Takeaways from Creative Playbook #4

 Yesterday's Creative Playbook session with Sarah Levinger and Matthew Gattozzi was one of the best creative breakdowns we've done.

We went through real ads from people in the room—jewelry brands, Pilates studios, STEM kits—and dissected what was working and what was leaving money on the table.

Here are 3 insights that came up multiple times:

1. The fatal mismatch

Everyone is making broad ads with no angle and sending them to the broadest page possible (collections, best-sellers).

Then wondering why nothing converts.

No focus = no conversion.

The fix: Match your creative to your page type. Static ads need deep landing pages. Video ads can work with simpler pages. And collection pages only work when people already know your brand.

2. Sell to the buyer, not the user

This came up on the STEM kit breakdown and it's the mistake most kids product brands make.

Parents don't buy STEM kits because their kids need physics lessons. They buy them to feel like good parents investing in their child's confidence.

Show the kid's face when they crack the code. Show "my kids are asleep—look at what they built tonight."

The parent is the buyer. The kid is the experience. Sell emotional ROI.

3. Category psychology matters more than you think

Jewelry ≠ kids products ≠ supplements. Different products need completely different approaches.

Example: Jewelry is one of the only categories where consumers want it to be expensive. Don't sell attainability—sell exclusivity and craftsmanship. And for the love of god, use harsh lighting to make stones sparkle. Soft lighting kills jewelry ads.

If you’ve made it this far and want to do deeper - get your full breakdown here.

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Join the next one

We're running these Creative Playbook sessions multiple times a month. Next one is March 10th with our friends at Oddit.

Same format but website focused: bring your URLs, get real breakdowns from operators who actually run creative at scale, walk away with frameworks you can apply immediately.

Sign up for our events calendar here.

(We're building a community around this too—more on that soon. For now, just show up to the sessions.)

Stay Creative,
Chase from CreativeOS