Hey Reader -

2-year-olds don’t care about 0.2x ROAS.

And unfortunately, 0.2x ROAS doesn’t care about 2-year-olds either.

Last Saturday morning, my kid had just woken up.

Still in bed. Eyes barely open.

But he already knew.

Saturday morning meant adventure time with Papa.

“OUT,” he said.

He wasn’t asking. He was ordering me.

I was on my laptop.

The screen glowed in the quiet room.

0.2x ROAS. Account bleeding.

Ads that showed early promise had died. Nothing we tested had staying power.

We’d been trying to crack this thing for days.

Our normal cadence hadnt been working.

The last call’s notes looked like this.

And now I had 90 minutes.

90 minutes before my kid would be dressed, ready, and standing at the door expecting his adventure.

90 minutes to either fix this account or make a choice I didn’t want to make.

Cancel on a 2-year-old who’s been waiting all week?

Tell him Papa can’t go because of “0.2x ROAS”?

BOO.

But I also couldn’t leave this account burning for another 48 hours.

I didn’t know if 90 minutes was enough.

I didn’t know if there was anything left to find.

20 minutes in.

I can hear him in the bathroom. Water running.

He’s yelling. I don’t know what.

I’m in the quiet glow of my laptop.

Running BruteForce on the top-performing ads in the category.

↳ What headlines were converting?

↳ What formats were winning?

↳ What emotional triggers were they hitting?

↳ What visual structures were working?

Blueprint done.

45 minutes in.

He’s out of the bathroom. I hear toys being dumped on the floor.

I’m watching the winning structures go from BruteForce into ImageMaker.

One winning structure became 20 creatively diverse ads. BOOM.

70 minutes in.

He’s refusing to eat breakfast. Of course. SHOCKER.

I’m using the E/C/A framework for fresh concepts.

↳ Emotion: What feeling are we triggering?

↳ Context: What situation is the audience in?

↳ Audience: Who exactly are we talking to?

Proven visual structures. Fresh messaging.

ImageMaker generated variations of each.

One idea became ten.

85 minutes in.

Little feet running down the hallway.

“OUT.”

Atlas is bulk uploading all 100+ creatives.

↳ $100/day per ad set

↳ Enough to get signal

↳ No manual uploading

↳ No copy-pasting

90 minutes.

Laptop closed.

“Let’s go, buddy! ADVENTURE TIME!”

Sticky hand grabs mine. We’re out the door.

I didn’t know if it worked. I wouldn’t know until later.

But at least I didn’t have to cancel on a 2 year old.

Sunday morning.

I open the dashboard.

First few ads: flat.

I scroll down.

One ad. ROAS over 100%.

Another one.

And another.

By Monday morning, multiple winners.

**

Look, it would be irresponsible of me to say this sort of thing happens to every account I touch.

Nopes. Your mileage may vary.

Not every account hits big overnight.

Not every test finds winners.

But here's what's true: when things go sideways, this is the playbook.

Move in 90 minutes instead of 9 days.

That speed is what gives you a chance.

And sometimes, it's what lets you keep a promise to a 2-year-old.

Later,

Shamanth

PS: ICYMI: some links from our socials

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