Episode 780: Meta Andromeda ‘Ice Cream Strategy’ – Stop Killing Your Best Flavors!

March 3, 2026

Partner with our Meta ads experts: https://www.tiereleven.com/apply

Are your ads “good enough” but still not getting anyone to fall in love? If your creative looks like vanilla ice cream, you’re probably forcing Meta to guess, and that’s basically running your business off a magic “8 ball.”

In this episode, we use ice cream flavors to explain what Meta’s real creative diversification demands. We break down why “pink shirt vs blue shirt” isn’t diversification, how the 25% (or more) difference rule actually plays out, and why you need multiple angles that feel like totally different flavors, not vanilla bean vs French vanilla.

By the end of the episode, you’ll know about building a simple “Rule of Six” creative system, why contribution matters more than last-click attribution, and how to stop turning off ads that are doing the heavy lifting in the background. Give this one a listen, then go build your Baskin-Robbins ad account.

In this episode you’ll learn:

Why creative diversification beats “vanilla” Meta ads every time
Applying Meta’s 25%+ difference rule to prevent ad blurriness
How to use the rule of six to create angle variety
Building multiple hooks, formats, and UGC variations
Optimizing ads for hook rate and hold rate, not just CPA
How last-click attribution hides true incrementality
The difference between contribution and attribution
Why you shouldn’t turn ads off
The best data sources beyond Meta’s Ads Manager

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Perpetual Traffic?

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!

READ THE TRANSCRIPT:

Meta Andromeda ‘Ice Cream Strategy’ – Stop Killing Your Best Flavors!

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:18:23
Lauren
You want to stop relying on a magic eight ball for deciding your business? We always talk about how Andromeda and Meta demands diversification, and that can be really hard and people are like, well, how many different versions? It has to be at least 8%. Those numbers come from meta, not me. Otherwise it’s just ad blurriness. Everything looks like vanilla.

00:00:19:00 – 00:00:26:21
Ralph
They just sold vanilla. How many customers do you think had to go into Ice Creamery? Would have.

00:00:26:23 – 00:00:36:17
Lauren
Hello, and welcome to the Perpetual Traffic. My name is not Ralph Burns, but I am your co-host today, Lauren April of Honor, Mongoose Media, alongside the real ghost of the show.

00:00:36:19 – 00:00:39:12
Ralph
Ralph Burns from tier 11 CEO.

00:00:39:14 – 00:01:03:11
Lauren
So glad you could join us. Thanks again on another great episode alongside my favorite honorary big Brother, where we will poke fun of each other, make embarrassing faces online, and come unscripted with plans. I promise we do plans before, but sometimes it doesn’t necessarily show up. But today we’ve got a really great episode for you that we’re really excited to essentially convince you that vanilla ice cream is boring ass.

00:01:03:13 – 00:01:12:07
Lauren
And if you like vanilla, either one you’re lying. Or two, you’re the rare exception of the human being. And specifically at you, Ralph, because you told me you like vanilla and I’m like.

00:01:12:09 – 00:01:34:19
Ralph
I do like ice cream, by the way. I was just I was wiping a tear from my eye. How how far you’ve come from just little Lauren Petrillo, just on perpetual traffic. Now you’re doing the introductions. Amazing. And I’m still trying to get you to do your first, like, solo episode, by the way. Hint hint nudge.

00:01:34:19 – 00:01:37:10
Lauren
Nudge. Jason, I know we’re reciting.

00:01:37:12 – 00:02:07:22
Ralph
It because we got a couple of reviews that said, you know more. Lauren, more Lauren, no less John. No, I’m not saying that. More Lauren, not necessarily less John. But we’ve had John on here a lot and you are the co-host of Perpetual Traffic, by the way. Just I’m just reminding the viewer that in case they’ve gone out of the misapprehensions just because we’ve had John on here, but John has had some pretty breakthrough stuff, but he also goes way in the weeds a lot of times.

00:02:07:22 – 00:02:13:18
Lauren
Oh my gosh, I’m so in the weeds. I know he’s reached and I’m watching YouTube three times over and I’m like.

00:02:13:19 – 00:02:14:19
Ralph
What is his.

00:02:14:21 – 00:02:15:15
Lauren
Hat?

00:02:15:17 – 00:02:34:21
Ralph
Yeah. Yes, he’s a little bit too much in the weeds. So anyway, so that was a great introduction, by the way. I wasn’t quite prepared because we didn’t rehearse that well. We did rehearse is the fact that, yes, I love vanilla ice cream. However, if I go get an ice cream, I never get like, you, you know, you go get ice cream, right?

00:02:34:21 – 00:02:36:05
Ralph
You go, you get like a cone.

00:02:36:05 – 00:02:38:23
Lauren
Well, I’m not making it, so definitely. No, you’re getting it.

00:02:39:01 – 00:02:49:23
Ralph
No. Like I never have ever gotten vanilla. However, when it comes to, oh, like a warmed up chocolate chip cookie or apple pie.

