Maynard Baral

Creative Strategist and Retention Specialist

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

"Because that's how it works"

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

@ecomyuzu Bounty

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

So I joined ecomtalent yesterday.

And I'm currently in the trenches.

Going through everything inside.

Not gonna lie.

Pretty excited about what's next.

Because I'm about to start working on my first few video ads directly from this course.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

So I've been hearing some solid stuff about @ecomtalent.

The Discord's supposed to be active as hell.

And this Adbounties thing sounds pretty interesting.

I've watched a few of Karlo's YouTube videos.

And not gonna lie, he clearly knows his stuff.

Definitely some gems in there worth mining.

I'm pulling the trigger and joining later today.

But before I do…

If any of you are already inside, I want to hear what you think about it.

For context…

I've already joined Alex Myatt's Creative Strategy Academy.

Where he teaches the same creative engine system he used to generate $300M in revenue for his clients.

So I'm curious what I'll learn inside ecomtalent that's different.

Or how they complement each other.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Meta doesn't want you to fail.

They literally make MORE money when your ads crush.

Better performance = bigger budgets = more ad spend = more money for them.

So yeah... they WANT you to win.

But that doesn't mean they're gonna make it easy.

They're done rewarding the lazy version of what used to work.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Here's the link to the ads: https://t.co/DibCLEJ1Kl

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Brand 7 of 50 (or more): Airmoto

Portable tire inflator for drivers who hate broken gas station pumps.

When I reviewed their account, I noticed that 46% of their ads are mostly product aware.

So I wrote 10 ads aimed at Problem-Aware and Solution-Aware instead.

Doc's link is in the reply.

Still down to get roasted.

70 ads down.

430 (or more) to go.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Next thing I'm adding to the routine.

Breaking down ads from top brands.

Line by line.

Not to copy them.

But to understand the FLOW.

How they hook you.

Where they shift your beliefs.

How they stack proof without feeling desperate.

And when they ask for the click.

Most people just scroll past ads.

I'm studying them like blueprints.

Because writing MORE copy is just one way to improve.

But also understanding what makes GREAT copy work by breaking them down.

The structure.

The rhythm.

The persuasion DNA hiding underneath.

So I'm dissecting winners.

And reverse engineering what they did.

I'll be sharing here my work as usual.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Ask five AI tools to "research pain points for [your product]"

You'll get five versions of the same boring list.

Dry skin. Low energy. Wants convenience.

Blah blah blah.

AI isn't the problem.

The problem is AI blends everything ever written about your thing...

And gives you the average.

That's a summary of a summary of all things compiled.

You want real research?

Go to Reddit. YouTube comments. Facebook groups. Amazon reviews.

You'll find real people talking about their real problems.

Nobody venting at 1am is trying to sound smart.

They're just mad.

So the exact phrases they use?

Those are the ones that make someone else go "holy shit, that's literally me."

You can't get that from a chatbot trying to be helpful.

You can only get it from someone with zero reason to fake it.

Now... can AI help you sort through it all? Spot patterns? Organize faster?

Hell yeah.

Just don't let it replace reading the real thing first.

Because if you skip that step...

You're basically writing ads based on vibes.

And that's how you sound like everyone else.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Here are the ads: https://t.co/n7xD4bvzTS

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Brand 6 of 50 (or more): Beltwell — LymfoLotion

Barrier-repair lotion for people whose legs itch so bad they scratch in their sleep.

I read through 158 verbatims from Reddit, HealthUnlocked, diabetes forums, Quora.

And here's what became clear...

The pain is deep.

So I wrote 5 video concepts. 5 statics.

Each one pulled straight from the research.

Doc's on the reply.

Still down to get roasted.

60 ads down.

440 (or more) to go.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

A/B testing doesn't exist in Creative Strategy anymore.

At least not the way people still talk about it.

Because there's no such thing as "changing ONE variable" when you're running ads on Meta in 2026.

Thousands of variables are shifting at once.

