The creative and performance retainer
After a sprint, the question is who makes the next batch and who runs it. The retainer covers both: 20 to 40 new ads a month on 72-hour cycles, and Meta, TikTok and YouTube campaigns run in your own accounts against your target cost per customer.
Spec · 0:15
Spec · 0:15What a month looks like
- 1
Read
Last month’s numbers: which angles won, which formats held attention, where cost per customer moved.
Week 1 - 2
Brief
The next batch is briefed from those numbers: new hooks for the winning angles, new angles to replace the ones that lost.
Week 1 - 3
Produce
New ads arrive on 72-hour cycles, so a replacement is ready before a winner wears out.
Weeks 1–3 - 4
Run
Tests launched, budget moved to winners, tired ads retired. All in your accounts.
Every week
What’s included
- 20–40 new ads a month
- Iterations on what’s winning, and new angles to replace what isn’t.
- Media buying
- Campaign set-up, budgets and bids on Meta, TikTok and YouTube, in ad accounts you own.
- Weekly numbers
- Spend, cost per customer and what changed, in plain language, every week.
- A test roadmap
- What we’re testing next and why, written down where you can see it.
Why we do the ads and the media buying together
On Meta and TikTok, the ad now does much of the targeting. The platforms decide who sees what largely from how people react to the creative, so whoever makes the ads needs to see the numbers the same day the media buyer does.
When one team does both, a losing hook gets replaced in days, not after a monthly hand-over between two agencies.
How it’s charged
Creative and performance retainer
Quoted after we review your ad account.
Every month
- 20 to 40 new ads every month, on 72-hour production cycles
- Meta, TikTok and YouTube campaigns run in your own ad accounts
- Winners iterated and tired ads retired, every week
- Weekly numbers against your target cost per customer
- A test roadmap you can see at any time
Terms
- A flat monthly fee or a share of ad spend, agreed up front
- Ad spend goes to the platforms directly, never through us
- Month to month, with 30 days’ notice
Questions about the retainer
How much does it cost?
It depends on how many channels, markets and ads are involved. After we’ve looked at your account, we quote a flat monthly fee or a share of ad spend, and you see the number before you commit to anything.
Do we have to do a sprint first?
No, but we’d suggest it. A sprint shows you how we work, for a fixed price, before you sign up for a month.
Who owns the ad accounts?
You do. We work in your accounts with the access you give us, and you can remove it at any time.
Want to see what we’d test first?
Tell us what you sell and what you’re running now. We’ll come back with the angles we’d test first and what it costs.