00:02:50:01 – 00:02:56:02
Lauren
So you’re using vanilla ice cream as an accessory? Vanilla ice cream myself is a garbage dessert.

00:02:56:04 – 00:03:02:18
Ralph
No, I will still, I will say I was the only thing that’s in the freezer. I will absolutely eat it. That’s sort of dangerous, but.

00:03:02:18 – 00:03:03:15
Lauren
Okay, great. I do.

00:03:03:15 – 00:03:04:21
Ralph
Use it as an accessory.

00:03:04:21 – 00:03:13:16
Lauren
In the freezer. Ralph. Yours. Now, admitting vanilla is the only thing you would choose electively to have if it was the last thing in your freezer.

00:03:13:17 – 00:03:26:23
Ralph
That is true. If there was like Rocky Road or Mocha chip or even like, well, those are the only ones that we have because we don’t. We get like Ben and Jerry’s all the time, like I told you to let you, which is like one of my favorites.

00:03:27:01 – 00:03:27:22
Lauren
Okay.

00:03:28:00 – 00:03:29:06
Ralph
Yeah. Now we’re talking.

00:03:29:06 – 00:03:36:21
Lauren
That’s oh, now you’re speaking my language. And there’s a reason why we’re talking about ice cream, guys. Because this is related to creative diversification.

00:03:36:23 – 00:03:48:11
Ralph
See, this is what happens when Lauren gets to be the host of the show, is that we immediately start talking about food and our food preferences, which is super important because I don’t think we’ve ever talked about this sort of stuff before. But yes.

00:03:48:12 – 00:04:09:02
Lauren
Love that topic. I like all I eat is like a five year old. I have like a diet of a five year old, mac and cheese, chocolate chips. Like I have chocolate every morning for breakfast. I have cookies two three times a day. Like I am so grateful for my genes because I would have been that thousand pound sister then another girl on that show because I like, I eat like if I wrote that.

00:04:09:02 – 00:04:13:14
Ralph
Really, I didn’t realize that, like, we forgot a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen you eat.

00:04:13:15 – 00:04:16:02
Lauren
Oh, you even see my Mary Poppins bag of snacks. Okay, well.

00:04:16:02 – 00:04:22:18
Ralph
You don’t know why you were a snacker, that’s for damn sure. Yeah, yeah, I’ve known that I’m gonna be doing this show for a long time together, but the.

00:04:22:19 – 00:04:35:10
Lauren
Oh, my gosh, there has to be clips of me just eating nonstop during the show’s brief moments. Like shoveling. Which of the cookies are for today, especially like ice cream? Or you’re like, okay.

00:04:35:12 – 00:04:40:00
Ralph
And that’s not vanilla ice cream. You’re eating ice cream in the middle of the day.

00:04:40:01 – 00:04:42:16
Lauren
And you’re judging. Yeah. And I said, let’s.

00:04:42:18 – 00:05:00:01
Ralph
If I did that, I would absolutely fall asleep. I’d be like done dead asleep like within a half hour because the sugar just does that to me. So I eat at night, which is like the worst thing that you do, like right before you go to bed. So it turns directly into fat. But I don’t know, there’s like some theories about that.

00:05:00:01 – 00:05:13:22
Ralph
I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but like if last thing for me is like what we are well, it’s February, so we have leftovers. We have leftover vanilla ice cream from I think it was Christmas.

00:05:14:00 – 00:05:18:22
Lauren
So too long. If ice cream in your freezer for more than two weeks, it wasn’t good.

00:05:19:00 – 00:05:37:14
Ralph
That well, it’s vanilla. So that tells you how much I like it. So I don’t like it that much, but I do like it as an accessory ice cream. So today’s show I’m cannot let you introduce the theme as to what this why this relates back to model ice cream because this is your show after all. Because you’re hosting it today.

00:05:37:14 – 00:05:42:22
Ralph
So, now she’s off microphone now.

00:05:43:00 – 00:05:51:03
Lauren
Okay. I’m glad that we’ve settled that vanilla is garbage. Anyone that’s listening that thinks otherwise, I think you’re lying to yourself. But,

00:05:51:05 – 00:05:53:05
Ralph
We should diversify your.

00:05:53:09 – 00:06:04:22
Lauren
Diversify? You haven’t explored. You know what? You have yet? To explore amazing flavors like rainbow sherbet and moose tracks and cookie dough and mint chocolate chip. I mean, I keep God flat. The purpose of this.

00:06:04:22 – 00:06:20:18
Ralph
Is I had this ice cream in New Zealand. I was in New Zealand two weeks ago and she was like, do you want to sample it first? I’m like, no, it just looks so good. It was like it was it had vanilla as its base, but then it had caramel and it also had like a creme brulée kind of thing with chocolate chips.

00:06:21:00 – 00:06:30:11
Ralph
And then there was a swirl of marshmallow. I’m like, I just sold all of those together. Like, I don’t need to take a sample, just give me two scoops of that sucker.