The audience. The placement. The time of day. The competing ads in the auction.

Now it's more like ABCDEFGH… testing.

You're throwing a bunch of ads into the arena...

And letting Meta pick what works.

Which means you gotta test the BIG stuff.

Test concepts. Test avatars. Test formats.

Because if you've only changed a few words in your ads.

Meta's algorithm might look at it and go "yeah, this is the same ad."

Same entity ID in its weird robot brain and it might not even SHOW it.

Change enough that Meta actually SEES it as different.

Then once you find something is a WINNER.

You can start tweaking.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Brand 5 of 50 (or more): KyroLabs: CerviFlex

Neck traction for people with tech neck and humps they can't hide.

Stalked their account first.

They actually have a PROVEN hook that's been running for months.

"I noticed a hump forming in my neck, I was worried until I tried Cerviflex. After using this for about 10 days, the hump was GONE."

It's doing work.

AndIget it.

When you find a winner, you scale the shit out of it.

That's literally the game.

But if you ONLY run that one winner...

And never test new angles or expand into different avatars...

You're leaving entire chunks of your TAM on the table.

So I wrote 5 video concepts. 5 static concepts.

Each one aimed at avatars they're not speaking to yet.

Doc's open for comments here: https://t.co/CZDjB70j9O

Still down to get roasted.

50 ads down.

450 (or more) to go.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

@anzedetn Sent you a DM.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

This is probably one of the EASIEST ways to come up with tons of new ad ideas fast.

Stop thinking one idea at a time.

Think in combinations.

Concepts × Angles × Styles × Hooks.

This is something I learned from Luke and Mario.

And it's similar to what Alex Myatt teaches at the Creative Strategy Academy with his Idea × Style × Hook grid.

Here's how it breaks down:

Concept = the BIG IDEA where the ad revolves. The claim. The promise. The pain. The mechanism.

Angle = the psychological framing. Root cause, problem reframe, myth-busting, emotional validation, whatever fits.

Style = the format. UGC talking-head, problem-solution video, before/after, founder explainer.

Hook = the exact line that stops someone mid-scroll.

The math on this is honestly kinda stupid.

Let's say you have 5 concepts, 3 angles, 4 styles, and 3 hooks per concept.

That's already 180 unique ad combinations.

And you're not pulling ideas out of thin air.

You're just recombining what already works.

Now imagine layering AVATAR into that.

You'll get to thousands easily.

Which is exactly why I never start from zero when I go through an existing account.

I look at what concepts, angles, styles, and hooks are already PROVEN...

Then I recombine them into whatever's still missing or haven't been tested yet.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Hey Olli,

Saw your [Dog Supplements Brand Name] and your FB ad library, and I noticed you were running ads for the {mention specific avatar}.

From what I've seen with other 8-9 figure brands selling similar product to yours, you can also try the {mention another avatar that have resulted to winners in other brands}.

I've prepared a few scripts to show how those ads will look like to your brands.

Would you mind if I send them over?

(Not sure if asking permission still works, I'll also probably run another angle where I just send the the script and say I attached them or what).

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Brand 4 of 50 (or more): BetterLungs - Mullein Gummies

Lung support for people who can't breathe right.

Started by doing what I always do.

Stalking their account for winners.

Because here's what most people get backwards...

They think ideation means pulling ideas out of thin air.

But no.

The BEST ideas come from studying what's ALREADY winning.

You fid the winning formats. The winning avatars. The winning hooks.

Then you use those as your blueprint for NEW ads.

They had a founder video that crushed for 170+ days?

Cool. That format works. Wrote another similar ad.

They had UGC testimonials performing?

Same style. Different pain point.

They had statics with emotional scenes that ran forever?

Use that structure. Different avatar.

None of this required me to reinvent the wheel.

I just let their winners tell me what to make next.

5 video ads. 5 statics.

Doc's open for comments here: https://t.co/WDVY0y9egj

Still down to get roasted.

40 ads down.

