Your new creative playbook.

The algorithm changed. Your strategy needs to as well.

Author

Patrick O'Driscoll
March 19, 2026

Hey, Patrick from TVG here.

I wanted to make sure we’re on the same page about how your creative strategy should fit together.

  1. The game has changed. With Meta’s Andromeda update, your creative is now your targeting.

  2. Therefore, the job of your creative is no longer to get cheap clicks. It’s to qualify the user and feed the algorithm the right signals.

  3. The best way to measure qualification is Average Watch Time. Your goal is to clear the 10-Second Story Threshold.

  4. The way you create ads that people will actually watch is by using the 5 Levels of Awareness framework to craft a message that meets them exactly where they are.

So, here’s your new playbook:

Instead of building audiences, you build messages for each level of awareness.

You create ads that tell a compelling story for that specific level.

You launch them to a broad audience. And you measure their success not by CTR, but by their ability to hold a viewer’s attention for more than 10 seconds.

That’s it. That’s how you build a creative engine that works in 2026.

You stop chasing clicks and start qualifying customers.

You stop fighting the algorithm and start feeding it exactly what it needs.

Talk soon,

Patrick O’Driscoll