The Creative Leverage Ratio
Most teams confuse creative velocity with creative diversity. The CLR measures what actually matters — and the 60/30/10 system tells you where to allocate effort.
The Problem
Meta’s Andromeda update added 10,000x more model capacity for ad retrieval. GEM, their generative recommendation engine, is 4x more efficient. The old recommendation of 6 ads per ad set is dead. Creative diversity is now the primary targeting lever.
The message from every platform: produce more, produce faster, feed the machine. Most teams are listening — cranking out 50+ creatives a week, calling it “creative velocity.” And their performance is flat.
Why? Because they’re generating 50 variations of the same 3 concepts. That’s not creative velocity. That’s creative repetition at scale. 80% of new winners come from 20% of concepts — the genuinely different ones.
The Framework
Formula
CLR = Distinct Concepts Tested ÷ Total Creatives Produced
A concept is a unique message, angle, or hypothesis about why someone should care about your product. Two ads with the same message but different colors are one concept. Two ads targeting different pain points are two concepts.
The sweet spot sits between 0.08 and 0.15. Most teams audit at 0.02 to 0.04 — a velocity metric that looks great on paper and a CLR that explains why performance isn’t improving.
The 60/30/10 Creative Allocation
Volume Play
AI-generated variations of proven concepts. Hook swaps. CTA tests. Color changes. Format variations. This tier combats creative fatigue and extends winner lifespan. Essential, but not where breakthroughs happen.
Concept Diversity
Genuinely different angles. Different emotional hooks, use cases, pain points, formats. Each new concept is a hypothesis: “This audience cares about X more than Y.” This is where 80% of new winners come from.
Strategic Bets
Pattern-breakers. Counter-positioning. Unexpected formats. The ugly ad that outperforms the polished one. UGC ads deliver 4x higher CTRs and 50% lower CPC than standard creatives — that insight came from someone in this tier trying something that didn’t look like an ad.
The Tool
AI Creative Prompt Builder
Generate diverse creative concepts using structured AI prompts — designed to push your CLR into the healthy range.
Related Issues
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