In this podcast episode, I discuss a common issue in ad account management known as “asset stuffing.” This occurs when advertisers place all their ad creatives into a single ad set without distinguishing them by type or audience. 

I talk about the problems with asset stuffing – and what to do instead.

One of the more frequent phenomena that I see when reviewing and auditing ad accounts is what I call asset stuffing. 

Here’s what it means. Asset stuffing is most often signified when a single ad set, either on Google or Meta, is named something like “ad set 1,” and there are no other ad sets in that particular campaign. This ad set most commonly includes all assets or creatives associated with the ad account. These ad creatives or assets are not distinguished by type.

For example, if this is a gaming advertiser and they have a number of ads, some could be progression-based, some could be relaxation-based, and some could be achievement-based. Or if this is a consumer subscription app, some could be testimonials, some could be before-and-after ads, and some could be listicles. If asset stuffing is happening, all of these assets or creatives are dumped together in a single ad set. Worse, it may not always be clear which ads are progression-based, which ones are achievement-based, or which ones are relaxation-based.

In fact, for a couple of ad accounts that I reviewed, when I asked if they had any briefings or descriptions from the designers or strategists about why these assets were made the way they were, the advertiser said that the person making the assets had no idea. They did not know if these were meant to be progression-based, achievement-based, or focused on any particular user motivation. The strategist and designer had just provided some ads which had been used.

This means that if the advertiser, designer, or creative strategist has no idea why an ad was made and what user motivation it is supposed to satisfy, then the algorithm is going to have a really hard time figuring out which kinds of audiences to target. This is a huge challenge because if you dump a number of assets in a single ad set, the algorithm may pick a handful of these, or even just one, and allocate a lot of spend to it, while the rest may not get any traction. This means one kind of audience might get prioritized over the rest, and you won’t know which ones are being prioritized and which ones are not.

For all of these reasons, asset stuffing is a huge challenge. So what should you do instead? You should really understand the kinds of audiences you’re targeting and the kinds of creatives that go after each kind of audience. Separate out each ad creative relevant to each of these audiences or by creative themes. Once you have separated out each audience or creative theme, you set up separate ad sets to target different audiences.

By the way, this is also a reason why I’m not a big fan of Advantage Plus campaigns in Meta because you’re not able to have multiple ad sets in there. But by separating out multiple ad sets, each of which is separated out thematically, you can better manage and optimize your ad campaigns.

BEFORE YOU GO

I have a very important favor to ask, which as those of you who know me know I don’t do often. If you get any pleasure or inspiration from this episode, could you PLEASE leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform – be it iTunes, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast fix. This podcast is very much a labor of love – and each episode takes many many hours to put together. When you write a review, it will not only be a great deal of encouragement to us, but it will also support getting the word out about the Mobile User Acquisition Show.

Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome, whether on podcasting platforms – or by email to shamanth@rocketshiphq.com. We read all the reviews & I want to make this podcast better.

Thank you – and I look forward to seeing you with the next episode!