Announcing Kevel's New Custom Template Builder

We’re happy to announce the launch of our new custom template builder tool, available today to all customers.

This builder makes it easy to create new custom templates for native ads within the Kevel UI.

These custom templates (also known as "creative templates") contain the unique fields that compose your native ad (CTA, image, headline, custom parameters, etc), and which you then select as the "format" when you make an individual ad in the UI.

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Why this feature is important

Previously, our customers created native ads in 1 of 2 ways:

1. Using our standard "Image" or "Javascript/HTML" creative format and then storing relevant data in the "metadata" field. This information would be passed in the JSON response and then parsed by the customer.

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2. Using an API-created custom template (or asking Kevel support to manually make one)

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These methods are not ideal.

With the first approach, the set-up is complex for ad operations and prone to error.

And the second option requires engineering help to create the custom template, which can slow down integrations.

Our new custom template builder solves both of these pain points.

With the launch of this new tool, now:

1. Users don’t need to rely on the metadata field to launch a native ad unit. Instead, they can use custom templates when creating a native ad within a Flight — a more intuitive set-up process. This simplifies the ad creation process for our customers’ ad operation teams.
2. Anyone can create and edit a template within the UI. Engineering help is no longer needed. This makes it easier for product managers and developers to design and deploy new ad units quickly.

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How it works

For more detailed instructions, here are our KB docs. Meanwhile, below provides a high-level overview.

First, you’ll want to identify the data you need to construct your native ad unit. This is information that will be passed in the Kevel JSON ad response, and which you then parse and insert into your system.

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Next, go to Studio within the Kevel app and create a new custom creative template. Previously, this step could be done only through the API.

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Then, populate the template with just the pre-identified fields you need to serve the ad.

(And make sure that the field names align with the terms your system expects when processing Kevel’s JSON ad response.)

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Finally, when you go to create an individual native ad within the Flights page, choose this template. All the fields you picked will appear, making it simple to upload a new ad without relying on the metadata field.

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Final Thoughts

This feature helps Kevel customers quickly design and launch new native ad units. It’s the first offering within Kevel Studio, a template builder that will cover additional use cases in the future.

To get access to the builder, any Kevel user with admin permissions will be able to turn on Studio for themselves or other admin / editor users in their network.