00:06:30:13 – 00:06:52:04
Lauren
So that was your home run ice cream? You did not. So you didn’t even need a sample. Okay, that’s the perfect segue into this, because what I want everyone listening to take away from this is to question yourself. Are you selling vanilla ice cream? Are all of your ads vanilla? Are they ads that by themselves are going to get someone like Ralph to order two scoops without even tasting?

00:06:52:09 – 00:07:25:17
Lauren
Or is it like, okay, like people don’t hate vanilla, but no one like really loves vanilla and chooses it. But most of the time when I’m looking at ad accounts or when we’re looking at stuff, the ads themselves are vanilla. They are like good enough for everyone, but no one’s actually falling in love. But the example that you just gave that new Zealand caramel marshmallow in Hawaii or whatever the butter kind of stuff was that was so good, that resonates so well with you that you were able to convert immediately without having to do a trial or having to go through all the additional marketing steps.

00:07:25:20 – 00:07:45:08
Ralph
Yep, it was Patagonia in the Queenstown, New Zealand. I just looked it up. It was so good. And then we’re going to leave links in the shownotes. If you ever go to Queenstown, New Zealand, go to this place. It was the best ice cream I think I’ve ever had. Jen. I forget what Jen had, but Jen did not have vanilla.

00:07:45:08 – 00:07:48:18
Ralph
I know that for damn sure. Anyway. Keep going. You’re on a roll here.

00:07:48:23 – 00:08:06:02
Lauren
So when you’re looking at your ads and you’re leveraging credit diversification, we always talk about how Andromeda and Meta demand’s diversification. And that can be really hard. And people are like, well, how many different versions? And we’ve talked exhaustively that it’s not, you know, Lauren with a pink shirt, Lauren with a blue shirt, Lauren with a microphone, Lauren without a microphone.

00:08:06:07 – 00:08:33:00
Lauren
It has to be at least 25% different. Those those numbers come from meta, not me. And we say it’s cuckoo crazy different. Otherwise it’s just ad blurriness. So everything looks like vanilla. You have vanilla bean, French vanilla, vanilla. To me it’s just vanilla. There’s not enough of a distinctiveness between the flavors of ice cream or the ads. If you’re not treating your ad account like a Baskin-Robbins 31 flavors.

00:08:33:02 – 00:08:36:14
Ralph
I’m even looking it up. It was called Tribe Montana.

00:08:36:18 – 00:08:37:19
Lauren
It was, oh my gosh, you’re just.

00:08:37:19 – 00:08:58:12
Ralph
Caramel with chocolate coated hokey pokey, which is no whole other hokey pokey is a whole other thing. But the point is, is it wasn’t vanilla. So yes. So think about the links that we’re going to leave in the show notes here. The Patagonia Ice Cream review as a sampling of like how you should think about your ads right now.

00:08:58:12 – 00:09:21:18
Ralph
And it’s absolutely that because the more diverse that is, the more you’re going like if they just sold vanilla, how many customers do you think Patagonia Ice Creamery you would have? Not that many. Right. Because they’re selling one thing. They’re selling. Yeah, but they’re still selling ice cream. So they need I think it’s like 15 or 16 different flavors here.

00:09:21:20 – 00:09:23:16
Ralph
And that’s actually works out quite well.

00:09:23:16 – 00:09:39:13
Lauren
But then they have toppings. They have cones versus cups, like they’re catering to a large variety of people. How you want to consume this dessert. And even if you’re like, I’m only selling vanilla ice cream, likely you’re doing it in banana splits. You’re doing it in brownie sundaes, you’re doing cookie skillets, you’re making a sandwich out of it.

00:09:39:14 – 00:10:00:13
Lauren
You’re doing things that are it’s not solo ice cream by itself, which is a great accessory and is what people will add to apple pie. Well, you said earlier that you’ll have it also with, sundae, a vanilla add a vanilla ice cream flavor. Add is one that’s like speaking to everybody because they had no one like really hates vanilla.

00:10:00:15 – 00:10:11:13
Lauren
But it’s not going to give the same enthusiasm. A Ralph is like, stop the floor, it’s Patagonia. Look at this. I’m sure you’re actually probably going through your photo library right now to find a photo of this magnificent ice cream.

00:10:11:13 – 00:10:25:13
Ralph
I think I ate it so fast I didn’t take a photo of it. Oh, like I sat on the beach. Jen’s like, do you want to sit? Okay. I’m like, nope. I’m just going to simply treat this thing like, well, like, why don’t you sit here? I’m like, no, no, no, I don’t want to go like any farther.

00:10:25:13 – 00:10:28:11
Ralph
I’m just gonna eat it right now. Oh, it was so good.

