> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.lobyco.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create a campaign

> Create the campaign that holds your activities and audience — name it, date it, save it, and add the first activity.

A campaign is the container everything else sits in: the activities you run, the audience they reach, and the dates the whole thing is live between. This page takes one from an empty form to something you can build in.

## What you'll build

```mermaid theme={"system"}
flowchart LR
    A[Campaign name and dates] --> B[First activity]
    B --> C[Audience]
```

<Note>
  Offers, games, pushes and the other activity types also exist on their own, under **Toolbox** in the left menu. What a campaign adds is the shared dates, audience and orchestration that tie them together — an activity created inside a campaign belongs to that campaign.
</Note>

## The fields on the form

| Field                     | What it does                                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Campaign name**         | Required, maximum 64 characters. The list's search box matches campaign *and* activity names, so a naming convention pays off. |
| **Permissions**           | Who else can open and edit the campaign. Four access levels, below. Shown only where department-based access is switched on.   |
| **Start date**            | When the campaign becomes live. Optional, and it takes a time as well as a date.                                               |
| **End date**              | When it stops. Optional, and it cannot be earlier than the start date.                                                         |
| **External reference ID** | An ID from another system, maximum 64 characters. Shown only where external references are switched on.                        |
| **Description**           | Free text. The placeholder reads *Add description*.                                                                            |

The **Permissions** options carry their explanations in the portal itself:

| Access level        | Who can use it                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Public**          | All users can see and edit the campaign or segment.                                                                                  |
| **Public readonly** | All users can see the campaign or segment, but are not able to edit.                                                                 |
| **Restricted**      | Only users of the same department (controlled by Azure Active Directory group) as the campaign or segment creator have access to it. |
| **Private**         | Accessible only for the creator of the campaign or segment.                                                                          |

## Step 1: Open the campaign list

In the Lobyco Admin Portal, go to **Campaigns** in the left menu. **List** and **Calendar** both show campaigns; **Orchestration** does not list anything — it is a starting point for canvas work, and it is switched on per role, so it may not appear for you at all.

Start from **List**, which shows a page of campaigns with **Title**, **Type**, **Start date**, **End date**, **Status** and **Edited by**, and lets you sort and page through them. **Calendar** is a different set, not the same one rearranged: it draws a single capped batch, always newest start date first.

## Step 2: Start a new campaign

Select **New campaign**, top right. The form opens with a panel headed **Create campaign**.

<Info>
  **Campaigns → Orchestration** is the other way in. Its **Empty canvas** card opens the same fields in a dialog — where the button reads **Save**, not **Create** — and drops you onto the canvas afterwards; **From existing campaign** picks one you already have.
</Info>

## Step 3: Fill in the campaign

Complete the fields above. A **Location** panel appears below them where location-specific campaigns are switched on. Pick either **Chain(s)** or **Store(s)** — choosing one disables the other, and you have to pick at least one.

<Warning>
  **Location is set once.** The **Chain(s)** and **Store(s)** fields are locked as soon as the campaign exists, so a campaign cannot be moved to a different chain or store later. Get it right before you save.
</Warning>

<Card title="Screenshot needed — campaign-01: The Create campaign form" icon="camera">
  **Where:** Campaigns → List → **New campaign**

  **Must show:** The **Create campaign** panel with Campaign name, Permissions, Start date, End date and Description, plus the **Location** panel beneath it with one of Chain(s)/Store(s) greyed out.

  **Why this shot:** The form is short but conditional — the reader needs to see which fields are one panel and which are the separate Location panel.

  *Placeholder — replace with the image once captured. 1440px, light theme, test data only.*
</Card>

## Step 4: Save it

Select **Create** at the bottom of the form. **Cancel** discards the campaign, and asks you to confirm if you have typed anything.

The campaign opens on **Start building your campaign**, offering two ways on: **Add activities**, and **Start Orchestration** for the [orchestration canvas](/business-documentation/campaigns/orchestration-canvas).

Its status in the list comes from the dates, not from a switch you set: **Scheduled** before the start date, **Active** between the two, **Expired** after the end date.

## Step 5: Add an activity

Select **Add activities**, or **Add activity** once the campaign already has some. The **Select an activity** page shows a tile per activity type, badged by group: **Offer**, **Promotion** (Bonus, Challenge, Game, Voucher) and **Communication** (Banner, Bubble, Email, Feed, Prompt, Push).

An available tile carries two buttons:

* **From template** — opens the **Activity selector**, where you pick one saved template as the starting point. See [Reuse with templates](/business-documentation/campaigns/reuse-with-templates).
* **From scratch** — opens an empty activity form.

Tiles listed under **These activities are not available** carry neither button. Two things land there: types with no in-campaign form built yet — **Voucher** and **Bubble**, which are never available to anyone — and types your setup or your roles exclude.

Each activity has its own form and its own page — [Create an offer](/business-documentation/activities/offers/create-an-offer) is the worked example.

## Step 6: Give it an audience

The campaign form has no audience field. Who the campaign reaches is decided in one of two places:

* **On the orchestration canvas** — a **Member segment** block for customers picked by rules, or a **Seed** block for a list you bring in, sourced from a **File** you upload, a **Campaign result**, or the **Latest run** of one. See [Orchestration canvas](/business-documentation/campaigns/orchestration-canvas).
* **Inside an activity** — activities that support targeting carry their own segmentation panel.

The rules an audience is built from live in [Audiences & Data](/business-documentation/audiences-and-data).

## Check the result

Find the campaign by name in **Campaigns → List**. It should show the dates you set, the right status for those dates, and a badge counting its activities. Once it holds at least one, opening it goes straight to the activity list instead of the landing page.

Nothing runs yet. See [Schedule and run a campaign](/business-documentation/campaigns/schedule-and-run-a-campaign) for that.

## Troubleshooting

### The dates are rejected when I change them

Campaign dates have to enclose the dates of every activity inside, and that is enforced from three directions. The campaign's own fields name the bounds — *First activity starts at …* under **Start date**, *Last activity ends at …* under **End date** — and reject a date that would cut an activity off. Every activity form validates its own dates back against the campaign's. And the backend rejects the combination independently: move activities into a campaign they don't fit and you get *Some activities fall outside this campaign's date range*. A campaign you are still creating has no activities yet, so nothing bounds its dates until it holds some.

### I can't change the chains or stores

You can't. **Chain(s)** and **Store(s)** are only editable while the campaign is being created.

### I can't see Permissions, External reference ID or Location

All three are switched on per setup. A field described here that isn't on your form isn't enabled for you — that is configuration, not a fault.

### The campaign is read-only

The campaign's own fields stay editable whatever the dates say — **Edit** is still there on the row and in the campaign header. What a passed end date closes is the activity side: **Add activities** and **Add activity** stop working, the add page reads *You can't edit this campaign*, and the activity forms and the canvas's design mode go read-only. A deleted campaign carries a **\[DELETED]** badge and hides **Edit**.

### The status says Active but I never started it

Status is worked out from the dates. A campaign with no start or end date has nothing to be before or after, so it reads **Active**.

### Delete is greyed out

*To delete campaign you need to delete all activities first* — remove the activities, then delete the campaign from the actions menu on its row.

## Related

* [Orchestration canvas](/business-documentation/campaigns/orchestration-canvas) — automating what happens to the audience
* [Schedule and run a campaign](/business-documentation/campaigns/schedule-and-run-a-campaign) — triggers, runs and executions
* [Find and manage campaigns](/business-documentation/campaigns/find-and-manage-campaigns) — searching, cloning and monitoring
* [Activities](/business-documentation/activities) — every activity type and its own form