illumin quickstart on the Canvas (new experience)


This quickstart guide shows marketers how to create and launch a basic campaign on the Canvas (new experience). It walks through the full setup flow, from opening the Canvas (new experience) and completing the campaign wizard to publishing the campaign and understanding what happens next. Along the way, the guide explains required prerequisites, key configuration steps, validation checks, and where to review performance once the campaign is live. 

By the end, marketers understand how campaigns fit into the illumin account structure, how to move confidently through the Canvas (new experience) workflow, and where to find deeper resources for optimization, reporting, and advanced measurement.

What is the Canvas (new experience)?

It’s a campaign builder that helps marketers design, build, and publish campaigns inside a single intuitive environment. The Canvas (new experience) brings planning, execution, and structure into one workspace, which makes it easier to visualize campaign components, manage connections between campaigns, and move from setup to launch without switching tools.

Prerequisites

The illumin platform uses a simple organizational hierarchy to structure campaigns and assets. Each campaign belongs to an advertiser, and each advertiser sits within an agency. Assets such as creatives and audiences are owned at the advertiser level and can be reused across that advertiser’s campaigns. During onboarding, the illumin team typically creates the initial agency and advertiser to ensure the account is ready for campaign setup.

Steps to create a campaign

  1. Go to the top menu bar and click the Journeys link.
  2. Click the New Journey button.
  3. In the pop-up window, select the Enhanced Canvas tile.
  4. Click the Start button.

Steps to complete the wizard

Complete each step in the set up wizard. Read these articles to learn about each step.

Steps to configure campaign settings

After you complete the Review page on the wizard and click Finish, the start page of the Canvas (new experience) displays. If this is your first time here, the Canvas is mostly blank. Make sure the New experience toggle is switched on to work within the Canvas (new experience). 

Click the Create new campaign button to get started. Read this article for a step-by-step campaign building guide. Optionally, read this article to get a tour of the Canvas (new experience) menus, buttons, and features.

Publishing 

After you click Publish, the platform triggers two different validation tests.

Publish validation errors

First, the platform scans the campaign for errors. If the scan finds problems, the platform halts the campaign and displays a window with the errors. Fix the errors and click the Publish button again.

Creatives validation

Next, the creatives are inspected by two external agencies (Google and AppNexus) once the campaign goes live. That process normally takes 1-2 hours. During that time, the status of the creatives changes to Waiting on the Library > Creatives page. If all is well, the status changes to Approved. If there's a problem, the status changes to Mixed or Rejected. Click the status icon to learn which exchange had a problem with the creative and why. If you can't figure out why a creative was rejected, contact the illumin support team.

If an audit agency rejects one or more creatives, the creatives can still be served on other exchanges, but not on the exchange that rejected the creative.

Reporting

After the campaign goes live and results start to come in, you'll want to review the data, inspect the campaign's performance, and tweak campaign settings to optimize outcomes. illumin has several reporting options.

Predefined Reports

Save time and get the information you need with on-demand templates. Choose a report type, select your dimensions and metrics, and presto - ready to read or export campaign performance data. Learn how to get informed fast.

Report Builder

Build a custom report from scratch with the metrics you value most. Learn how to build a custom report.

Paths to Conversion report

The Paths to Conversion report visualizes how users move across campaigns and tactics before converting, which reveals how ads work together across the funnel. It helps marketers identify high-impact sequences and move beyond last-click attribution to understand true conversion drivers. Learn how to open the report.

FAQs

What is the Canvas (new experience)?

The Canvas (new experience) is a single workspace that lets marketers design, build, and publish campaigns end to end. It combines planning, execution, and structure in one view, which reduces tool switching and clarifies how campaign components connect before launch.

What prerequisites are required before creating a campaign in the Canvas?

A valid agency and advertiser must exist before campaign creation. The illumin team usually sets these during onboarding. Creatives and audiences belong to the advertiser level, which allows reuse across campaigns and supports consistent setup within the account structure.

Why does the Canvas show validation errors when publishing a campaign?

Validation errors appear when required settings or assets are missing or misconfigured. The platform stops the publish action and lists the issues. Marketers must resolve each error and publish again before the campaign can go live.

Why do creatives show Waiting, Mixed, or Rejected status after publishing?

Creative status reflects external exchange audits after launch. Google and AppNexus review creatives, which usually takes one to two hours. Approval allows delivery, while rejection blocks delivery on that exchange only and explains the reason in the status details.

Where do marketers review performance after a Canvas campaign goes live?

Performance data appears in illumin reporting tools after delivery begins. Marketers can use predefined reports for fast insights, the Report Builder for custom analysis, or the Paths to Conversion report to understand how campaigns work together across the funnel.

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