Helping DTC Brands Scale with High-Performance Ad Creative

I help DTC brands stop wasting ad spend and start scaling profitably with creative that actually converts.

I’ve worked with hundreds of health, wellness, and CPG brands across the UK and USA, helping them see:
✅ 60% decrease in CPA
✅ 30% increase in CTR
✅ Millions in extra revenue—without extra effort.

Some of the incredible brands I’ve partnered with:
👉 ALOHA
👉 CHOMPS
👉 Solawave
👉 Govee

When creative underperforms, scaling feels impossible—and I get it. That’s why I built a full-scale performance creative agency that uses real-time data to guide what ads your brand needs to drive real results.

Shapermint has 1,400 ads live right now and they’re breaking almost every ‘rule’ in Andromeda's book.

But it’s printing for them… and any brand lost with their creative strategy should be taking notes: 

MASHUP ADS ARE THEIR ENTIRE STRATEGY

AI voiceover, shocking hook, problem visuals, solution, social proof. Done.

Every single video follows this exact 32-second format. They don't reinvent the wheel with every ad.

Once they find a winning script and ad body, they test endless hooks to find the best combo.

The same ad is often #1 and #2 in their top performers. Only difference: the hook.

They squeeze everything possible out of one winning script before moving on.

You'll see tons of ads with similar hooks. Watch them - exact same video except the opening. Goes against everything the Andromeda update supposedly says about similar creatives.

Clearly not affecting them with 1,400 ads live.

RISKY VISUALS THAT GRAB ATTENTION

They test hooks to see if they can get away with it. When they do, they churn out variations.

A brand this size has account managers and special treatment. Average brand wouldn't get this stuff approved.

The visual strategy targets husbands who tag their wives. Lots of risky content showing women's body parts.

I don't think this stops women from scrolling. I think they're playing a longer game through male attention who forward to partners.

BARBIE DOLLS TO ILLUSTRATE POINTS

They use dolls and toys to represent body parts. Show stomach fat or love handles on dolls instead of real women.

Can't point at a real woman's body and say "get rid of this." But they can do it with Barbie dolls and plasticine.

Why it works: Feels playful. Illustrates the point better than real people. Stops scrolling because it's weird to see.

Makes potentially negative messaging feel less negative.

THE MAIN TAKEAWAY

Volume play. They found what works and manufacture it at scale.

Mashup format. AI voiceover. Hook testing until something breaks through. Milk it until it stops performing.

This is what happens when you stop trying to be creative for creativity's sake.

Find the format that converts. Test hooks endlessly. Scale what works.

You don't need 50 different formats. You need one format that works and the discipline to test it properly.

Shapermint proves it with 1,400 live ads all following the same structure.

Fraser Cottrell

Co-Founder @ Fraggell | Cut Your CPA By 30% In 60 Days With Our High-Performance Ad Creative | Leaf Shave, Aloha, Govee

Shapermint

Made a hiring mistake last month that cost us a lot…

We had capacity issues and desperately needed an editor.

Hired one of the first people who applied instead of doing proper checks.

They were terrible. They let us down massively and we had to let them go.

That one hasty decision caused legal issues, delayed all our other hiring, drained my mental capacity, and created tons of stress.

When you're building something that requires great people, you can't rush hiring.

Some of our best hires came from recruitment agencies. Expensive, not sustainable for everyone, but it takes the guesswork out.

Also learned the hard way:

Understand hiring laws for every country when you have a remote team. 

Every country has different laws. 

Some favour employees, some employers. 

You can be walking on broken glass sometimes.

3 static ads that actually stop the scroll and convert.

1) MAGIC MIND

"How about you skip that second cup of coffee?"

Instead of trying to get people to ditch coffee, they ask people to skip the second cup.

Clever copy that reframes the ask. Easy to understand. Simply creative.

2) OBVI BURN ELITE

Clear timeline from Day 1 to Day 90 showing exactly what happens when:

Day 1: Fat burning starts
Week 1: Appetite suppression
Week 4: Pounds start to drop
Week 8: Losing more than 300 cal/day
Week 10: Inches off waist
Week 11: Cellulite and wrinkles look smoother
Day 90: Up to 30 pounds of weight lost

Gives people confidence in how the product works. Shows them what to expect.

The ad is more educational than sales-driven. Bottom of funnel performance because people already understand the process.

