The Challenge: Laying the groundwork to scale past their long-standing Q4 ceiling, without letting CAC spiral.
In Q2 2024, a well-established apparel brand partnered with us for one reason: they wanted Q4 to finally deliver what previous years had not.
Despite strong product-market fit and significant ad budgets, they had consistently plateaued at around $350K in daily revenue during peak periods. Previous agency partners couldn’t help them break through it.
They didn’t want another year where Q4 performance hit the same ceiling. This time, they wanted to go beyond it, and they knew it would require deeper strategy, better systems, and more creative firepower.
So they came to us early, not for a last-minute push, but to lay the groundwork months in advance. We used Q2 and Q3 to eliminate known bottlenecks, rebuild the ad account structure, overhaul the creative process, and put the right infrastructure in place.
The goal wasn’t just to scale. It was to finally surpass a long-standing ceiling, and do it in a way that was structured, profitable, and repeatable.
Why Creative Was the Bottleneck
During our onboarding audit, we uncovered five core issues that explained their stalled growth:
- Over-reliance on overly polished, brand-heavy creative with little variation in format or angle
- A disorganized approach to research and ad inspiration, scattered across Slack messages and Drive folders
- No creative-to-media feedback loop, leading to low test velocity and slow iteration on tests
- One-size-fits-all landing pages that weren’t optimized for seasonal traffic or returning customers
- No structured system for sourcing or testing new ad concepts consistently
To break past their Q4 ceiling, we needed more than better execution. We needed to build better systems, fast.
This is where Foreplay became foundational to our workflow.
Foreplay: The Creative Intelligence Layer That Drove Scale
We implemented Foreplay across three stages of our process: research, briefing, and iteration.
Step 1: Structured Creative Research Using Foreplay
Before launching a single new concept, we built a high-performance swipe library using Foreplay’s Chrome Extension. Every ad was tagged by:
- Creative format (static, UGC, carousels, high-production)
- Core angle (offer-led, social proof, gifting, urgency)
- CTA style and hook theme
We also used Foreplay Spyder to monitor long-running ads from top competitors in adjacent categories. Rather than casually browsing the Facebook Ad Library, we tracked creative patterns tied to performance indicators like longevity and iteration count.
This research revealed three immediate opportunities:
- Brands were running urgency-focused ads, but rarely combining them with proof-driven messaging
- UGC consistently outperformed studio content when it showed transformation or product benefit clearly
- Gift bundles were underleveraged, especially in ad formats like carousels and listicles
These learnings shaped the direction of every creative concept we tested.
Step 2: Better Briefs With Embedded References
Foreplay didn’t just inspire new creative ideas, it elevated the quality and clarity of our briefs.
Each brief included:
- Two or more Foreplay-tagged reference ads that had proven performance
- A clearly defined angle with a linked insight from competitive analysis
- Hook variations based on top-performing openers we’d catalogued in our swipe file
This allowed our editors, creators, and copywriters to move faster without sacrificing quality. There was no misalignment between the media buying team and the creative team. Everyone worked from the same source of truth.
Step 3: High-Velocity Testing and Fast Iteration
With Foreplay powering our creative strategy, we shifted from launching 5-10 ads per week to running 20+ test variations across platforms. Formats included:
- UGC videos with emotional hooks and seasonal urgency
- Transformation-focused static carousels showing before/after results
- High-production product videos showcasing bundles and styling versatility
- Listicle-style formats built for scroll-stopping feed engagement
Each ad variation had a matching landing page, tested through our landing page system, with messaging tailored to either new or returning customers.
We tracked ad performance by scroll-stop rate, hold rate, CTR, CVR, and ROAS. Winning concepts were scaled quickly across Meta and YouTube, while underperformers were squashed swiftly.
Landing Pages That Matched the Creative
A key issue we solved was ad-to-page misalignment. Previously, ads drove traffic to PDPs and collection pages with no segmentation or personalization.
We rebuilt the entire post-click experience:
- Dedicated landing pages for first-time vs returning customers
- Seasonal urgency messaging in the hero section
- Social proof near the CTA
- Bundle-specific offer pages tied to high-performing creative angles
- Mobile-optimized pages with faster load times and simplified layouts
This improved mobile conversion rates by 16% and lifted AOV by 12%.
Paid Media Restructure That Let Creative Lead
We overhauled the paid media structure to ensure creative testing and scaling could operate independently without overlap or cannibalization.
Meta:
- Consolidated campaigns to remove overlap
- Separated testing and scaling campaigns to isolate performance
- Implemented frequency caps and tightened exclusions to reduce burnout
- Used Foreplay-informed thumbnail testing to increase click-through rates
Google and YouTube:
- Expanded Performance Max asset groups using creative data from Meta
- Launched intent-driven search and display campaigns with urgency-focused copy
- Rewrote YouTube scripts based on top-performing intros from Foreplay swipe references
- Introduced new in-market and affinity audiences to improve segmentation
Budgets were scaled gradually in line with performance signals, and funds were dynamically reallocated to high-return segments in real time.
Results:
Q4 Scale, Sustained Profitability
Metric
This wasn’t a story about chasing virality or growth hacks. It was about focusing on the levers we knew would have the biggest impact.
And Foreplay was the engine behind the system.
Key Takeaways
- A swipe file isn’t a strategy. It’s what you do with it that counts. Foreplay allowed us to tag, categorize, and analyze ad data at scale.
- Creative brief quality dictates output. Foreplay gave us the infrastructure to write smarter briefs, faster.
- Scale starts with variation. Volume, velocity, and structure beat creative guessing.
- Landing pages can’t be generic during Q4. Your homepage isn't built to sell. Test into specific landing pages that are built with a specific, singular purpose.
- Feedback loops build momentum. Foreplay helped us tighten the gap between idea, launch, learn, and scale.
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- Mastering the art of Creative Testing: A step-by-step guide
- Master Creative Analysis and Turn Data into High-Performing Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Creative Ideation Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide
- How To Write Creator Scripts That Convert: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Steal Our Hook Creation Framework That Stops the Scroll and Prints Money: A Step-by-Step Guide
Our 30-Day Pilot lets you test our strategy, creative, and media buying… without locking into a long-term commitment.
We’ll plug into your account, audit what’s holding you back, and deploy new creative built to scale.
Clear improvements. Smarter testing. Zero fluff.
>> Try us for 30 days.<< If we don’t move the needle, you walk away.
Co-Founder of Brick Social
