Creatives in Paid Media: How to Collaborate with Design

In Paid Media, creatives serve as the visual touchpoints that shape your audience’s first impression. Requesting the right creatives from the design team is not just about formats—it’s about understanding how each type of creative supports specific funnel objectives, such as driving conversions, retention, or awareness, aligning with the customer’s decision-making cycle.

🔍 4 Types of Creatives in Paid Media:

Social Proof and Human Element

When the goal is to build trust, creatives that feature customer testimonials or show the product being used in a real-life context are invaluable. These creatives establish an emotional connection and enhance credibility.

Final Result and Transformation

Images that depict a "before and after" or highlight the final result provide clarity and a visual promise. These work well for products or services that significantly transform the customer’s experience.

Problem Hook + Solution

Presenting a problem and offering a clear, visual solution captures attention and often improves click-through rates. This direct approach highlights how your product or service addresses specific needs.

FOMO and Special Offers

Urgency and exclusivity create impact. Using creatives that emphasize limited-time promotions or special incentives can be the key to accelerating conversions during high-competition periods.

🎯 How to Request Creatives from the Design Team

To maximize the impact of creatives in your campaigns, the first step is to clearly define your audience segments and the specific objectives of each campaign. Before making a request, consider:

The Target Audience

What truly motivates your customers? A "Social Proof" creative is ideal for audiences that need reassurance, while a "Problem Hook + Solution" creative is more effective for those looking to solve a specific problem.

The Right Format

Is a short video, an image carousel, or a static image more effective? The format choice is critical and should be based on how your audience consumes content. A great tip is to analyze what other companies are advertising.

Once these needs are identified, communicate them clearly to the design team. Be sure to include details such as specific dimensions, mobile-friendly text, and the visual approach that best conveys your campaign’s message. Precision in the details saves time and improves the final quality of the creatives.

🛠️ Conclusion: High-Performing Creatives Are Planned, Not Left to Chance

Producing strategically designed creatives—aligned with data-driven insights, clear objectives, and brand consistency—will significantly improve results. With proper planning and clear communication with the design team, you can enhance campaign performance while strengthening your brand message with your audience. A well-chosen creative is one of your main differentiators in the digital space.

How to Create and Manage Paid Media Campaigns with Massive Budgets (+€100K per Month)

In this content, a massive paid media budget is defined as any budget exceeding €100,000 per month. The strategies and tips provided apply to all budgets above this threshold, with a particular emphasis on significantly larger budgets that may far exceed this amount. As the budget increases, the importance of these strategies becomes even more critical.

Running paid media campaigns with large budgets opens up a whole new dimension of opportunities and challenges. These types of budgets demand carefully calculated strategies to maximise results and minimise risks. In this post, we’ll explore some key strategies to optimise these campaigns and drive greater success.

Broaden Targeting for Scalability

Large budgets require broader audiences. Excessive or hyper-specific segmentation leads to audience fatigue and limits scalability. Instead, use more open or broader interest-based targeting and allow algorithmic tools, such as Meta’s Advantage+ audiences, to dynamically optimise reach. This ensures access to a wider pool of potential customers and reduces stagnation in ad performance.

Combat Creative and Offer Fatigue

High exposure frequency accelerates creative fatigue. Frequently refreshing creatives—sometimes multiple times a week—is essential. Diversify formats and styles to maintain stable engagement metrics. Simultaneously, periodically adjust offers or create new ones to maintain relevance. Vary discounts, include guarantees, or introduce novel incentives to keep audiences engaged.

Leverage Speed in Testing

Large budgets provide the unique advantage of fast learning cycles. With accelerated data accumulation, hypotheses regarding creatives, audiences, or offers can be tested rapidly. Having a detailed and pre-planned testing strategy ensures efficient experimentation and minimises time wasted on decision-making.