00:10:28:13 – 00:10:48:14
Lauren
You’re savoring it, and you want people to think about your marketing in your products that way. And that’s where some of these really good ads resonate with us. Like, we all remember. If you don’t remember the squatty potty with the unicorn pooping a rainbow ice cream swirl like there’s some even like a Goldilocks commercial with purple mattress where it was like, which one is just right in the playoff?

00:10:48:14 – 00:11:09:18
Lauren
The princess in the pee. Like there are some ads that resonate. And while you don’t have to hire like major production companies to do it, what you can do is find what are the Cherry Garcia? Is this Patagonia flavor ice cream that you were obsessed with on the beach? I personally like a chocolate with a hazelnut swirl and a creamy mango sorbet combination with gummy bears and chocolate raspberry sauce on top.

00:11:09:18 – 00:11:48:23
Lauren
Like everyone has their own unique flavor of ice cream that they want, and you can have different angles and different features and benefits that you can talk about so that when you’re creating, as I’m not saying, make 31 different ones like Baskin Robbins level like that’s resource heavy. But when you’re creating ads for your various products, I invite you like we use six as our benchmark to create six different flavors of ice cream, because if you’re only going to make one plain vanilla, then you’re going to have one plain ad account versus finding the Cherry Garcia is the rocky roads, the blue moons, the rainbow sherbet having those that so resonate well, you’ll have someone

00:11:48:23 – 00:12:08:17
Lauren
like Ralph so quick to buy that they’re like, oh my gosh, this speaks to me. So you have to find the different angles to just be done. The hook or the UGC, whatever combination, the carousel, the video, the static, what is that resonating with that individual user? So you’re finding their specific flavor that they want to convert right away.

00:12:08:18 – 00:12:12:05
Lauren
And that’s why you want to have creative diversification.

00:12:12:07 – 00:12:42:22
Ralph
Very true. I would actually submit that you’re saying 25% different. We’re saying it’s got to be at least like 70% different in a lot of cases. As long as you are saying we’ll leave a link in the show notes, this, the creative diversification playbook that meta gave us a while back, we have been actually using this we have used as a download in the past and previous episodes, very long URL, but we’ll, we’ll leave it on the tier 11 site so you can just download it, just grab it, use it, disseminate it to your team.

00:12:43:00 – 00:13:05:09
Ralph
But on the third or fourth page, it actually goes through. And I can actually show you this specifically on our screen. Share. Yeah. So you can see here. So this is inside this creative, diversification playbook like this came out of over a year ago. Yeah. And I this is just sort of the base. But if you look at this, here are three ads there.

00:13:05:09 – 00:13:06:13
Ralph
They’re different.

00:13:06:15 – 00:13:11:22
Lauren
I mean, yeah, no, they’re French vanilla versus vanilla bean versus vanilla. Like the three.

00:13:12:02 – 00:13:15:21
Ralph
They would be considered different like years ago. They are not considered.

00:13:15:21 – 00:13:16:07
Lauren
Sure.

00:13:16:09 – 00:13:39:13
Ralph
Different now they’re two similar. So even 25% like look at the difference between these ads that are on the right. And so if you’re not you’re not watching this over our perpetual traffic YouTube channel. I highly encourage that you do that perpetual traffic.com/youtube. We’ll just explain it here. We basically have a face facial cream or a moisturizer and there’s three pictures of it on the left hand side.

00:13:39:15 – 00:13:39:21
Ralph
It’s kind.

00:13:39:21 – 00:13:40:16
Lauren
Of similar.

00:13:40:19 – 00:14:04:23
Ralph
The bottle on the right hand like right aligned and a square image with some copy. Very very small copying by the way. And then there’s maybe a little bit difference in coloration pricing, maybe a percentage off or maybe a coupon code, something like that. But it’s basically they’re all three pictures of the individual moisturizer, you know, right aligned on the right hand side.

00:14:05:01 – 00:14:27:00
Ralph
You have that image, but then you have a woman, obviously a camera face to camera nine by 16, or maybe while this is one by one. But the point is, is very, very different than the first image. And then the third image is another image that is. So it has very little sort of post-production. But I wouldn’t say it’s a great ad, but the point is, is like, it’s like I can’t.

00:14:27:00 – 00:14:27:11
Lauren
Even tell.

00:14:27:12 – 00:14:42:15
Ralph
It. Yeah, they’re all different. Everything on the left hand side is three different flavors of vanilla. Maybe speckled bean, maybe French vanilla, maybe pure vanilla or ice milk, whatever the hell that is. I don’t even know what it is. Don’t even touch it.

00:14:42:16 – 00:14:43:22
Lauren
Dairy free vanilla, I don’t.

00:14:43:22 – 00:14:59:19
Ralph
Know, very free vanilla. Lactose free vanilla. Oh, they’ve got vanilla on the left hand side, but on the right you’ve got. Well, you’ve got my favorite Trentino. I believe it was Trump one. Tana 17 I think. I think that was like in.

00:14:59:19 – 00:15:00:05
Lauren
Between the.

