We can't produce enough creative to keep up. How do brands ship 4 to 5 new ads a week?
By Dan BartleyUpdated 3 minute read
The short answer
They stop treating each ad as a small project. Brands shipping four or five new ads a week run creative as a weekly routine: a running list of ideas, a short brief per concept, product imagery that does not need a shoot, and finished ads in every placement size. The usual fix is to hand some or all of the making to a specialist, because the bottleneck is hours, not ideas.
Why does keeping up feel impossible?
Because each new ad has been a small project with its own chain of steps: think of an idea, find or shoot the photos, design it, write it, resize it and upload it. Every step waits on the one before, and the shoot is the slowest.
Many owners do this in the gaps around everything else in the business, so output stalls at a handful of ads a month even when the ideas are there.
What does a weekly creative routine look like?
The same steps on the same days every week, so new ads arrive on a schedule rather than whenever someone finds time.
- Monday: review last week’s ads. Note what won, what lost and why you think so.
- Tuesday: pick four or five ideas from the list, each a different reason to buy.
- Wednesday: write a short brief for each: who it is for, the opening, the proof and the format.
- Thursday and Friday: make the ads, in every placement size.
- The next Monday: launch the new batch and start the review again.
The review is what makes the routine pay off. Each batch is built on what the last one taught you, so the ads get better as well as more numerous. A brief can be short once you have a template, and how to brief a designer or creator has one to copy.
Where do four or five new ideas a week come from?
From customers and the market, not a blank page. The best angles are usually already in your reviews, support emails and returns notes.
- Reviews: the words customers use to describe why they bought
- Questions and objections from support emails, messages and comments
- Competitor ads in the Meta Ad Library, which shows every ad a Page is running
- Your own winners, carried into new settings, people and formats
- Moments in the year: seasons, gifting dates and sale periods
How do brands get new imagery without a shoot every week?
By making scenes from photos of the product they already have. One set of phone photos can put a product into many rooms, settings and seasons, so new ads do not wait on a shoot.
Bartley Studio’s product imagery works this way. A couple of phone photos of each product and a note on its materials and size are enough, nothing needs to be posted, and the first look arrives in 2 to 3 working days.
Should we hire, use freelancers or hand it to a studio?
It depends on how many ads you need each month and how much of the work you want off your plate. Each option trades money for your own hours in a different way.
| Option | Works well when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself with templates | You need a few ads a month and have the time | The hours it takes from the rest of the business |
| In-house designer | Volume is steady and you have imagery to work from | One person’s range of ideas, and annual leave |
| Freelancers | You can brief well and manage several people | Turnaround and consistency between them |
| UGC creators | The product needs a person to show it | Usage rights and slow changes |
| Creative studio | You need ideas, imagery and sizing handled | What counts as one creative in the quote |
What changes when volume goes up?
You find winners sooner, because more distinct ideas reach the market each month, and no single ad has to carry the account for long.
In an e-commerce brand Dan ran creative for, new ads went from under 5 a month to 50 to 100, and they got better as well as more numerous. Return on ad spend went from 2.5x to 5.5x while spend rose by 300%. That is one account, not a forecast.
Other questions people ask about this
Does a new size of an existing ad count as a new ad?
No. A tall 9:16 and a 4:5 version of the same idea are one ad in two sizes. Count an ad as new when the idea, the visual or the buyer it speaks to changes.
Read the full answerCan I make the ads myself with AI tools?
For drafts and simple statics, yes. Check every frame against the real product, because AI tools can change colour, shape or label text, and count the hours it takes to get a usable result.
Read the full answerDo I need video, or are static ads enough?
Static ads are enough to start and quicker to make, so you can test more ideas. Add video once you know which ideas work, especially for products that need movement or scale to make sense.
Read the full answerStill have a question? Ask us