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Ad Creative Budgets: The 10% Rule Most Brands Ignore | Matthew Gattozzi

Published on: 11th August, 2026

Most brands say creative is the biggest lever they have, then spend almost nothing on it. Matthew Gattozzi's answer is that the P&L already tells you the truth.

Matthew spent over a decade in ballet and danced professionally with Ballet Austin. A back injury ended it at 21. He took the standard that came with it and built Goodo Studios, a creative studio producing ads for e-commerce brands.

Spend roughly 10% of ad spend on creative production, sliding down as you scale.

Work out how many new ads you actually need, which is almost always fewer than you think.

Then make those ads different from each other, not just more of them.

In this episode:

- The P&L test that exposes what a brand actually prioritises

- The 10% rule for creative production budgets, and when it slides to 5% and 1%

- The math for how many new ads you need each month

- Why "make me 60 ads" reliably gets you 60 versions of the same ad

- Why diversity beats volume, and why more follows different

- What a plateau in the ad account usually says about decisions made months earlier

- Why he stays tool agnostic across cinema cameras, creators and statics

- The standard he brought from ballet: "we do not tolerate mistakes"

- Rapid fire: the best ad he saw this year, an underrated copywriting book, and his hottest take

Chapters:

00:00 "I've never met somebody overspending on creative"

00:46 Why this episode starts with ballet

01:01 A decade of ballet, ended by a back injury at 21

02:53 The gap between camera people and advertising people

03:38 Building Goodo Studios

04:48 Losing an identity, not just a career

05:43 Eight years sober

08:09 Harmony beats balance

10:59 What ballet taught him about creative standards

16:45 Is there such a thing as a perfect ad?

18:17 "We do not tolerate mistakes"

19:39 When the client disagrees with the creative

22:30 Lo-fi versus high production

24:41 Tool agnostic: only winning ads count

26:13 The P&L test for what a brand really prioritises

27:40 The $100K example: cut ad spend, fund creative

30:08 "I've never met somebody overspending on creative"

30:31 Two brands, two decisions, two outcomes

39:15 The 10% rule, and when it slides to 5% and 1%

43:15 Why plateaus are an under-investment problem

44:10 Diversity or just quantity

45:39 Why "make me 60 ads" gets you 60 of the same ad

48:25 Focus on different, and more takes care of itself

49:34 The math for how many new ads you actually need

51:27 Twenty thought-out ads beat sixty guesses

52:16 Rapid fire: best ad, best book, hottest take

58:07 Where to find Matthew

Connect with Matthew:

X: https://x.com/matthewgattozzi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgattozzi/

Goodo Studios: https://www.goodostudios.com

Newsletter, weekly: https://www.goodostudios.com/newsletter

Ecom Growth Insider is the podcast for e-commerce founders who want to scale profitably. Subscribe for episodes on paid media, CRO, offer strategy, and the operating systems behind brands that actually grow.

More episodes and newsletter: https://ecomgrowthinsider.com

Work with HoloGrowth: https://hologrowth.com

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About the Podcast

Ecom Growth Insider
Real behind-the-scenes strategies from the trenches of scaling DTC brands. With founders, marketers, and growth experts.
If you're a DTC brand founder, CMO, growth marketer, or operator trying to scale your e-commerce business profitably, this podcast is for you.

Hosted by Andrej Tumachowitsch — founder of the growth agency HoloGrowth — this show goes deep on what actually works to grow online brands in today’s ultra-competitive landscape.

We go way beyond generic advice.

Every episode gives you practical, battle-tested insights directly from 7-, 8-, and 9-figure brand founders, top-tier marketers, and agency operators actively working in the trenches.

You’ll learn:
- What separates breakout ecom brands from the ones that plateau
- Paid media strategies that scale on Meta, Google & beyond
- How to use UGC, email, landing pages, and CRO to increase LTV & AOV
- Creative testing frameworks & campaign breakdowns that actually perform
- Smart ways to grow without sacrificing profit margins
- Founder mindsets, systems, and hiring practices that lead to longevity
- And the biggest mistakes brands are making right now (and how to avoid them)

Expect a mix of founder interviews, expert roundtables, solo lessons, and deep dives into what’s working right now in paid acquisition, conversion, and retention.

No fluff. No recycled advice. Just proven strategies to grow your ecommerce brand.

If you're tired of surface-level podcasts and want unfiltered access to the tactics and lessons real brands are using to scale — hit subscribe and join us inside the Ecom Growth Insider.

About your host

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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.