00:15:00:05 – 00:15:09:07
Ralph
Mountains. Yeah, exactly. Trevor, travertine is like a stone. I believe we got to a travertine travertine ring while we were there.

00:15:09:07 – 00:15:11:06
Lauren
Stone cream is where he’s trying to go.

00:15:11:07 – 00:15:25:08
Ralph
Exactly. So we’ve got Tram Montano, we’ve got Dulce to let you we we’ve got banana split. We’ve got hazelnut Camino. This is what we want here. And this is just a small sort of sample size of it. And like I said, we’ll put this in the show.

00:15:25:10 – 00:15:45:11
Lauren
It’s showing. I mean, granted, this is showing a 7% lower CPU and 7% higher purchases. This is the 25%. And I didn’t come up with that. That’s from meta, where if it looks too similar, like I’ve seen examples where it’s like a product shot and then there’s text on it like it’s the copy and the credit. It’s not just the image that has to be different.

00:15:45:13 – 00:16:03:06
Lauren
You can’t say like, get for free tonight or free shipping available. It’s not diverse enough. Like I’m really trying to hone in on the ask your friends, ask your colleague what is their favorite flavor of ice cream, and you’ll see that everyone has their distinct, unique flavor. And that’s what we’re looking at in your ads.

00:16:03:07 – 00:16:22:06
Ralph
Yeah. And that’s this whole print out here is all about all of this. Like we don’t really get it, but the bottom line is this is that that is the rule now. Like, there is no other way to to do this, but do it through creative diversification and you throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and you see sort of what sticks.

00:16:22:06 – 00:16:49:14
Ralph
Now when sticks is the key, because what sticks is not necessarily today what it used to be a year or so ago or two years ago, or let alone five years ago, it’s not solely determined by CPA. And the way that when John and I did this episode and this is six months or so ago, and if you want to get to really in-depth on this, we’ll leave links in the show notes for that episode.

00:16:49:14 – 00:17:12:02
Ralph
But the key is this is that the ads that are getting impressions and hook rate, hold rate. We talked about that in previous episode, getting impressions and getting spend might not be the ones that are actually getting the conversion. They are the ones that are almost feeding the other ads to sort of get the interest.

00:17:12:04 – 00:17:30:02
Lauren
What you Rigby’s out there that are like, let me the feeder of what we find you an audience. Let me see. Like, oh, they’re ice cream fans, but they’re not a Cherry Garcia fan. But hey. Okay. Vanilla. They’ve liked ice cream. Now, maybe I’ll present them Rocky road. Maybe I’ll present them moose tracks. Oh, they slam dunk on Reese’s peanut butter cup.

00:17:30:03 – 00:17:48:03
Lauren
It’s curating the audience. And it’s just incrementality lift. And I’m like, so Ralph, I’m really excited because, okay, this is my little prediction piece in meta right now depending on some of the ad accounts. So not even all ad accounts have this yet. You can go into the break down inside of ads manager go into attribution. So not everyone has this.

00:17:48:03 – 00:18:16:02
Lauren
But like you can see demographics I use all the time for audience segmentation and all that stuff. But there’s one now called attribution. And you can see inside of a sales campaign if the results you have are a first conversion or all conversions. So you’re now starting to see if an ad leads to secondary conversions inside of your ad account, which is great if you’re buying, if you’re getting someone to repeat purchase, or if you have leads and they’re re signing up for additional lead magnets, you’re getting more information.

00:18:16:04 – 00:18:40:02
Lauren
But how many individual results you’re getting from a user? I mean, everything’s of course like one on an estimate because that is never precise to the degree we wish it was. But they’re showing now in some ad accounts first conversion, all conversion so that you can see like maybe a third or half or 10% of the people that bought, then buy something else in that same seven day attribution window, assuming that’s what you said.

00:18:40:03 – 00:19:03:23
Lauren
And then further to that, where my crystal ball is with all this stuff, how you’re using the additional ads, the different flavors of ice cream to let people, hey, we’ve got unique flavors of ice cream. Come on in. I believe in the next six months we’re going to see Incrementality in our dashboards where it’s going to say this ad, this Rocky Road ad helps this rainbow sherbet ad get the results.

00:19:03:23 – 00:19:23:18
Lauren
Because the last one they clicked on, like some people will be a home run right away. I wish we was for everyone, but it might be their seventh AD. They’ve interacted with their fifth AD, and on the fifth that they decided, yes, I want to buy. I really believe in the next six months we’re going to see Incrementality attribution or like a conversion lift from the other creative, which goes to the whole thing.

00:19:23:18 – 00:19:28:03
Lauren
Ralph, where I like, screamed at the beginning of the episode where, you know, we’re not supposed to do with our ad creatives.

00:19:28:05 – 00:19:37:17
Ralph
Here’s be vanilla. True. I would like to initiate a new way of thinking about this. And in your excellent ice cream example, by the way, which I love.

