Asset version

Definition

An asset version is a saved state of a creative file, such as a video cut, an image or a copy document, with its own version number, date and a short note on what changed. It lets the team trace any live ad back to the exact file it used.

How to use it

Creative files change often. A cut is trimmed, a caption is fixed, a logo is replaced. If the file in the library is overwritten each time, nobody can say which version ran in a given week, and a result cannot be matched to the work that produced it. Saving a new version instead of overwriting keeps the link between the performance and the file.

Use a simple numbering rule, such as the creative code followed by v1, v2 and so on, and write the change in one line. Keep old versions in the same library under the same code, and mark which version is live in each ad. When a client asks why a result changed, the version history answers faster than memory does.