3) HAPPY MAMMOTH

Body writing: "12 years of bloating and weight gone in a few days"

Pattern interrupt for what would be a boring ad otherwise. Stops the scroll with unusual visual.

Uses timeframes to show how long the problem existed and how fast the fix was.

Credibility through contrast. 12 years of suffering solved in days.

What these all have in common:

They don't rely on pretty design. They use psychology to stop scrolling and drive action.

Magic Mind reframes the objection. Obvi educates to build confidence. Happy Mammoth uses pattern interrupts with proof.

Psychology beats aesthetics every time.

$200K spend on one static ad. $250K on another video ad.

These aren't ads we forced spend on. These are ads that Meta rewarded because they kept performing.

What separates high-spending ads from the ones that die in 48 hours:

THE BLACK STUFF - STATIC AD

Bold red and black design. Headline: "Four bars, zero bull. Chosen by 70,000+ men."

Breaks down core flavours with images representing each scent.

1.3%+ CTR. $10 CPMs. Consistently profitable ROAS.

Why it worked: Great product images already existed. We didn't need AI tricks or studio shoots.

Build your content archive. High-quality product images and raw UGC footage. You'll make ads forever from that library.

ALOHA - TASTE TEST VIDEO

Traditional TikTok-style UGC. Creator tastes protein bars on camera and reacts.

People say this format doesn't work anymore. Wrong. Still a top performer in 2025.

1.45% CTR. Thousands of comments. Her dog appeared in the video and people went ballistic in comments thinking she fed chocolate to the dog.

Social engagement drove Meta's algorithm to keep pushing it.

The format works because it solves the main objection: people don't know how it tastes. Watching someone react gives them insight.

Hook rate was only 30%. A good ad is a good ad even without a perfect hook.

VE SILK - FOUNDER STORY VIDEO

"This tiny device is saving feet everywhere."

Paired the founder story with product demo footage throughout. Built a narrative around why Julia created something better than pumice stones.

2.3+ ROAS. Only 18% hook rate.

Hook rate doesn't define a great ad. We've had 60% hook rate ads that weren't profitable. This 18% hook rate ad has $250K+ in spend.

The storytelling drove performance. Most brands just list benefits and leave. High-spending ads invoke emotion and close the loop.

WHAT THESE ADS HAVE IN COMMON:

Give viewers reason to care and watch. Built for the platform - looks like organic content people want to consume. Tested based on research, not guessed. Given time to scale instead of being killed at 48 hours.

The biggest mistake brands make: Testing so rapidly they turn ads off before they have a chance to perform.

Leave them in the account. Let them cook.

These weren't accidents. Each came from looking at what performed, what didn't, and building on that data.

Research beats guessing every time.

200K in spend

These are the 4 main metrics we use daily at Fraggell to evaluate creative performance:

1. CPA/CPL

How profitable is your funnel? If this is over target, your ad is failing. Often fixable by changing the hook because your hook is your targeting.

2. Hook Rate

Is your creative stopping the scroll? Low hook rate means your first 3 seconds aren't compelling enough. But don't aim for clickbait territory. High hook rate with an unqualified audience kills your CPA.

3. Hold Rate

Are you holding attention after the hook? High hook rate with low hold rate means you attracted the wrong attention. Usually pacing issue, a structure issue, or a creator relatability issue.

4. CTR

How good is your creative is at driving people off platform? Low CTR means people watch but aren't motivated to click. Check your product desirability, offer strength, and CTA clarity.

Look at account averages and beat them. These metrics tell a story about why your CPA is what it is.

Your sole function is to sell product as cheap as possible, not swap money with Meta.

Wild (bought by Unilever last year) runs diverse creative but nothing groundbreaking.

So in this post, I’m breaking down how Wild makes a boatload of money without crazy innovations and new strategies:

SAME CREATOR, DIFFERENT FORMATS

They test the same creator across multiple angles. 

First impression video with one creator. 

Exposé-style with the same creator.

Let's them test whether it's the creator or the format driving performance. 

More cost-efficient. 

Potentially multiple winners from one creator.

PARTNERSHIP ADS WITH MICRO-INFLUENCERS

Lots of YouTubers in home renovation and outdoor spaces. 

Not typical beauty or wellness influencers everyone's chasing.

Partnering with creators in niches where you'd actually get sweaty. 

Home renovation. 
Outdoor hikes. 
More relatable, smaller creators.

ORGANIC-LOOKING STATICS

Bottom of funnel statics look like something your mate would post on Instagram stories.

