| Activity | Learning Objective Practised |
|---|---|
| 1. Orientation | LO1, LO2: mere exposure and attention economy applied to the placement brief |
| 2. Audience and Bids | LO4, LO5: audience mechanism and bid strategy matched to hierarchy stage |
| 3. Formats and Assets | LO3, LO7: media richness and YouTube format taxonomy applied to real assets |
| 4. Placements | LO6: topic, keyword, and exclusion targeting applied to a real context |
| 5. Share and Upload | LO9, LO11: primary and diagnostic metrics selected, and evidence versus assumption in the completed decision record |
Week 5 Tutorial: Targeting, Bids, and Placement Build
Tutorial Targeting, Bids, and Placement Build
Acquisition
1 Orientation
⏱ 10 min
Concept check, exemplar plan review, and the filename rule.
Production
2 Audience and Bids
⏱ 35 min
Define your audience mechanism and bid strategy, each with a rationale.
Production
3 Formats and Assets
⏱ 40 min
Pick your display and YouTube formats, list assets, write hook/branding/CTA notes.
Production
4 Placements
⏱ 25 min
Select topics and keywords, choose managed placements, add key exclusions.
Assessment
5 Share and Upload
⏱ 10 min
Define primary and diagnostic metrics, pair share, upload.
Your tutorial session runs for two hours. You will take your Week 2 positioning canvas, Week 3 visual asset specification, and Week 4 copybook and build the targeting and placement layer of your campaign: who the ad reaches, what the campaign pays for, which formats and assets carry the message, and where the ad is permitted and forbidden to appear. The session closes with a completed placement and targeting decision record, which you upload alongside a short reflection.
Table 1 maps each activity to the learning objective it builds.
AI-Assisted Placement Protocol
AI can support the Week 5 targeting task in two specific ways. First, AI can help you draft a topic and keyword list for your campaign category, and propose candidate negative keywords a category like yours typically needs. Second, AI can audit a completed decision record for internal consistency: does the audience mechanism match the hierarchy stage, does the bid strategy match the campaign objective, and does the format match the richness the message requires?
The evidence discipline applies: every platform specification and benchmark figure must be cited from an official or benchmarked source, rather than from AI output alone. AI training data lags behind current platform specifications and may propose outdated targeting options or incorrect format constraints. Always check current platform documentation and record the URL and access date.
Tutorial Task
In your two-hour tutorial, you will complete a first-draft targeting and placement decision record. Every decision should be traceable to your Week 2 canvas, your Week 3 visual asset specification, and your Week 4 copybook.
The record has thirteen entries, shown in Table 2. Complete it as you work through the five activities, rather than afterwards: the audience mechanism, the bid strategy, and the exclusion list all come directly out of the activities.
| Entry | Your Entry |
|---|---|
| Campaign topic and hierarchy stage (from Week 2 canvas) | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Audience mechanism (in-market, affinity, custom, or remarketing), and rationale | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Bid strategy (CPM, CPC, CPA, or tROAS), and rationale | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Display format (IAB size) and platform | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| YouTube format (skippable in-stream, non-skippable in-stream, bumper, in-feed, or Shorts) | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Assets needed: visual element (Week 3) and copy elements (Week 4) | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Hook, branding, and call-to-action notes for the primary asset | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Topics and keywords selected for contextual targeting | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| At least three negative keywords, with rationale | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Managed placements selected, or the rule for reviewing the automatic placement report | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Frequency cap and viewability threshold | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| Primary metric and two diagnostic metrics (from CTR, VTR, conversions, assisted conversions) | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
| One targeting assumption requiring testing before scaling | Complete this cell. Mark [ASSUMPTION] where the entry rests on belief rather than evidence, then state a testing method. |
The chapter’s three worked examples (certificate programme, community marathon, guesthouse) are filled decision records, a template to copy against. Find whichever sits closest to your own campaign and hold your entries next to it as you build.
NoteWorked example: the Villa College Certificate campaign (Knowledge-to-Preference, central)
- Audience mechanism: In-market audience for “professional certification courses.” The recency-weighted signal fits a Knowledge-stage audience already comparing options; a broad affinity audience is built for pure Awareness reach, a different job entirely.
- Bid strategy: CPC. The objective is qualified traffic to the programme page: raw impressions (CPM) overshoot it, and a conversion event (CPA or tROAS) needs data the campaign lacks yet.
- Primary format: 15s skippable in-stream, plus a 300 x 250 display retargeted to programme-page visitors.
- Frequency cap and viewability: 3 per week; 70 per cent.
- Primary and diagnostic metrics: CTR from the in-stream companion banner; display conversions and assisted conversions from the retargeting placement.
NoteWorked example: a community marathon (Awareness, peripheral)
- Audience mechanism: Affinity audience for running and fitness interests. The objective is broad, low-cost reach; a narrower mechanism would cost more to reach a qualified click.
- Bid strategy: CPM. Reach at this stage matters more than an immediate action.
- Primary format: 6s bumper, plus a 1200 x 628 static in-feed unit.
- Frequency cap and viewability: 2 bumper exposures per week; 50 per cent (IAB minimum).
- Primary and diagnostic metrics: VTR on the bumper; reach against the target segment size, and training-plan sign-ups as an assisted conversion signal.
NoteWorked example: a guesthouse in a resort-crowded market (Preference, central)
- Audience mechanism: Custom audience built from travel comparison-site URLs and resort-related search terms, matched to an audience actively comparing named alternatives.
