The Walt Disney Company · Advertising · Disney Campaign Manager

Building Self-Serve Ad Creation for Disney Advertisers

Ad Selector modal: requirements, adjust campaign and select format, browse format thumbnails Explore details
Explore format details Requirements & previews first.
Campaign Manager Create Ad: format tabs, eligibility banner, format cards, campaign summary Browse formats
Browse formats Formats + eligibility in context.
Attach ad to campaign: creative in workflow, assets and approval states, success toast Attach to campaign
Attach ad to campaign Back in workflow: assets visible.
Composer with hydrated preview, library assets, and save state Preview & assets
Preview & populate assets Live preview, library assets, drafts.
01

Overview

Goal

Enable advertisers to independently create premium ad formats within DCM by integrating advanced ad creation capabilities into a scalable self-serve workflow.

Context

Disney Campaign Manager (DCM) is Disney’s self-serve advertising platform for streaming campaigns. Advertisers could launch standard video ads, but premium formats required managed-service workflows outside the platform.

Problem

Premium ad formats drove stronger engagement but were tied to high-spend commitments and manual workflows, making them inaccessible to most advertisers. Even when available, launching a campaign took 11-14 days.

Opportunity

We saw an opportunity to make premium ad creation self-serve by integrating Disney Experience Composer (DXC), Disney’s internal creation tool, directly into the advertiser workflow.

Role
Design Lead
Duration
September 2025 to ongoing
Early signals
35% brand adoption $307K booked in Q1
02

The Process

Discovery

Understanding how advertisers currently access and create premium formats, and where breakdowns occur.

Define

Reframing ad creation as part of campaign setup rather than a separate experience.

Develop

Designing integrated flows for format selection, asset upload, preview, and review.

Deliver

Aligning with cross-functional partners to define a scalable implementation approach.

03

Understanding the Existing Workflow

Premium ad creation operated outside of DCM’s core campaign flow. Advertisers could configure campaigns within DCM, but selecting a premium format triggered a handoff to internal Sales and Creative Ops teams who handled creative production separately.

Existing Premium Ad Creation Workflow
Inside DCM (self-serve) Outside DCM (manual handoff)
Self-serve in DCM
Outside DCM Manual · 11–14 days
Back in DCM
01Login
02Campaign Setup
Workflow exits self-serve
03Select Ad Format
04 Creative Ops Handoff manual setup & revisions
05Review & Launch
06Reporting
The breakdown
Key limitations of the existing workflow
01
Operational support became required for scale.
02
Every new premium campaign increased coordination overhead for internal teams.
03
Advertisers couldn’t independently launch premium formats.

Once premium ad creation began, advertisers effectively exited the self-serve experience. Creative setup, revisions, approvals, and asset management were handled manually across multiple internal teams before creatives could be attached back into DCM for launch.

As a result, launching premium campaigns often took 11–14 days and depended heavily on operational support.

04

Designing the Foundation for Self-Serve Ad Creation

Solving this problem required more than adding premium formats into DCM. The larger challenge was designing a creation model that could support self-serve advertisers, reduce operational dependency, and scale as ad formats evolved over time.

Before exploring solutions, I defined a set of principles to guide how self-serve ad creation should function within DCM.

01
Workflow

Ad creation belongs inside the campaign flow

Premium ad creation could no longer live outside the self-serve experience. Advertisers needed to discover formats, configure creatives, and review ads within the same campaign workflow instead of relying on external Creative Ops handoffs.

02
System Architecture

One creation system, multiple entry points

I designed ad creation as a shared module that could be reused across DCM. Whether users entered from campaign setup, ad management, or future creation surfaces, the system could support a consistent creation experience without duplicating workflows.

03
Interaction Model

Guidance over gating

Advanced formats introduced more complexity, but users did not need the same level of detail upfront. The experience used previews, eligibility messaging, and progressive disclosure to guide decisions instead of blocking users behind rigid restrictions.

