using this feature is to add the desired HTML tempate.
If you go to Set Up > Global Settings > Creative Settings. You'll find the fields called Creative Image HTML Template and Creative HTML Flash Template (as seen below). That's where you'll define your templates for 1) Image and 2) Flash creatives. Unlike other features in CAKE Basic, there's no check box to enable this feature - adding and saving the template will activate the template.
Templates
Here is a standard example of an image creative template:
<a href="#url#"><img src="#template_img<0>#" alt=""></a>
* #url# is a token that will be used by CAKE to populate the Affiliate's unique tracking link for that creative.
#template_img<0># will be replaced by a reference to the uploaded image, either a relative link for when the affiliates host it or a URL for the hosted image if you use our Cloud Creative Hosting functionality.
Although you don't need to have Cloud Creative Hosting (aka image hosting) active, it is recommended to make the most out of this feature. Otherwise, the Affiliate will have to host the image themselves. In the image below, the "Cloud Host Media Files" option will not display if image hosting is not enabled.
* Alternatively you might want to use the encoded version of the link as this will avoid issues. In order to so so you'll need to replace the #url# with #url<e>#.
Here is a template for a flash creative:
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=" width="#width#" height="#height#">
<param name="movie" value="#template_swf#" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="flashvars" value="&clickTAG=#url<e>#" />
<embed src="#template_swf#" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="#width#" height="#height#" flashvars="&clickTAG=#url<e>#"></embed>
</object>
#url<e># is a token that will be replaced with a URL-encoded Affiliate tracking link for that affiliate and that creative.
#template_swf# will be replaced by a reference to the uploaded Flash, either a relative one for when the affiliates host it or a URL for the hosted image if you use our Cloud Creative Hosting functionality.
#width# and #height# are tokens that insert the size specified in the Creative card.
Note on clickTAG:
'clickTAG' is the parameter that Adobe specify for passing a tracking link into a Flash creative. However when using it you may find that a Flash creative you get sent is non-clickable or goes to an 'undefined' page. This is usually because parameters are case sensitive so there are a number of variations on the way clickTAG can be written in the Flash file, including 'ClickTag', 'CLICKTAG', 'clickTag' and so on.
In addition some Flash creative we have seen uses non-standard variations including 'link', 'redirectURL' and 'OfferPage' instead, therefore you should configure your creative Flash Template to handle the usual parameters that your Advertisers use. For example, you may need to accommodate ClickTag (common with DoubleClick), so edit the template as this:
<param name="flashvars" value="&clickTAG=#url<e>#&ClickTag=#url<e>#" />
<embed src="#template_swf#" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="#width#" height="#height#" flashvars="&clickTAG=#url<e>#&ClickTag=#url<e>#">
It is up to you to determine which additional parameters you want added in as standard.
Upload File
With the template added, when uploading a file you'll see an additional check-box: Include HTML Template File.
If you want CAKE Basic to create an HTML file using the uploaded banner template so that the Affiliate will be able to copy and paste the code without downloading anything, be sure to check this box.
This check-box will be available both for Image and Flash creative types as long as you have defined templates for them.