Paid social was being asked to do every job at once across Q3+4: introduce Toybox to strangers, follow up with the curious, and close the sale, all with the same creative.
After running a full year of testing 15 angles across 87 creatives showed broad reassurance messaging ("easy to use," "great for families") pulled the most budget and converted worst, while specific, credible angles (a Shark Tank callout, scarcity, a looming price increase) converted 2–3x better on far less spend. If each funnel stage got creative built for its one job instead of a share of a general campaign, the account should convert more efficiently overall.
Rebuilt the account around named funnel stages: awareness, checkout retargeting, proof-and-urgency close -- each with its own creative logic. Leaned into UGC-style formats that read as content, not ads, for the bottom-of-funnel push and leveraged high performing organic creative via whitelisting for emphasized social proof.
CPMs cut nearly in half, ROAS up ~30%, outside of any holiday lift. Q4 2025 spend also came in ~23% lower than Q4 2024 while ROAS improved (2.44 → 3.76), evidence paid didn't need to work as hard once the audience was already warm.
