How do I manage the Trade Desk Launch Pipeline?

Key Notes

• This pipeline should be reviewed twice daily — ideally once in the morning and once in the evening.
• Tickets referencing Facebook or Meta must be moved by Laura.

• All other tickets must be moved by the assigned team lead.
• Tickets should be managed using Board View for easier visibility and organization.

Stage 1: New

• New Ads Launch tickets initially appear under the New status. When a New ticket is added, please verify the following:

  • There is a task within the ticket with all relevant Ad Launch details.
    • If information is missing, notify the OB specialist or SA.
  • We have Google Ads account access in our MCC.   
    
    • If no account is found, notify the OB Specialist or SA to request access ASAP or confirm if a pending invite needs to be accepted. We have Google Ads account access in our MCC. 
  • Check the company associations on the Post-Launch Optimization task to ensure accuracy.
• Once the above is confirmed, move the ticket to Ready to Start. 

Stage 2: Ready to Start

• Tickets in this stage are ready for assignment.

• New Ad Launches are high priority and should be assigned as soon as possible, even if the due date is later, with the goal of completing all Ads Launches within 3–5 business days of entering this stage. 
• Rotate assignments between team members to balance workload, noting that each launch takes about two hours on average and no team member should be assigned more than 1 launch/day.
• Add the task to the assigned team member’s task list on the next available business day.
  • Note: Lower-priority tasks may be moved to allow earlier launch completion.
• For every Ads Launch, also assign a corresponding QA Google Ads Launch task to a different team member on the same day, ensuring the reviewer is not the original builder.
  • Add notes to the task sheet indicating who should be pinged for QA and who will be pinging them.

Stage 3: In Progress

• On the day campaign buildout begins, move the ticket to In Progress.
  

Stage 4: Optimizations

• After campaign buildout, the assigned team member will post QA notes in #customer-marketing-digital. When this note appears, move the ticket to Optimizations to trigger the Post-Launch Optimization task. 
  • Check the company associations on the Post-Launch Optimization task to ensure accuracy.
  • Assign this task to a team member based on next-day availability, as it is high priority.
  • Note: If necessary, the due date may be pushed by one business day, but not beyond that.

Stage 5: Pending Approval

• Move the ticket to Pending Approval after triggering/assigning the Post-Launch Optimization task.

• The ticket should remain in this stage until the campaigns go live. To monitor live status, either:
  • Join the relevant Slack channels to receive notifications (a confirmation message will be posted by the assigned team member once the account is live).
  • Manually check each Slack channel and the Launch Tracker daily for the live confirmation message.
     

     

Stage 6: Closed

• Once the account is confirmed live:

  • Move the ticket to Closed.
  • When prompted for platform, select Google.
  • Open the ticket and update the property field New Ads Launch to "Completed" to trigger the 1st Audit task.
    • Check the company associations on the 1st Audt task to ensure accuracy.
    • Assign the 1st Audit task to the appropriate team member on its scheduled due date to allow the account a full 7 days to run before any changes are made.

Special Case: Ad Transitions

• If a ticket is for an Ad Transition (not a brand-new launch), follow the normal stage movement process, but skip Optimizations and Pending Approval:

  • Move to Ready to Start after verifying access + transition details (ex: destination URL).

  • Move to In Progress when work begins.

  • Move directly to Closed once the task sheet marks it complete.

• Note: No need to update property fields or trigger a 1st Audit for Ad Transitions. If a 1st Audit ticket is created automatically, go to the Trade Desk Audit Pipeline, delete the task inside the ticket, then delete the ticket itself. These accounts are already in our routine audit rotation.