Creative Is the Targeting - Meta Finally Admits It

For years, Meta and Google trained marketers to believe that great advertising was all about technical targeting.

Interests. Custom audiences. Lookalikes.

And now... AI-powered precision.

“Trust the algorithm — it will find your buyers.”

But smart marketers always knew the truth:

❌ It was never the algorithm.

✅ It was the message.

✅ It was the offer.

✅ It was the creative.

And now, both platforms are quietly admitting it.

Meta, especially, has been pushing hard in this direction.

With the Andromeda update, new attribution models, and ad retrieval system,

Meta is signaling something big:

The creative — not the audience settings — determines who converts.

Why Meta introduced this approach, how it works, and how it should (and shouldn’t) shape your advertising strategy.

For a decade, the story was simple:

Meta’s machine learning finds the perfect audience.

Advertisers just needed to trust the algorithm to say:

“This ad is for you.”

But anyone in marketing experience already knew this wasn’t the full picture.

Because the real moment of truth in advertising is when the user decides:

“Oh… this is for me. Let me click.”

That moment is created by the creative: the message, the angle, the hook, the problem it speaks to — not by a stack of interest targeting options.

And now Meta itself is shifting to that philosophy:

In other words…

You don’t tell Meta who your audience is.

Your creative shows Meta who resonates — and the algorithm follows.

Here’s the honest answer: Probably not.

If this update wasn’t given a fancy, marketable name like Andromeda, 99% of marketers wouldn’t even notice it.

It would’ve slid under the radar — just like most algorithm changes Meta ships every month.

But once TikTok creators and “Meta gurus” slap a dramatic label on it, suddenly everyone wants to burn their ad structure and rebuild it overnight.

Let’s be clear:

❌ Don’t stop your campaigns.

❌ Don’t jump into 1-campaign-1-ad-set-50-ads “guru mode.”

❌ Don’t overhaul everything because someone with a ring light told you to.

Every business is different.

Every ad account has its own data history, constraints, and objectives.

What should you do instead?

Wait. Evaluate. Test.

Just like you did during iOS14+ changes.

Just like you did when Advantage+ campaigns rolled out.

Keep your strategy stable — adjust only when your results tell you to.

(Tik Tok is full of this adivce, so I want to address it, quickly.)

Short answer: No.

Long answer: It depends on your business model.

This “50 creatives per week” advice comes from agencies running massive budgets across markets where volume is king.

This, doesn’t apply to most advertisers.

Here’s a more realistic breakdown:

Creatives win when they match the market — not when you flood Ads Manager with quantity for the sake of it.

The right number of creatives is the number that helps you learn faster — not burn faster.

Meta’s message is clear:

Creative is the new targeting.

But that doesn’t mean you should panic, rebuild everything, or mimic viral TikTok advice.

Stick to what already works. Test intelligently.

Adapt only when your performance shows you a real trend — not because the algorithm has a new codename.

When in doubt, remember:

Your creative finds the buyer. Meta just delivers the ad.

Learn more about the Andromeda Update in DAS #89 - Andromeda Panic is Overrated.

How many creatives did you test this month? Would you need more or less?

If not, you’re not testing. You’re just blindly creating ads, for the sake of it.

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