00:19:37:17 – 00:19:38:07
Lauren
I thank you.

00:19:38:09 – 00:20:00:13
Ralph
So. And this is all your idea. Like the show, like all about ice cream, which I had brought some back. It never would’ve lasted anyway. The point is this is that there’s two different concepts here and the rocky road in your example. Okay, got the attention right? And then maybe there was other ice creams in there. Maybe there was one, maybe there was two, maybe there was seven, maybe there was ten.

00:20:00:15 – 00:20:17:17
Ralph
And then the orange sherbet, which I believe is the one that got the last click, got the attribution, the attribution for the sale, all the other ads that preceded that contributed. Yeah. So this is contribution versus attribution.

00:20:17:22 – 00:20:19:12
Lauren
Yeah.

00:20:19:14 – 00:20:43:00
Ralph
And that I think is a the key concept for all of this, and especially when it comes to ice cream, because you’re going to have lots of different flavors that are contributing to that final click. We were just on a call with a client this past week that they’ve got such a novel product. And like I say, what it is in the services industry, nobody else has it.

00:20:43:00 – 00:21:06:19
Ralph
And they have a very distinct name. And we noticed when they when we went into their Google Search Console that search terms for their name went from about 800, up to about 1400 to 1200 thereabouts ever since they started working with us. And they’ve got very good SEO, they’ve got very good placement in the geographic markets that they serve and a very distinct name.

00:21:06:19 – 00:21:33:19
Ralph
And when we looked in Google Console, all of that Incrementality all of that contribution to search terms that they’re being search for or all for their brand name, where do you think that brand name recognition came from? It could be the Rocky road, the pistachio walnut. It came from all of the different ads that we had done prior.

00:21:33:19 – 00:21:37:21
Ralph
I’m trying to think of more mascarpone with berries. Ask company.

00:21:37:23 – 00:21:38:15
Lauren
Berries.

00:21:38:17 – 00:22:09:13
Ralph
Company hazelnut Camino ads that then the final ad was the orange sherbet, or maybe the vanilla and that’s the one. Or maybe it was. Or maybe it was the Google search in the organic search. And we’re not running Google paid ads for them right now. So the point is this you want to create a bridge. You can create a brand on meta now, and then you’re going to see that attribution for the sale oftentimes not happen when the contribution to the sale is the stuff that’s really doing the heavy lifting.

00:22:09:15 – 00:22:12:11
Ralph
And that comes from a diversified creative strategy.

00:22:12:12 – 00:22:32:06
Lauren
And that’s where like, I will be very adamant, like, you do not turn ads off. It’s like you don’t shut down. Add flavors like the flavors of ice cream. Now look, you can rotate like, don’t get me wrong. Like metal will turn them off. Metal will choke out the impressions for ones that they’ve deemed are not worthy. You don’t turn off because it is like incrementality and the contribution versus the attribution.

00:22:32:11 – 00:22:59:01
Lauren
At least I’m seeing that more and more and more supportive of stronger ad accounts. And, you know, the Rule of Six was a number that meta had promoted a lot, like don’t have more than 6000 and asset I there’s no number for just me. I start with Lauren Petrillo saying like, okay, let’s have six ads per offering. Like literally Ralph, we’re doing a LinkedIn webinar where it’s like, hey, how like LinkedIn helped drive hundreds of thousand dollars of new sales for magazine media from strangers.

00:22:59:03 – 00:23:20:14
Lauren
We’re doing this. And the team was like, great. We’ve got a few guys. I was like, if it’s not at least six different flavor ice cream ads, I don’t want to run a campaign for it yet. So that’s my number because it forces us to have different angles, and it doesn’t always have to be unique flavors where it’s like you’re talking about orange sherbet versus chocolate swirl versus chunky monkey versus dairy free whatever.

00:23:20:18 – 00:23:39:15
Lauren
You can also still, like meta, allows you to take a flavor. And if we’re like saying, well, you said pistachio walnut, say you have pistachio walnut in a cone and pistachio walnut in a cup and pistachio walnut in a milkshake. You can do that in a static in a video or a carousel.

00:23:39:17 – 00:23:58:12
Ralph
Now you’re going like way, way next level. So they did have like fold ins on this. And they had like all these other sorts. The classic ice cream base like yeah, basically infinite variations that you can do for any ad and for any ice cream for that matter. The point is this is that the more diverse you go, at least start it.

00:23:58:17 – 00:24:01:06
Ralph
Start off with six. Six is good. Be happy with.

00:24:01:06 – 00:24:25:19
Lauren
Six. I’ll take three. If you can’t do six, I understand it’s a resource restraint. I like the two options of you can create six unique flavors, or you can create two unique flavors and then do three different ways that you can consume that flavor. Because the 25% rule comes from meta. And they say that the place, the format, the video versus the static versus the carousel, those match the 25% difference.

