Insertion Order (IO) template
Looking for a better way to create and manage insertion orders in 2023? Use this free insertion order template as a starting point.
Looking for a better way to create and manage insertion orders in 2023? Use this free insertion order template as a starting point.
Insertion orders play an important role in the advertising industry. They give all participants in an advertising campaign clarity and detail about exactly how that campaign should be carried out.
In this guide, we'll explain what an insertion order is, why you should use one, and how you can make managing insertion orders simple. We've also shared a free insertion order template to help you get started. You can download it as a PDF or try it out as a digital template in Juro.
An insertion order, often abbreviated as IO, is a formal, legally binding agreement between a publisher and an advertiser that specifies the details of an advertising campaign.
The insertion order outlines crucial elements, including:
The IO not only ensures that all parties are on the same page about what to expect, but it also provides legal protections in case things don't go as planned.
This document is particularly important in advertising, where precise execution is crucial, and the stakes can be high. Advertising campaigns are often complex, multi-stakeholder arrangements that develop quickly and require agile management. Businesses (specifically agencies) typically use an Advertising Insertion Order Template to achieve a repeatable process here.
Interested in advertising contracts? Check out this free advertising agreement template.
The main reason that you might want to use an insertion order is to establish a clear, legally binding agreement between the advertiser and the publisher.
The IO provides clarity about the campaign specifics, reducing the scope for potential conflicts and misunderstandings. This can help you avoid unpleasant events like breach or termination.
Here are the main benefits of using an insertion order:
Responsibility for managing insertion orders generally falls within the advertising or marketing team of a business. More specifically, it's often handled by:
That said, it's also common for the legal team to draft, review and approve insertion orders, depending on the company's risk appetite.
Given the level of detail and specificity required in an insertion order, it's important make your IOs comprehensive (you can achieve this by grabbing our free Insertion Order example template above and customizing it for your needs). Usually, an insertion order template should cover:
Despite the mass-adoption of digital workflows to manage contracts, many organizations still rely on a manual process to create insertion orders. This process can be cumbersome and time-consuming, with numerous steps and potential pain points.
The initial stage involves planning the specifics of the ad campaign. This includes deciding the type of ad, the target audience, placement details, and the total number of insertions.
Once the parameters of the agreement are upon, the legal or perhaps marketing department will draft the insertion order. What this process looks like will depend on whether there's an insertion order template in place or not.
If there is, the contract owner will retrieve the IO template and populate it manually in a Word file or Google Doc, editing it to make it relevant and appropriate for that particular ad campaign. As well as changing details like parties, dates, addresses and costs, clause language itself will likely need to be changed too.
There's always the risk of marketing teams using an outdated insertion order template at this stage, or going off-piste with the terms. This risk only increases when the business doesn't have its own advertising insertion order template.
The media planner or buyer then negotiates the terms of the campaign with the publisher or media outlet. This negotiation covers details like pricing, placement timings, and performance expectations.
Insertion orders will usually be shared via email and moved into Word for redlining, with any additional comments scattered across email chains. This can be a lengthy and repetitive process, especially if parties struggle to reach terms they both agree on.
Once approved, the insertion order is sent to the publisher for final review and signature. The advertiser also signs the document, either in wet ink or via an eSigning tool, finalizing the agreement.
After the signed IO is returned, the campaign is executed as per the terms of the contract. Contract performance is tracked manually, and any deviations from the agreed-upon terms are addressed directly with the publisher.
As we just heard, the manual process for managing insertion orders involves several tools and lots of back and forth. This causes businesses a few headaches:
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Fortunately, there's a way for businesses to streamline the process used to manage insertion orders. They can set up the free insertion order template above in Juro's contract management platform to automate it.
Here's what that workflow looks like:
1. Marketing teams can generate an insertion order in Juro using an automated contract template defined and approved by legal.
2. The template is populated automatically in Juro. This is done by pulling your responses to a short Q&A form into the contract, or by pulling the data in from another business tool, which can be done via an integration. You can use Juro's AI Assistant to have generative AI help out with clause language, providing drafting, review and summary functionality.
3. Legal teams can set rules and conditions in their insertion order template. This can be set up so that certain clauses will appear, disappear or change depending on the information in the contract. This is achieved through a feature called conditional logic.
4. The contract is shared with the counterparty for review and signing in Juro. If they decide to negotiate the terms, they can do this by adding comments and suggestions in Juro's browser-based negotiation workspace. No more switching between files and tools!
5. When the terms have been agreed, the parties will sign the contract. This also happens in Juro as Juro has native electronic singing capabilities.
6. Post-signature, the contracts are stored securely in Juro's data-rich contract repository. From there, legal and marketing teams can gain instant visibility into contracts and their data with Juro's custom contract dashboards, OCR-enabled search feature, and automated key date reminders.
If creating and managing insertion orders is a headache for your business, it's worth considering how a contract management solution can help.
Juro powers contracts for 6000+ companies around the world already, allowing them to:
To find out more about Juro and how it can make managing insertion orders faster and more efficient, hit the button below.
Juro is the #1-rated contract platform globally for speed of implementation.
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