Hi Reader

The account was tanking.

ROAS cratered. CPAs spiked.

We’d tested everything we thought would work…

Soo we fell back on what we believed was our edge: ideation.

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After all, we’d managed over $100M in ad spend.

Of course we could come up with new ideas.

We had a TON of experience ideating.

..and winning w/ new concepts.

We said to ourselves: “Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”

(with due respect to Douglas Adams).

Easy does it….

This was going to be stupid simple.

Right? RIGHT?

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So we tested a wave of new ads.

…and performance just stayed stuck…

…we tested batch after batch of new ads…

the plateau was flatter than they thought the earth was in 1251 AD.

because Meta's algo favors historical ads, we knew winning on new ads is tough.

even though we'd gotten new wins before, this was frustrating. NOTHING was clicking at all.

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and in the midst of scratching my head, I started to wonder..

And when you don’t know what the algorithm is favoring,

Blasting the account with 10 new ads a week isn’t strategy. It’s gambling.

....even if these ads are based on amazingly thought out 'strategy.'

...this hit me like a TON OF BRICKS....

OUCH. FACEPALMISSIMO.

And I wondered if we should try something we’d dismissed for years.

what if we focused on improving the performance of our top ads?

….we could do this in parallel to trying to find new, unproven, untested wins?

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We’d never done it because….

...it's ummm.. too easy to do it?

…well, shouldnt you find ‘new’ winners as a creative team?

…isnt it ‘wimping out’ to build on something that is already winning?

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I FINALLY told myself: this isnt gymnastics. there are no points for difficulty.

…maybe the easy, ‘lazy’, ‘wimping out’ path is the one worth trying?

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So we gave it a spin

• New hooks that reframed the same core idea
• Different intros to grab attention earlier
• Visual swaps to refresh the story
• Sequencing tweaks to improve flow

No new “big ideas.” Just refinements.

And it worked. LIKE CRAZY.

✅ These “lazy” ads outperformed everything we’d tested

✅ They scaled faster

✅ They cost less

✅ They saved the account

✅ We continued to test new ideas in parallel...

✅ BUT the wins from 'lazy ads' took a TON of pressure off.

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In hindsight, this all made sense.

We were making educated, surgical improvements to our best ads.

…the ads that the algorithm already loved.

..surely some of those bets would pay off?

WHY did I forget the scientific method?

And as I’ve audited accounts since then, this is one of the most common mistakes I see people make:

ignoring the low-risk wins right under their noses…

to chase high-risk new, unproven concepts.

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Of course you should test new concepts to uncover fresh messaging/angles…

BUT first we de-risk testing by building from what’s working.

And we build fresh concepts from a place of understanding.

knowing the gaps in the messaging space…

'cos scaling doesnt come from ideas alone.

Scaled performance comes from knowing how to manage risk….

...and knowing that while it's important to find new messaging/angles...

...it's a wasted opportunity if you completely ignore what is already proven/working.

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If you spend over $50k a month…

…and your team’s testing everything and seeing nothing, our AI-assisted creative services that balance the risk of concept extensions, remixes and new concepts, might be able to help break through your plateaus.

If this is is you, hit reply with “WIN” - and we’ll chat.

Later,

Shamanth

PS: If you are an operator, leader or marketer adapting to a generative AI world and want to talk about it on our soon-to-be-launched podcast Intelligent Artifice, hit reply and let me know.

PPS: If you have meaningful spend on Meta, you might actually get paid to work with us. Hit reply if you spend $50k+/month and are interested in learning more.

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PPPS: Some deconstructions from our socials here.
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​𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝟭𝟬𝟬𝟬+ 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 (𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘀, 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲). Unlock proven creative strategies to craft high-performing ads that grab attention, tell compelling stories, and convert—without expensive gear or advanced editing skills.
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​🧠 𝗡𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝟰𝟬𝗞+ 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟴𝟬𝟬𝗞+ 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. I ran semantic analysis of 40+ video ads to uncover what’s clicking, what’s missing, and what growth-minded marketers can steal. Check the link here.

​🧠 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝟱𝟬𝟬𝗞+ 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭𝗠+ 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. I ran semantic analysis of 50+ video ads to uncover what’s resonating, what’s fading, and what high-performance education apps can steal shamelessly. Check the link here.