00:24:25:19 – 00:24:45:05
Lauren
So you can take the seed nuggets. So say like you’re hey, you want to stop relying on a magic eight ball for deciding your business, right? And the concept of that is a magic eight ball. Maybe you have a video of Ralph shaking a magic eight ball being like, Will Google ads work for my business? Shows the magic eight ball and says maybe try again later.

00:24:45:07 – 00:25:02:11
Lauren
So you have the video. I’m like throwing it away, letting it break me. Like we don’t rely on 80s tactics and games to figure out ways to scale in 2026. Yeah, so that could be a video describing it. You take that same eight ball and just have a static that shows call tier 11. Like, what do I do when my ads aren’t working?

00:25:02:11 – 00:25:22:08
Lauren
You can have it as a triangle and side as a static, and then the same as a carousel where you’re telling a story, which is like games from the 80s are nostalgic, eclectic, and things to remember. But if you want to be remembered as an agency or remembered as a service provider, it’s time to get on 2026 trends.

00:25:22:10 – 00:25:23:10
Lauren
I know, yeah.

00:25:23:12 – 00:25:52:16
Ralph
It’s true. And like when you go into your ad account, you can’t rely on the in-app metrics. This is a whole other show unto itself in a lot of ways, because you have to look at your source of truth, because inside meta, it’s still, I mean, as much as they’ve modeled the data and made it a hell of a lot easier and better, there is still a lot of data that’s missing inside of meta, so you always have to double check this against what’s going on inside your source truth, which is your CRM, wherever you collect the money, and then you have to look at them.

00:25:52:16 – 00:26:08:22
Ralph
And obviously we use the tier 11 data suite, which we talked about here many, many times. The point is this it’s like you need some other source of truth that shows the data that’s actually being pulled from actual sales, because meta won’t show it to you. I’m looking in that ad account right now that we talked to that client yesterday.

00:26:09:00 – 00:26:17:05
Ralph
The video that is getting the most spend has absolutely zero purchases attributed to okay.

00:26:17:07 – 00:26:38:06
Lauren
But it’s still getting spun because that’s even though they’re not showing us the contribution. We know there’s an incremental lift. And as you just show or like explain with where you’re seeing the branding, you have to market your business in order to advertise your service or offering. Your marketing comes into it. And I think a lot of this when when meta brings in, which I think you’re gonna do in the next six months.

00:26:38:08 – 00:26:57:09
Lauren
So I think it was a huge lift before Black Friday, and I know it’s only February, but, yeah, Black Friday is still a conversation that we need to be prepared for. Like, you just doesn’t, like, put our head under a sand like an ostrich. But we want to be like, when they give us that information. For me, I think it’s the end all be all like we’re using triple oil or the Giga report.

00:26:57:09 – 00:27:19:15
Lauren
We’re using North theme, we’re using high rose. Like all these different tools are all trying to show us true attribution. But the same time, they’re all telling us ish incremental attribution to the best way that they can when meta holds all the cards. Google knows all this information, and Google give it to you. You can see a percentage of a conversion like Google already has been doing this.

00:27:19:20 – 00:27:38:11
Lauren
So I think is just going to be a bit more public with it. So, in the like ice cream stuff like create a lot of different flavors. And when you create one that says Patagonia Ranch, is Tremonti, the one that Ralph is obsessed with. And he’s still I mean, look at his smile if you’re on YouTube just to see he’s like boyish grin, also like his fresh face.

00:27:38:13 – 00:27:40:15
Ralph
Because, all right, now we didn’t talk about that.

00:27:40:17 – 00:27:44:18
Lauren
Yeah. Like I feel like, who is this Ned? I didn’t recognize not recognize me.

00:27:44:18 – 00:27:50:02
Ralph
Like, who is that guy? It is the year of the Fire horse today, by the way, as we’re recording. Yeah.

00:27:50:03 – 00:27:54:22
Lauren
Singing Delilah or to my not Chuck memoir for a happy New Year.

00:27:55:01 – 00:27:56:14
Ralph
What happened here is that.

00:27:56:17 – 00:27:58:13
Lauren
They’re in Chinese Mentos.

00:27:58:16 – 00:28:14:13
Ralph
But we’re going to be getting together in a couple of weeks. So I feel like do a little like Chinese New Year celebration, because we are shedding the year of the snake, by the way, shedding bad habits and, you know, shed my beard. So I didn’t even talk about that. And you’re all in pink. Like pink, pink, pink, like everything.

00:28:14:13 – 00:28:18:01
Ralph
Always everything. You’re back in the home office looking good in the.

00:28:18:01 – 00:28:18:19
Lauren
Back, in.

00:28:18:21 – 00:28:38:18
Ralph
The background. So how do I see it? Is the year of the fire horse. New beginnings, new acquaintances, new relationships, new ways of doing things. And this what we’ve talked about here for the last half hour is a new way of doing things. Ladies and gentlemen, you gotta shed your old habits when it comes to meta ads and even Google ads to a lesser degree.

