Creative Velocity & Systems: How to Keep Your Ads Fresh Without Burning Everyone Out
If you’ve been running ads for more than five minutes, you know the drill: One day you’ve got a “winning” creative that’s crushing. Two weeks later, it’s as stale as bread left out on the counter. So, what’s the move? Keep cranking out more ads and pray? Not exactly.
On Episode 2 of The Scalability School Podcast, Andrew Foxwell, Zach Stuck, Brad Ploch, and creative performance wizard David Herrmann broke down what actually works when it comes to scaling creative output—without drowning your team or wasting money.
Here’s what you can steal.
Creative Diversity ≠ Just Different Headlines
If your idea of “creative diversity” is swapping the headline on a static… we need to talk. David’s take: “Diverse creative isn’t just ad headlines—it’s concepts, formats, tones, and shooting styles.”
That means:
Formats: Carousels, statics, mashups, TikTok-style replies, founder-led content.
Tones: Funny, serious, sentimental, problem-solver.
Angles: Testimonials, comparisons, behind-the-scenes, Q&A.
Styles: Street interviews, polished studio shoots, lo-fi iPhone clips.
The point isn’t to find one ad that works and ride it into the sunset—it’s to keep feeding the algorithm fresh, different things so performance doesn’t flatline.
Build Your Creative Team in Phases (Don’t Go Broke)
You don’t need a full-blown in-house production team right away. Here’s David’s phased approach:
Phase 1:
Video editor to work with the footage you already have.
Designer for statics and light motion graphics.
Phase 2:
Add a creative strategist—the translator between media buyers and production.
Bring in freelance creators or nimble agencies to shoot raw UGC and B-roll.
Phase 3:
Once you’re profitably spending $8–10K/day, hire high-volume production partners to crank out hundreds of assets a month.
Layer in specialized contractors for unique formats (podcast-style ads, brand storytelling, street-style interviews).
Project Management Is Your Growth Multiplier
Most brands aren’t failing because they can’t make creative. They’re failing because they can’t organize it.
The fix:
Have one person who owns the briefing → production → delivery process.
Offshore editors for volume, keep strategy in-house.
Use naming conventions in your ad account so you know what’s working (e.g.,
Benefit_POV_Testimonial_Batch04).
Otherwise, your ad account turns into a chaotic graveyard of “random stuff we tried once.”
Test in 2-Week Sprints, Not Random One-Offs
David’s team works in two-week creative sprints:
Launch new batches together.
Let them run head-to-head.
Grade them on performance and insights.
But here’s the thing iterations don’t hit like they used to. Meta “remembers” creative concepts. Small tweaks to a loser won’t revive it. Instead, build new concepts based on what made your winners great.
What “More Volume” Actually Means
When media buyers say, “I need more ads,” they’re really saying:
“I need more different ads.”
How David makes that happen:
Multiple creators/agencies making different formats.
Weekly creative “batches” with a single theme (e.g., week one = testimonials, week two = product comparisons).
20–30% of output reserved for “wild card” experiments.
Timing Matters—Some Ads Just Need the Right Moment
An ad that flops today could crush six months from now. David keeps a library of “good, wrong-time” ads and re-tests when market sentiment shifts. Call it playing the zeitgeist.
Creative Diversity Applies to Landing Pages, Too
If your killer ad points to a meh landing page, you’re sunk. David has revived “dead” ads just by sending them to a page that better matched the ad’s promise. Sometimes, the problem isn’t the ad—it’s the click-through experience.
Stop Being Random—Start Being Consistent
Zach summed it up perfectly: “Set a baseline. Check results the same day every week. Decide what to make next week. Repeat.” Random launches at random times just confuse the algorithm. Consistent cycles build momentum.
Eight Takeaways to Steal
Diversity wins—across format, tone, and style.
Build in phases—start lean, scale your team as spend grows.
Assign ownership—project management is critical.
Test in sprints—don’t drip out one-offs.
Iterate on concepts, not tiny edits.
Keep a “later” folder for mistimed ads.
Match creative to landing pages.
Be intentional—weekly planning beats reactive chaos.
If you’re stuck between $30K/month and $250K/month on Meta, the problem probably isn’t your budget. It’s your creative system. Dial in your process now, and you won’t just scale—you’ll scale without creative burnout.
If you’ve made it this far, you obviously care about digital marketing and are working every day to improve your skills and provide the best ad buying and creative strategy services possible. We’d love to have you in the Foxwell Founders Community. Not sure if it’s the right fit for you? Email us so we can chat through your needs right now and how we might be able to help! Maybe it’s a course instead of our full-fledged community? Email me at andrew at foxwell digital dot com!