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Creative Strategy: Check Spend Before CPA

Published on: 28th October, 2026

The best ad Freddy Rode has ever seen, for performance and for scale, was a 360p Facebook livestream recording. Three or four minutes, subtitles added, and he'd never have expected it to win. When he opens a new ad account, he doesn't start with CPA. He starts with where Meta is putting the spend. If an ad in a CBO doesn't get spent, he says, there's probably a reason why.

Freddy is a creative strategist and, in his words, "kind of an AI nerd." He runs his own small agency, consults with a few agencies on AI, and has worked on HexClad's ads.

In this episode:

- The first thing he opens in a new ad account, and why spend comes before CPA

- Why he takes more ad ideas from Pinterest and organic TikTok than from other brands' ads

- What ad volume really looked like at HexClad

- How many concepts a week a brand needs until it's spending about $100K-$300K a month

- What an ad that gets no spend in a CBO actually costs

- The funnel stage he sees missing in most accounts

- When to iterate on a winner, and when to let it go

- His AI setup, and the one job it still can't do

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

01:27 What a creative strategist does all week

04:03 Pinterest as an ad research tool

06:51 How many ads HexClad launched a week

08:19 Ten concepts a week, up to $100K-$300K a month

12:56 The first thing he opens in a new account

13:31 Spend before CPA

15:45 A winner beats the median spend for its stage

17:19 When 90% of new ads get no spend

19:59 No spend in a CBO costs time, not money

21:02 The funnel stage most accounts are missing

25:15 Too many iterations, or none at all

26:22 When to iterate on a winner and when to stop

30:06 The 360p livestream that was his best ad

30:56 What AI does in his creative process

34:19 Where AI still fails: writing scripts

36:56 Hook rate overrated, statics underrated

FREDDY RODE

Website: https://freddyrode.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederick-rode/

X: https://x.com/freddyrode3

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Ecom Growth Insider
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Andrej Tumachowitsch

I'm the founder of HoloGrowth, a performance-driven growth agency helping e-commerce brands scale profitably to 7- and 8-figures through paid ads.

With years of experience in the trenches of DTC growth, I have worked with over 30 brands worldwide – building, optimizing, and scaling their marketing systems.

As the host of the Ecom Growth Insider podcast, I dive deep with top founders, marketers, and growth experts to unpack what’s really working behind the scenes in the DTC space.

My mission? To bring raw, actionable insights that help brand owners scale smarter.