04
Scalability

A framework that could scale

The system needed to support future format expansion without requiring structural redesigns. The modular creation model created a foundation for new formats, reusable assets, and future AI-assisted workflows to plug into the same architecture over time.

05

Exploring Workflow Models

Before designing the final experience, I explored multiple workflow models for how premium ad creation could exist inside DCM. The challenge wasn’t just adding new formats into the platform; it was determining how advertisers should move through ad creation while balancing workflow continuity, scalability, discoverability, and increasing format complexity over time.

Full-page ad creation

Model 01

Dedicated full-page creation

A separate full-page creation experience where advertisers would leave the campaign workflow entirely to configure and build ads.

Strengths

  • Large surface area for advanced creation workflows
  • Easier to accommodate future format complexity
  • More flexibility for advanced editing and previews

Tradeoffs

  • Broke users out of the campaign setup flow
  • Introduced more context switching
  • Made ad creation feel disconnected from the rest of the workflow
Side panel ad creation

Model 02

Side panel creation

A contextual side-panel experience layered on top of the campaign workflow.

Strengths

  • Preserved more continuity within the campaign flow
  • Reduced navigation overhead
  • Allowed users to stay anchored to campaign setup while creating ads

Tradeoffs

  • Limited space for increasingly complex formats
  • Constrained previews and editing interactions
  • Risked becoming overcrowded as capabilities expanded
Inline embedded ad creation

Model 03

Inline embedded creation

Embedding ad creation directly into the campaign workflow itself so advertisers could configure ads without leaving the page.

Strengths

  • Kept advertisers inside a single continuous workflow
  • Made format switching and previewing feel immediate
  • Created opportunities for format discovery and upsell within the flow

Tradeoffs

  • Limited space made scalability difficult as formats grew
  • Business elements already competing for space on the page
  • Combining education, selection, and creation increased cognitive load

While each model solved different problems well, the explorations helped clarify that we needed a more scalable creation system, one that preserved workflow continuity without constraining future format growth.

06

Pushing the Inline Creation Model Further

After exploring multiple workflow models, inline creation initially emerged as the strongest direction because it kept advertisers inside the campaign workflow instead of separating ad creation into a different surface. The approach reduced context switching, preserved workflow momentum, and made ad creation feel more integrated into campaign setup.

Expanding the inline creation model

As the inline model evolved, I began exploring how format discovery, previewing, and switching could happen directly inside the creation flow itself. The goal was to make premium formats feel more discoverable while allowing advertisers to compare formats and preview assets without leaving the workflow.

Flow starting from assets

Starting from assets before format selection

Standard format with assets

Comparing how assets adapt across formats

Video+ with assets

Previewing assets in Video+

Ad Selector with assets

Previewing assets in Ad Selector

Where the model started to break down

While these explorations strengthened workflow continuity, they also exposed structural limitations as premium formats became more advanced.

Limited space within the workflow

The campaign workflow already contained critical business components, including the inventory meter. As inline creation expanded, the experience became increasingly constrained.

Increasing format complexity

As premium formats evolved, the inline model became harder to scale. More advanced creation requirements risked overcrowding the workflow and limiting flexibility for future capabilities.

Discovery and education needed their own space

We realized format selection was doing more than helping users choose a format. It also needed to support education, eligibility guidance, and discovery. Combining education and creation into the same surface introduced unnecessary cognitive load.

While inline creation preserved workflow continuity well, the explorations revealed the need for a more flexible and scalable creation architecture that could support both growing format complexity and dedicated format discovery experiences.

07

Evolving the Format Selection Experience

After exploring how format selection and ad creation could coexist within the same inline workflow, I began exploring the format selection experience more deeply. The challenge became designing a system that could support guidance, discovery, eligibility communication, and fast decision-making without overwhelming advertisers during setup.

