# Approve a campaign proposal and start it

URL: https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-proposal
Level 4: Run it as an ad (https://blackbox.plus/guides/run-ads)
Updated: 2026-10-21
Time: about 3 minutes
You'll end with: Your campaign created paused, then running on your budget, with check-ins in the thread
Do it in Blackbox: https://blackbox.plus/app/inbox

> A drafted campaign is one card in your brand’s Inbox thread: approve it to create everything paused, start it, then follow its check-ins to a decision.

## Short answer

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

- **A drafted campaign.** Made in New Campaign and drafted from its Review step. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign)
- **Meta Ads connected.** As someone who can create ads on the ad account. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/connect-meta-ads)

## How to approve a campaign proposal and start it in Blackbox

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.
   Starts at: https://blackbox.plus/app/inbox
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.
   ![A Campaign proposal card: If you approve, ringed — 700 dollars over 14 days, Meta with its ad account, 1 campaign, 1 ad set and 1 ad — then Approve & create](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-proposal/02-proposal.png)
3. **Approve it.** Click **Approve & create**.
   You'll see: **Start the campaign**, marked **Created paused**.
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.
   ![The card after approving, Start the campaign, marked Created paused, with Start ads — 700 dollars for 14 days — ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-proposal/04-start.png)
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.
   ![The Day 3 · delivery card: spending on pace, 142.50 dollars of 700 spent, and every ad set delivering](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-proposal/05-day-3.png)
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.
   ![Campaign ended · decision: 665 dollars spent over 14 days and 53 purchases at 12.55 dollars each, then Stop campaign, Revise: new angles and Continue 14 more days, ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-proposal/06-decision.png)

## 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](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-in-inbox).

## Questions people ask

**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.