C-S Storyboard allows you to create dynamic ads based on 1st and 3rd party data for each single impression.
With this tool you can design a sequence of widgets within a single story and be able to define how widgets behave within a story according to the users' interactions with them.
The Storyboard provides a vertical personalization for each ad and allows you to create dynamic sequences quickly, without writing a line of code.
With this C-S tool, you can easily setup stages(orange boxes) and conditions(blue and light blue boxes) through a drag and drop motion.
Setting up a Sequence
To access the Storyboard, enter into the Format level then select a Story and click on the "Storyboard" tab in the navigation menu on the top;
Firstly, give a "Name" to your new sequence;
Then you can start to drag and drop all the blocks you need. Remember that every sequence always begins with a User Data block that represents the beginning of the sequence of each single widget.
Three Main Blocks for a Sequence
When setting up a sequence, you can find three types of boxes:
TIP: All blocks can be dragged and dropped to be positioned on the Storyboard canvas and, in order to save the sequence, you need to make sure all the blocks are properly connected to one another.
1. If Then Else:
This block allows you to set conditions and sub-conditions to further breakdown your sequence.
The Storyboard counts more than 30 1st party conditions and even more 3rd party conditions that can be easily selected through a dynamic drop-down list.
See below how to insert an "If then else" box:
To insert an "If Then Else" block just drag and drop the block on the left top corner into your main framework;
Name the block;
Define the conditions: you can setup a block to have a true output if "All", "None", or "Any" of the conditions are met;
Save your new block;
Each "If then else" block has one input and two outputs: to link blocks you need to drag and drop the arrow from a block to another one;
The two outputs need to be connected to a respective block each representing an answer to the condition. They are:
True (green-labeled)
False (red-labeled).
If this is your first block, connect "User Data" block to it.
For a detailed list of all the conditions visit the Conditions section.
This gif give a sample to how to set up a condition. In this case it has been chose the "Video View" one: it will be true if more than 25% of the whole video duration has been seen by the user.
2. Switch:
This block behaves like the "If Then Else" one with the only difference that here you have one output and as many outputs you need.
To insert a "Switch" block just drag and drop the block on the left top corner into your main framework
Name the block;
Define the conditions: you can setup a block to have a true output if "All", "None", or "Any" of the conditions are met;
Save your new block;
Each "Switch" block has one input and many outputs you want: to link blocks you need to drag and drop the arrow from a block to another one;
The outputs need to be connected to a respective block each representing an answer to the condition. If this is your first block, connect "User Data" block to it.
For a detailed list of all the conditions visit the Conditions section.
3. Stage:
This block represents each single story of your sequence. It is key to remember that in a sequence you can add as many stages as the number of stories you have to create and that you can never put the same stage twice or more.
To insert a "Stage" block just drag and drop the block on the left top corner into your main framework;
Name the block according to the respective stage of the consumer journey in that specific sequence or in a way that you will able to recognize it from the others;
Save your new block;
Each "Stage" block has only one input: to link blocks to their condition, you need to drag and drop the arrow from a block to another one;
TIP: Always remember that in your sequence you have to put as many stages as the stories you have to create and you can never repeat the same stage twice.
After setting the Storyboard, you can always go back and adjust the parts according to your furnished stories or changes you want to make in the sequence.
Thanks to our Storyboard's versioning, you will able to optimize your sequence at any time without losing track of your old sequence: you can save different versions of the same sequence and easily switch from one to another without the need to build a new one. You can create multiple versions of the same sequence both when setting up a campaign and on the flight if needed.
This feature is also particularly useful for those who intend to do any A/B testing during an ongoing campaign to see which sequence might perform better according to campaign's KPIs.
Below is an example of how you can create and connect widgets to make an ad unit interactive for your users.
Connecting Widgets
The most fascinating aspect of Connected-Stories is the chance of defining a sequence of widgets based on user interactions. In order to understand and define the logic behind it, we encourage you to visit the Storyboard section.
Here you will see how to actually connect widgets (events) after a storyboard has already been designed for the story.
1. Click on new event or hit on edit if the event you want to connect has already been created.
2. Under the "Key Value" box, choose from the list of choices available to associate with a particular event.
3. Now hit on "Open Preview" to see how your story evolves based on the events you connected within the underlying rules engine.
*FYI: Status/Key Values are the final blocks you placed in the rules engine logic. These are the ones you must connect to a particular event for the dynamic storytelling to be implemented. More of this in the Storyboard.