How groups tidy a portfolio

What campaign groups do#

Campaign groups collect related campaigns under one roof so portfolios read at a glance: one app, one market cluster, one objective, one owner. Instead of scrolling dozens of campaigns to answer how the flagship app performs in Europe, the group answers in one line. Groups suit studios, publishers and agencies most, though any advertiser past a handful of campaigns benefits. Start from the Apple Ads hub for orientation, and keep account structure beside this entry while designing.

Groups govern reporting, not delivery: budgets, bids and auctions still operate at campaign and ad group level. That distinction matters because grouping never fixes performance; it fixes legibility, ownership and conversation. Set expectations accordingly when proposing a regroup: reports get faster, auctions stay the same.

Grouping dimensions that work#

Three dimensions cover most portfolios: by app, so each title owns its campaigns; by market cluster, so regions with shared budgets report together; by objective, so launch, growth and defence spend never blur. Pick one primary dimension per portfolio and stick to it; mixing dimensions across groups recreates the mess grouping was meant to solve. A twelve app studio groups by app first, then splits large apps by market cluster inside. Apple own structure best practices inform the campaign layer beneath.

Mainland China campaigns always sit apart given their approvals and placement limits, as the China entry explains. New launches earn temporary groups with explicit graduation dates, so experiments never calcify into permanent clutter. Write the dimension choice down; undocumented groups drift within two quarters.

Naming and ownership#

Name groups the way you name campaigns: app, cluster, objective, owner, in consistent order with plain delimiters. Every group needs exactly one named human owner responsible for its budgets, membership and quarterly review. Shared ownership means no ownership, and orphan groups accumulate campaigns nobody dares to pause. Record owner, purpose and creation date in a one page registry the whole team can see.

Keep group counts modest: five clear groups beat twenty overlapping ones. If a new campaign fits two groups, the grouping dimension is wrong, so fix the taxonomy rather than duplicating membership. Small discipline at creation prevents large archaeology later. New campaigns should still follow the first campaign walkthrough before joining a group.

Budgets and governance#

Use groups to govern budget conversations: each group carries a monthly envelope, and campaigns inside split it by evidence. Review envelopes monthly against payer value per group, moving money toward groups where installs repay acquisition. Hold a short monthly portfolio read where each owner defends their envelope in three numbers: spend, installs, payer rate. Rituals beat dashboards for keeping portfolios honest.

Guard the edges: cap experiment groups so tests cannot consume growth money, and protect brand defence budgets from prospecting enthusiasm. Governance this light feels bureaucratic for a week and then becomes invisible. Teams that skip it relearn the cost every quarter.

The quarterly group review#

Quarterly, audit every group: does each campaign still belong, does each owner still own, does each envelope still fit the evidence. Graduate campaigns that outgrew their group, retire groups that served their launch, and merge duplicates that accumulated quietly. Archive retired groups rather than deleting them, since deletion destroys the history behind past budget moves. Log decisions with dates so next quarter starts from record rather than rumour. Apple help index at the help centre covers the underlying account mechanics.

If the portfolio has outgrown its taxonomy, ask our team for a regroup workshop; a morning of sorting saves a year of squinting.

Frequently asked questions#