Adjust ROAS Expectations

Scalability inevitably impacts efficiency. As algorithms exhaust the most qualified prospects, campaigns will reach less responsive segments. A decline in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is natural, so focusing on the business’s absolute returns rather than percentage efficiency reframes this challenge as a growth opportunity.

Simplify Campaign Structures

While it can be tempting to overcomplicate campaigns, simplicity ensures better budget allocation and clearer analysis. Focus on top-performing creatives, products, and audiences. Regular audits of campaign structures help prevent inefficiencies and maintain optimal resource allocation.

High Standards for Tracking

At this scale, advanced tracking solutions become indispensable. Multichannel campaigns require clear attribution. Tools like Hyros, or equivalent solutions, provide additional insights, helping decision-makers assess the real performance of campaigns across complex funnels.

Proactive Management

High budgets demand high vigilance. Even minor inefficiencies can turn into significant losses. Frequent monitoring, combined with an agile response system, ensures issues such as ad disapprovals or delivery inconsistencies are quickly resolved.

Strategic Collaborations with Influencers

For very large budgets, especially those exceeding €1M per month, collaborations with influencers can enhance results. Celebrities or recognisable figures bring credibility and expand the reach and engagement of campaigns. For mid-range budgets (€25/day or less), micro-influencers are often a more cost-effective and targeted alternative.

Personalised Ads for Market Segments

Breaking down your target market into smaller strategic sub-segments and creating ads with creatives, copy, and offers tailored to their specific needs improves relevance and engagement. This is particularly effective in service industries or diverse product lines where personalisation boosts conversions.

Final Thoughts

Scaling paid media campaigns to very high levels requires precision, vision, and adaptability. It’s a balancing act of leveraging the advantages of scale while mitigating the associated risks. For industry professionals, staying agile and data-driven is key to unlocking the full potential of these campaigns.

Paid Media Strategies to Leverage the Low Season and Prepare for Success

The low season is an opportunity to refine strategies, test new approaches, and strengthen the brand, though it can also present challenges. What can you do to make the most of these moments in paid media?

First and foremost, optimising your budget is essential. Keeping only the best-performing campaigns active allows you to maximise returns by focusing on products or services with high demand or strong growth potential, even during the low season. For instance, identifying high-performing campaigns through key metrics such as ROAS or conversion rates can help determine where to continue investing. Less is more: every pound counts when resources are limited.

Another key strategy is to tailor creatives to the context of the low season, measuring the effectiveness of these changes using indicators such as engagement or click-through rate (CTR) to ensure the adaptations yield positive results. For B2C, relaxed tones can evoke preparation for future key moments, while in B2B, positioning your offer as part of planning for the next quarter or cycle is key. This keeps the message relevant and avoids creative fatigue.

The low season is also the perfect time to explore new channels. Often, brands focus on media that generate short-term conversions, but this is the time to test emerging platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, or even Spotify. While these may not yield immediate results, they help build presence and familiarity, which can be invaluable when demand picks up.

Retargeting and reactivation are crucial during these periods, allowing you to capitalise on audiences who have previously shown interest. This is particularly effective in low seasons when acquiring new users is more challenging and expensive. Targeting users who expressed interest but didn’t convert, offering personalised incentives, can make all the difference. Additionally, segmented reactivation email campaigns can rekindle potential customers who already know the brand but haven’t yet taken action.

There’s also room for creativity. Producing micro-content that’s educational or adds value provides an extra benefit to the customer, keeps them engaged, and strengthens the perception of the brand as a sector leader. Short videos, tips on social media, or ads that educate rather than just sell can also stand out.

Finally, preparing for the upcoming season is one of the most profitable actions you can take during periods of low demand. Investing time in creating high-quality creatives, messages, and offers tailored to future trends and target segments ensures a competitive edge when demand returns.

The low season doesn’t have to be a hurdle—it can be a springboard to the next period of high demand. It’s all about perspective and strategy.

What are your best strategies for the low season?