Do you need a AM's approval for offline campaigns?

Mainly I want to start a offline campaign that deals with flyers and scholarship related offers. Is this necessary reason to contact my AM for approval first?

Depends on the relationship you have with your AM. I wud say dont bother but have a good explanation of what you are doing in case they ask you.

If you advertise/promote your own domain, then they cannot dictate how you drive traffic to your own site. The only exception might be if your domain just redirects to the offer because that's basically equivalent to direct linking to the offer. However, if you promote your own site that has a landing page with a link to the offer or a banner (assuming that text links or banners are allowed), then I don't see how they could prohibit you from using offline sources to drive traffic to your own landing page(s). If it's an email-only offer, you could advertise the URL to your squeeze page and send people to the offer via email after they opt-in. As long as you're staying within the promotional guidelines for the offer, I don't think that using offline advertising is an issue.

From experience, the majority of my AM's that I have spoke with regarding offline marketing directly for CPA offers has been either forbidden or not well recieved at best. Reason usually being that the advertisers have no way of checking your promotional material.

Easy solution is to say nothing. If you get contacted by your AM asking about your traffic sources, just say your advertising on a local directory's website or a local newspaper's website and using prosper. This explains why all the IP's are localised and why the referrer is blank.