Cranking Up Creative Volume: The 2025 E-commerce Strategy for Ads

DTC founders aren’t just media buyers anymore—they’re creative ops managers. In 2025, the smartest brands on Shopify aren’t scaling with one great ad. They’re scaling by launching 30–50 new creatives per week.

“What got Obvi to $100M in lifetime revenue would bankrupt most brands today. The DTC playbook has completely flipped.”
— Ashvin Melwani, LinkedIn

What got Obvi to $100M in lifetime revenue would bankrupt most brands today. | Ashvin Melwani

What got Obvi to $100M in lifetime revenue would bankrupt most brands today. The DTC playbook has completely flipped. Strategies that worked 2 years ago are now lighting cash on fire. When we first scaled Obvi, we focused almost entirely on acquisition. Pouring money into Meta, cranking out creative, optimizing for ROAS. But here’s what most forget: If you’re only focused on acquisition, you’re building your business on quicksand. Our growth only became sustainable once we prioritized retention and utilized cohort data to guide our decisions. That’s why I’m hosting a free live workshop on July 23rd with Joseph Siegel, former Director of Retention at Feastables. We’ll show you exactly how the top 1% of DTC brands build growth systems to acquire customers at scale and keep them coming back. Between Obvi and Feastables, these systems have driven over $200M in revenue. If you want to build a brand that doesn’t just scale, but stays profitable, this is for you. Register for the workshop by using the link in comments. | 19 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInAshvin Melwani

What changed? Between Meta’s algorithm shifts, iOS privacy fallout, and faster ad fatigue, creative is now the biggest lever. Not targeting tricks. Not funnel tweaks. Creative is the new targeting.

Why Volume Is the Strategy Now

Meta’s algorithm now favors creative diversity. And platforms punish repetition:

• Ad fatigue sets in within 3–7 days, according to NestScale.
• Meta penalizes “stale” ads with higher CPMs and lower delivery, per Ben Heath.
• Reddit threads from media buyers confirm: "Even ads that used to last months are toast in a week." (Reddit)

So brands are scaling not with spend—but with output.

Melwani says Obvi is testing 30–50 creatives a week now (LinkedIn).

2025 is the year of creative volume. | Ashvin Melwani

2025 is the year of creative volume. Yes, Meta’s algorithm wants more content, but it also wants the right content, for the right person, at the right time. That means mixing ugly ads with polished ones, statics with video, and leaning into narrative variety. Scott Kramer from AS Beauty Group breaks down how to actually win in this new world.

LinkedInView Profile

Other operators are pushing similar creative velocity. Olly Hudson recently reported launching 456 creatives—350 of them produced internally—tailored by pain point and persona, which helped lift CTR by 35% while scaling spend 75%.

But velocity alone isn’t enough.

Rizq warns that "Most brands are creating 10x more ads but getting 0.5x the results”, arguing that better, not just more, creative wins at scale.

The Death of “Set It and Forget It” Creative

The cycle is brutal: launch, spike, fade. Platforms detect fatigue fast. Meta’s Ad Manager will even warn if a creative will fatigue within 7 days (NestScale).

“We’re seeing lower CTRs, higher CPMs, and stalled delivery when creative fatigue sets in—even in strong accounts.”
— Ben Heath, LinkedIn

Meta is penalizing weak creative. | Ben Heath

Meta is penalizing weak creative. We’re seeing lower CTRs, higher CPMs, and stalled delivery when creative fatigue sets in — even in strong accounts. We now rotate fresh creative fast. Same angle, different execution: – New hook – New visual – New voice Freshness is performance. The “set it and forget it” days are gone. | 42 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInBen Heath

This aligns with David Herrmann, who noted that “Meta’s new AI ad recommendations prioritize recency over historic data”—pushing advertisers to refresh often. He also cautioned that DTC marketers often lean too hard into direct-response creatives, when brand-first assets can help with long-term lift.

UGC outperforms studio assets because it feels fresher. Zing put it bluntly: “If your ads stop working after a week, this is why. Refresh often. UGC > polished.”

And with summer softness in full swing, there’s opportunity. With CPMs dropping, smart teams are treating July–August like a creative sandbox—not a panic button (Iterable).