- Bid strategy: CPA, targeting a “compare rooms” click as the defined action.
- Primary format: 1200 x 628 display on travel comparison sites, plus a 30s in-stream ad.
- Frequency cap and viewability: 3 per week; 70 per cent, since a comparison-stage audience needs the ad genuinely seen.
- Primary and diagnostic metrics: CTR to the rooms and rates page; assisted conversions from travellers who book later through a direct search.
In-Class Activities
Your two-hour tutorial has an opening concept check and five activities. Work through them in order.
Activity 1: Orientation and Concept Check (10 minutes)
Format: Whole class | Output: Three-question concept check result and a canvas translation note | Timing: Opening 10 minutes
Complete the three-question Moodle concept check individually and without notes.
NoteMoodle Concept Check: Week 5
Open the Week 5 Concept Check quiz in Moodle under the Week 5 activities panel.
Question 1. A campaign at the Awareness-to-Knowledge transition, with no prior site visitors, is choosing between an in-market audience and an affinity audience. Which is the better fit, and why?
- In-market, because the signal is recency-weighted and fits active researchers
- Affinity, because it reaches a broad, stable interest category suited to early-stage reach
- Remarketing, because it is the most qualified audience available
- Custom, because it can be built to fit any stage precisely
Question 2. A campaign has enough conversion history to let the platform’s algorithm optimise bidding toward a revenue target. Which bid strategy fits this situation?
- CPM
- CPC
- CPA
- tROAS
Question 3. A placement report shows spend on a channel with no engagement after the first week. What is the correct next step?
- Leave the placement running, since more data may change the result
- Add the placement to the exclusion list
- Increase the bid on that placement to test whether more spend improves engagement
- Switch the entire campaign to a different bid strategy
After the concept check, your tutor walks through one exemplar placement plan so you can see a finished decision record before starting your own. Confirm the upload filename rule now, before you build anything: W05_[YourName]_Placement.pdf.
Then open your Week 2 canvas and write one sentence: which placement decisions (audience, bid, format) does your hierarchy stage already imply, before you make any new choice today?
Activity 2: Audience and Bids (35 minutes)
Format: Individual, then pairs | Output: Audience mechanism and bid strategy, each with a written rationale | Timing: Main analysis block
Figure 2 and Figure 3 summarise the four audience mechanisms and four bid strategies from the lecture; keep the lecture chapter open alongside this activity, since notes lose the detail these tables need. Using your Week 2 canvas hierarchy stage, select the audience mechanism and the bid strategy that fit your campaign, then write a one-sentence rationale for each, naming the hierarchy stage and stating why the alternative mechanisms and strategies fit less well.
After choosing individually, compare your choices with a partner. If your bid strategies differ for campaigns at a similar stage, identify which of you has more conversion history to justify the choice, and write one sentence on what evidence would resolve the disagreement.
TipTheory-to-decision bridge
An audience mechanism and a bid strategy chosen without reference to the hierarchy stage are two separate guesses standing in for one coherent decision. Write both rationales from the same sentence in your canvas, so a reader can see the same stage driving both choices.
Activity 3: Formats and Assets (40 minutes)
Format: Individual | Output: Display and YouTube format selection, asset list, and hook/branding/CTA notes | Timing: Core production block
Using Figure 5 and Table 1 from the lecture chapter, select one display format and one YouTube format for your campaign. For the display format, find the current official IAB or platform specification. For the YouTube format, find the current platform specification. Record source URLs and access dates.
Before you finalise the format, spend three minutes on the YouTube Ads Leaderboard or the Google Ads Transparency Center (the free tools from the lecture) and find one real, currently running example in your chosen format. Note where its claim lands relative to the skip point, and name one thing you would copy and one thing you would change.
List the assets each format needs: the visual element from your Week 3 asset specification, and the hook, claim, evidence, and call-to-action text from your Week 4 copybook. Then write three short notes:
- Hook note: what the first frame or first two seconds must communicate, so the skip behaviour of your chosen YouTube format leaves the message intact.
- Branding note: where and when the brand mark appears, checked against your chosen format’s skip point.
- Call-to-action note: the exact CTA text and its placement, matched to the hierarchy stage.
Set a frequency cap and a viewability threshold for your primary format, and write both into your decision record. Label each evidence-based (with a benchmark source) or [ASSUMPTION] with a testing method.
TipThe skip-point test
Before finalising your format choice, ask: if a viewer sees only the portion of this ad before the skip point, what do they know about the offering? A skippable in-stream ad that saves its claim for after the five-second mark has designed the message to be missed by exactly the viewers who choose to leave.
Activity 4: Placements (25 minutes)
Format: Pairs | Output: Topic and keyword list, managed placement selections, and an exclusion list | Timing: Part 4 of the tutorial
Working with a partner, list five to eight topics or keywords that describe the content context your ad should appear against, and write them directly into your decision record. Use the quick method from the lecture: start from your Week 2 canvas and Week 4 copybook terms, then check Google’s autocomplete suggestions for your two or three most obvious terms. Full keyword research methodology arrives in Week 6; a working list is enough for now, and an exhaustive one can wait. Then identify at least three negative keywords: terms that would attract the wrong audience even though they relate to your category. For each negative keyword, write one sentence into the record explaining what unwanted click behaviour it prevents. Finally, decide which specific sites, apps, or channels to include as managed placements, or set the rule you will use to review the automatic placement report after week one, and record that rule.
Discuss with your partner: which of your negative keywords would a campaign team most likely forget to add, and why does that keyword matter for your specific audience?