Objectives

  1. 01Help advertisers quickly understand and compare formats.
  2. 02Balance fast selection with deeper guidance when needed.
  3. 03Clearly communicate eligibility, availability, and next steps.
  4. 04Create a scalable system that could support future formats.

Exploration Directions

I explored multiple approaches for balancing quick format selection with richer educational support. The explorations tested different ways of helping advertisers compare formats, understand eligibility requirements, and discover premium experiences without slowing down the workflow.

Lightweight visual card selection

01 · Lightweight visual card selection

Focused on helping repeat advertisers scan and compare formats quickly with minimal friction.

Rich split-view educational model

02 · Rich split-view educational model

Explored deeper educational support and contextual previews for more advanced premium formats.

Inline eligibility and preview states

03 · Inline eligibility + preview states

Tested whether eligibility guidance and richer previews could live directly within the workflow itself.

Guided locked and ineligible states

04 · Guided locked/ineligible states

Explored how advertisers could discover unavailable premium formats while still understanding eligibility limitations and next steps.

These explorations revealed a core tension: the more educational and supportive the experience became, the heavier and slower format selection started to feel.

Refining the Direction Through Feedback

Since we did not have direct advertiser access at this stage, we reviewed the explorations with Customer Success Managers (CSMs) to better understand how advertisers might navigate the experience.

One consistent insight emerged: the visual format cards helped users quickly understand differences between formats at a glance. CSMs responded positively to the immediate visual comparison, but still wanted richer educational support available when needed.

Final Direction

Progressive disclosure

The final direction separated quick scanning from deeper education through progressive disclosure. The primary experience prioritized fast comparison and lightweight selection, while "Learn more" opened a richer educational experience with expanded previews, eligibility guidance, examples, and format-specific details.

We also wanted users to explore unavailable formats without confusing availability and selection. Locked and unavailable states allowed advertisers to understand premium offerings while clearly communicating eligibility requirements and next steps.

Final card-based format selection with Learn more entry point
08

Final Designs

The final designs focused on keeping advertisers inside the campaign workflow while supporting more advanced premium ad creation experiences as format complexity evolved over time.

The prototypes below include motion studies and interactive annotations showing how the workflow supported format discovery, eligibility guidance, modular ad creation, and reusable creative assets throughout the experience.

Ad creation flow in motion

1 · Browse Formats

Campaign Manager Create Ad: format tabs, eligibility banner for Ad Selector, Standard Video and format cards, duration, Ad Creative actions, right summary rail with stats and save time

2 · Explore Format Details

Ad Selector modal: hero image, requirements callout, Adjust campaign and select format, browse other format thumbnails

3 · Format selected

Format selected: Ad Selector selected, Format Selected toast, empty ad creative with Create new ad

4 · Configure Interactive Ad

Create Ad modal, empty: Ad Selector draft, ad name, VO and asset fields, large live preview with three choice placeholders (four numbered callouts)

This screen helps explain why the earlier inline model started breaking down: once you see this level of complexity, it is immediately clear why a dedicated composer was necessary.

5 · Preview & Populate Assets

Create Ad: Coca-Cola ad with library-approved assets, multiple video choice cards, hydrated live preview, draft save state (four numbered callouts)

6 · Attach Ad to Campaign

Attach ad to campaign: Ad Selector creative in the campaign workflow, creative assets, read-only asset table with approval states, success toast (three numbered callouts)
09

Early Signals

While the full self-serve experience was still in development and scheduled to launch in June, early adoption data from KERV, a managed-service premium format already launched within DCM, helped validate advertiser demand for advanced interactive ad experiences.

Demand

  • 35% Brand Adoption
  • 17% Line Adoption

Revenue Signal

  • $307K Booked in Q1
  • $45+ Premium CPMs

The KERV launch demonstrated strong advertiser adoption and revenue potential, but also highlighted operational limitations tied to manual execution and creative support.

These insights reinforced the need for scalable self-serve infrastructure embedded directly within the campaign workflow.