How Lean Teams Are Actually Producing 50+ Ads a Week

If you’re a mid-size brand without a full agency, here’s what’s working:

1. UGC + Micro-Influencers at Scale

Scrappy brands are slicing one raw video into 20+ variants: new intros, hooks, CTAs, captions. Consumers want lo-fi—it feels real. And that makes performance better and cheaper (Reddit).

Thomas Ja Elliott recently shared a test where UGC crushed a polished $100K TV-style shoot. “Micro-influencers are a full channel now,” he added.

Founders like Cody Schneider are combining AI pain-point detection + scriptwriting with human UGC creators to refine only the top performers. That hybrid model scales quality and speed.

2. Fast Tools: CapCut, Canva, Descript

Forget pro editing. Teams are using CapCut for subtitles, Descript for trimming, and Canva for batch visuals. One product photo? Turn it into 10 ads with different overlays. Modular editing (headline + image + CTA) makes variation fast (Reddit).

3. AI = Your Creative Intern

Shopify’s Summer Edition added Sidekick, a built-in image generator for product scenes (FoxEcom). Want a bottle of shampoo on a beach? Just prompt the AI.

Meanwhile, founders are spinning up headlines, angles, and hooks using ChatGPT and other creative-writing tools. Even fatigue detection is going AI-native: this X post shows an AI that rewrites creatives before they tank.

4. Test Sprints + Meta’s Machine Learning

Winning teams run like newsrooms. Monday: new ideas. Wednesday: new assets. Friday: live tests.

And with Meta’s Advantage+ or Dynamic Creative, you can upload 50 variants, and let the algo sort the winners. No need to hand-optimize.

“Meta’s algorithm has gotten better at identifying pockets of people and serving them the style of ad that matches.”
— Ashvin Melwani, LinkedIn

Volume Alone Isn’t Enough—You Need Feedback Loops

“Uploading 100 creatives a week and none are winning? The issue isn’t speed, it’s signal.”
— Duane Brown, LinkedIn

Uploading 50+ ads per week and thinking ad fatigue is your issue on Meta?!? | Duane Brown

Uploading 50+ ads per week and thinking ad fatigue is your issue on Meta?!? I think one of the hardest issues to solve with running paid ads today (on any ad platform).... is making sure you don’t get sucked into the wrong problem. You could be looking for a tool to let you manage uploading tons of ads per week. When in reality, your issue is the quality of your ads and the lack of being intentional about what you test. At some point you should have enough winning ads that you don’t need to upload so many new ads each week. If you are not finding winning ads then clearly there are issues in your ad account: - Campaign structure is not hitting well - Not testing anything... just throwing things at the wall - Not doing any customer research to get better ad copy and creative made Summer is this week, good time as any to rethink what you are doing on paid ads. No one should be uploading 50+ ads per week. I don’t care who you are. | 18 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInDuane Brown

How to make the volume count:

Be Hypothesis-Led

Test with intent. Is it the hook? The format? A value prop? Tag your concepts and track by category.

Use the Right Metrics

CTR and Thumbstop rate show scroll-stopping power. CPA shows who buys. Don’t guess—analyze themes.

Build a Winner Portfolio

Good ads don’t last. Build a bench. Rotate winners, challenge with new concepts, retire old ones. Never let creative stagnate.

Stay On-Brand (Even When Testing)

Creative guardrails matter. A test can be quirky without being off-brand. Smart brands keep visual style, tone, and values locked—even when trying weird stuff.

Why Summer Is Your Sandbox for Q4

With lower CPMs and fewer eyeballs, July is a gift. You’re not scaling—you’re scouting.

Now is when you:

• Film UGC for the next 90 days
• Try bold ideas that won’t fly in November
• Build your ad library for Q4 scaling

“You used to make DTC work at 60% margins. Now it’s 80% or bust.”
— Sean Frank, Shopify

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Higher margins demand better ROAS. Better ROAS comes from fresher creative.

The Takeaway

You’re not just an eCom operator anymore. You’re a creative director. A performance editor. A feedback-loop optimizer.

Cranking creative is no longer a bonus—it’s the bar. The brands that win in Q4 are the ones testing in July.

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