460 (or more) to go.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Most brands are blowing their entire creative budget… on the WRONG part of the process.

And it's costing them 100+ hours a month.

Let me show you what I mean…

Real creative strategy has four stages.

Conception. Planning. Production. Management.

And most brands skip straight from conception to production.

Come up with an idea… then go make it.

Sounds logical, right? Wrong!

Because here's what actually happens when you skip planning.

You think of ONE idea.

Maybe it's a customer testimonial, filmed in their kitchen, holding up the product and talking through why they love it.

Cool UGC. You're feeling it.

So you book the creator, or just film it yourself...

And you go shoot that ONE idea.

Congrats. You just spent 2-3 hours making ONE ad.

If you're REALLY hustling… you might knock out 3 ads in a full day.

Eight hours. Three ads.

Now let's do some fun math…

You need a MINIMUM of 50 ads per month to feed the algorithm properly.

(That's not my opinion. That's just reality in 2025.)

At 2-3 hours per ad… that's 100-150 hours of production time.

Per MONTH.

That's three to four full work weeks… just filming shit.

And people wonder why they can't hit volume.

It's not a creativity problem.

It's a PLANNING problem.

The answer is stupid simple.

Batch production.

But batch production ONLY works if you actually plan first.

Instead of:

- Think of idea
- Film idea
- Repeat until you hate yourself

You do this:

- Come up with MULTIPLE ideas at once
- Figure out what footage, locations, and people can be REUSED across all of them
- Shoot everything in strategic batches

Now that same two hours that used to get you a couple clips for ONE ad?

Gets you 15 pieces of footage… reusable across 30-40 ads.

Two hours used to build 50% of one ad.

Now it builds 25% of THIRTY ads.

See the difference?

This isn't some "best practice" I'm preaching.

This is the EASIEST way to physically hit the volume modern platforms demand.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Brand 3 of 50 (or more): Nomisk: Maia

Pain relief for period cramps.

Almost bailed today.

Told myself Sunday's a rest day.

But here's the thing...

If I want this to actually STICK...

And not just be some motivational burst that dies in week 2...

Then rest days can't be the excuse that kills it.

So I wrote the ads.

Started by stalking their account first.

Some ads have BIG impressions.

But I noticed that they are very old.

Which could mean two things:

Either they're crushing it...

Or it crushed before and the brand just forgot to turn them off.

Can't tell from the outside. But worth noting.

Here's what actually stood out though.

Almost EVERY ad is aimed at gift-buying partners.

Husbands. Boyfriends. Dudes buying this for someone else.

Cool.

But where the heck are the ads for the woman ACTUALLY in pain?

Where are the moms watching their daughters go through this shit every month?

Nowhere.

So that's what I wrote.

5 static ads. 5 video ads.

Two avatars: Women buying for themselves. And mothers buying for their daughters.

Doc's open for comments here: https://t.co/DDssRnmscW

Still down to get roasted.

30 ads down.

470 (or more) to go.

[Maynard Baral @hmmmtb]

Most brand owners are still trying to "hack the algorithm."

Which is cute.

Except Meta already fixed that game post-Andromeda update.

They built an AI judge that looks at your creative BEFORE it goes anywhere.

It doesn't care about your tricks.

There's nothing to "get around" anymore.

The algorithm isn't a lock you pick.

It's a judge you have to actually convince.

And targeting USED to be the whole game.

Narrow the audience, exclude the wrong people, dial in the interests... that used to be the whole game.

Post-Andromeda?

That lever barely moves anything anymore.

Meta already knows who to show your ad to.

What it's judging NOW is whether your creative is actually good enough to show.

Which means creative isn't just "the thing you slap together after targeting."

Creative IS the targeting.

The ad that reaches the right person isn't aimed at the smallest audience.

It's specific enough, different enough, and GOOD enough that Meta actually chooses to show it.

Brand owners chasing algorithm hacks are solving a problem that doesn't exist anymore.

The real lever?

It's sitting right there in the ad itself.