00:28:38:18 – 00:28:50:07
Ralph
But meta is the thing that’s powering all of this right now. A man is at work, and if you do it right, you just have to be able to understand. You need lots of varieties of ice cream.

00:28:50:09 – 00:29:09:07
Lauren
You do, and don’t shut them off because your audience wants to see the different versions, because maybe you haven’t found their commander yet, like they’re one flavor that wins it, but you’ll show them and introduce them to lavender ice cream and mint chip. And all the different ones are like, you know what, I am going to go to this ice cream place because I can always trust that they have good flavors.

00:29:09:12 – 00:29:13:18
Ralph
That’s it. Well, you started it. So now you want to see.

00:29:13:20 – 00:29:26:01
Lauren
Oh yeah, it’s been a blast. Thanks for everyone for joining and listening to my rant on. If you do think that vanilla ice cream by itself is the best ice cream, I’m going to think you’re just as funny as Coffee Muslim. And we all know that he’s not that funny.

00:29:26:01 – 00:29:30:03
Ralph
He’s not that funny. He’s really not that high. You’re way funnier.

00:29:30:05 – 00:29:40:17
Lauren
Thanks. You have to say that because I’m, like, going to be. See you soon with my Mary Poppins snap bags and we’re going to make an outing. I’m like, okay, are we going to go to Gatorland? We’re going to go down and go swimming in freezing cold water.

00:29:40:18 – 00:29:43:17
Ralph
It’s not like a banana boat thing we can do down there. Like, oh, there’s.

00:29:43:17 – 00:29:44:14
Lauren
So many things.

00:29:44:14 – 00:29:47:09
Ralph
So we can Sony, Discovery Cove.

00:29:47:11 – 00:29:55:02
Lauren
Yeah. So anyone that’s in Central Florida, we should do a, we should do a meet up, anyone that’s in Central Florida, and we can do a live recording at, like, a fun hood.

00:29:55:04 – 00:29:56:13
Ralph
That was fun.

00:29:56:15 – 00:29:57:08
Lauren
Yes.

00:29:57:10 – 00:29:59:06
Ralph
With the figure that’s in Florida.

00:29:59:06 – 00:30:09:07
Lauren
Oh my God look. 20300I know the exact activity. Oh my gosh. There’s a game place where we can all, play competing like a quiz show game against each other.

00:30:09:09 – 00:30:10:02
Ralph
Really.

00:30:10:04 – 00:30:11:14
Lauren
He likes to shooting people’s.

00:30:11:16 – 00:30:14:07
Ralph
Do we do that? Everyone has a gun in Florida, right?

00:30:14:09 – 00:30:16:12
Lauren
Isn’t that at least 50% of people have a gun on them?

00:30:16:12 – 00:30:25:07
Ralph
Yes, because I know when you land in Texas, they hand a handgun to you. Like, welcome to Texas. Here’s your Magnum.

00:30:25:07 – 00:30:27:03
Lauren
I think in Florida, we give you the Bible.

00:30:27:05 – 00:30:34:13
Ralph
Oh, oh, that stroke and suit. Wouldn’t that be funny? If you actually did do that? Like everyone who lived in Boston, you had a lobster like I.

00:30:34:13 – 00:30:35:15
Lauren
Oh, gosh.

00:30:35:17 – 00:30:36:11
Ralph
Darn.

00:30:36:12 – 00:30:40:00
Lauren
Well, when you do go to the state line, you get grapefruit juice or orange juice.

00:30:40:01 – 00:30:49:23
Ralph
Oh, okay. Right. I watch out for Florida, man, but that’s a whole other episode unto itself. All right. So let bring us home here because you’ve got another call, as do I. Oh.

00:30:50:01 – 00:31:02:11
Lauren
It’s been a great episode. I can’t remember how we end actually Ralph. Oh my gosh, why am I spacing out? So, like, thanks for listening. I’m your host. If you like subscribe hit all the DMs. I’m making this up right now. How do we end up with those? I say check this amazing goggles.

00:31:02:13 – 00:31:08:07
Ralph
Yeah, you got that. Or I could just say, you know, wherever you listen to podcast, make sure you leave a rating and review.

00:31:08:09 – 00:31:08:16
Lauren
There he.

00:31:08:16 – 00:31:24:11
Ralph
Goes. Us to get to a wider audience to teach people how to do this stuff the right way, using ice cream as our analogy with metrics that matter and growth at scales, which is sort of what we’re all about here at Perpetual traffic. So, yeah. And then you say.

00:31:24:13 – 00:31:33:21
Lauren
On behalf of my amazingly fresh face looking ten years younger than ever, do you want a full co-host, Ralph H.

00:31:33:21 – 00:31:36:05
Ralph
Burns Chow?

Episode 780: Meta Andromeda ‘Ice Cream Strategy’ – Stop Killing Your Best Flavors!

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Meta Andromeda ‘Ice Cream Strategy’ – Stop Killing Your Best Flavors!

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