Guide 4 of 5 in Level 4: Run it as an ad
Approve a campaign proposal and start it
A campaign drafted in New Campaign arrives in Blackbox (blackbox.plus) as a Campaign proposal card in your brand's thread in the Inbox. Under If you approve, it lists each channel with its ad account, what it makes and its share of the budget. Click Approve & create: Blackbox creates the campaign, ad sets and ads on Meta, paused, one channel at a time, and a channel that fails is undone, with the reason on the card. The card then reads Start the campaign. Click Start ads, which shows your amount and days; that is the only click that spends, and Meta reviews new ads first, most within 24 hours. While it runs, check-in cards arrive in the same thread: Day 3 · delivery, a diagnosis halfway, and Campaign ended · decision, where you stop it, revise its angles or continue it. To change the plan before approving, click Change something.
- You'll need
- Time
- About 3 minutes 6 steps Updated
- You'll end with
- Your campaign created paused, then running on your budget, with check-ins in the thread
How to approve a campaign proposal and start it in Blackbox
Step 1:Open the proposal
Click Inbox in the left menu and open your brand.
You'll see: A Campaign proposal card, with the days it runs.
Open this in BlackboxStep 2:Check what it makes
Read If you approve: each channel’s ad account, what it makes and its amount.
You'll see: The total, and a line saying everything is created paused.
Step 3:Approve it
Click Approve & create.
You'll see: Start the campaign, marked Created paused.
Step 4:Start it
Click Start ads. The button shows your budget, like Start ads — $700 for 14 days.
You'll see: The card marked Running, with the day it is on.
Step 5:Read the Day 3 check-in
Open the Day 3 · delivery card in the thread.
You'll see: How spending is pacing, and any ad set that isn’t delivering.
Step 6:Decide at the end
On Campaign ended · decision, click Stop campaign, Revise: new angles or Continue, which names the days it adds.
You'll see: The card marked Decided, saying what happens next.
Good to know
- Approve & create makes the campaign, ad sets and ads paused, one channel at a time. A channel that fails is undone; if a part couldn’t be removed, the card links to that channel’s ads manager.
- Only Start ads spends. Meta reviews new ads before they show, most within 24 hours.
- Halfway through, a diagnosis card names the creative in the lead and how the budget could move between ad sets.
- Revise pauses the weakest angle and has Studio’s AI draft two new ones, which uses AI credits. Continue runs it for as many days again.
- Change something reopens the draft, until you approve it. Not now puts the card away.
- Inbox suggestions and campaigns from the full brief are approved card by card instead — see Approve and start a campaign in the Inbox.
If something doesn't work
I’m worried Approve & create spends money
It doesn’t. It creates everything paused. Only Start ads spends, up to the budget and days you set.
The card says Not created
No channel could be created, and nothing was left running. Each channel says why: fix that, click Change something, and draft it again.
The card says Partly on
Some parts didn’t turn on. Click Retry. What is still paused spends nothing.
I started it but the ad isn’t showing
Meta reviews every new ad before it shows, usually within 24 hours. If Meta rejects one, it tells the ad account why.
I want to stop it before it ends
Pause it in Meta Ads Manager. Otherwise it stops on its own after its last day, and the decision card asks what happens next.
I want to change the budget or the ads
Click Change something on the proposal. It is there until you approve; after that, the campaign is on Meta.
Previous: How to create a Facebook ad campaign
Stuck at any step? Send us a message and we'll do it with you on a call. All of Level 4: Run it as an ad