Native Instagram fonts. 
Simple. 
Organic.

Brands are making more of these because they perform better. 

Wild clearly understands this.

VOICEOVER UGC INSTEAD OF ON-CAMERA

Mostly voiceover paired with lifestyle B-roll. Not an AI voiceover either.

Real British voices talking about the product with B-roll from their archive.

Rarely see the actual creator talking to the camera.

HIGH PRODUCTION VIDEOS REPURPOSED

When they do high production, it's product-focused with captions.

Repurpose across different territories by switching caption language. 

Don't need to redub. 

Just copy and paste captions.

Smart way to have diverse ad accounts across territories.

ONE-SHOT TEXT PROMOS

Simple one-shot videos with text for retargeting. 

New scent drops or seasonal pushes.

Shows off the product. 

Keeps them top of mind.

THE TAKEAWAY

They're not doing anything groundbreaking. 

Nothing unique to their niche.

They're just doing it really well.

Understand their customer. 
Understand who's buying. 
Have money to experiment after acquisition.

Creative diversity across formats: 

- High production statics
- Lo-fi statics
- Traditional UGC
- Voiceover content
- Partnership ads
- One-shot promos

Ticking all boxes. 
Testing efficiently. 
Not reinventing the wheel.

Wild proves you don't need breakthrough creative strategies.

Execute the basics properly. 

Test creators across formats. 

Partner with relatable micro-influencers. 

Make organic-looking content. 

Repurpose efficiently.

Do it well instead of doing it differently.

WILD

KNOW YOUR AD FORMATS

Make a quick mental note of this:

⇢ UGC only appeals to people who relate to that specific creator. It’s a smaller pool that burns through faster.

⇢ Founder ads have a broader appeal. Doesn't matter if the person looks like you or shares your experience. The audience pool is bigger and takes longer to burn.

⇢ VSLs last longest. Educating from a generic point of view instead of a personal testimonial. It’s an even bigger pool.

More people want to hear a story than a testimonial because stories are harder to fake and come across as more genuine than UGC.

If you made the same ad for two brands with just different products, you'd see similar burn rates. But format determines how fast creative fatigues.

The exact structure for this winning The Foldie spokesperson ad:

Hook: 

Direct offer reveal → middle/bottom funnel push → straightforward spokesperson delivery → native English accent for trust

Villain: 

Airlines positioned as enemy after hook → anchors pain point (3.5 billion in fees) → shared enemy audience rallies against → saves money from villain

Creative: 

Entire account was UGC-driven → spokesperson format created necessary diversity → different script delivery in different locations maintains attention → bigger swings beyond safe UGC → industry callouts drive engagement and top performance

Not all brands should be using AI UGC. 

At certain stages, it accelerates growth. 
At others, it actively damages brand equity.

This is when it helps and when it kills your credibility:

You can't build a creative strategy without knowing what's already working in the account.

This is the exact roadmap we follow at Fraggell to go from initial audit -> consistent winners:

Most brands are about to waste their Black Friday ad spend.

They'll launch campaigns on November 20th, target cold audiences, and wonder why their CPMs are through the roof.

Here's what actually works:

Start early. Like, right now. CPMs double during Black Friday weekend. Smart brands are already warming up audiences and building remarketing lists.

Custom audiences > cold traffic. Your website visitors from the past 30 days will convert 3x better than random lookalikes. Use them.

Keep creative simple and scalable. The best-performing ads we've seen for building email lists? UGC-style content. Someone holding up a handwritten sign saying "Sign up for exclusive Black Friday deals." Post-it notes with offers. Simple phone recordings.

Why? They're authentic, cheap to make, and you can test 20 variations in a day. Polished studio content can't compete with that testing velocity.

Go multi-channel. Facebook ads alone won't cut it. The brands that win combine paid social with email retargeting. When someone abandons their cart, hit them with both an email sequence AND Facebook ads showing those exact products.

One client did this last year synced Omnisend with Facebook custom audiences. Result? 60% of their holiday revenue came from coordinated retargeting.

The takeaway? Black Friday isn't won in November. It's won by the brands that prepared.

Speaking of preparation: If you're stuck on an email platform and want to switch before BFCM, Omnisend is offering 30% off your first 3 months at Omnisend (code: BFCM-2025). 

Plus accounts over $250/month get a dedicated migration partner to handle the move.

Link to sign up in the comments.

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