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Military.com — Appendix B Creatives
Source: appendix_b_creatives.md

Appendix B — Creatives

Live API pull, June 4, 2026. Data window: May 5 – June 3, 2026 (last 30d), ad-level.

Naming convention (decoded from sample)

{Concept}_{Static|Video}_{M=Military|NM=Non-Military|F=Family?}_{Animation|Inside|Outside}_{Swipe|Family|Car|Icon|Phone|Headlight|Flag-Swipe}_{MM/DD/YY}

Top 20 ads by spend (last 30d)

# Ad Concept Campaign Spend Leads CPL CTR Created
1 Odometer_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/15 Auto Max Val $180,727 4,652 $38.85 0.78% May 15
2 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_04/28 Auto Max Val $115,062 3,584 $32.10 0.66% Apr 28
3 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_04/28 Auto BAU (Broad) $95,830 4,380 $21.88 1.48% Apr 28
4 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_04/28 Auto BAU (Digital Mktg) $64,671 3,171 $20.39 1.36% Apr 28
5 Odometer_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/15 Auto ALC (Broad 2.0) $41,309 1,761 $23.46 0.87% May 15
6 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_04/28 Auto BAU (Young R.E.) $40,789 1,774 $22.99 1.27% Apr 28
7 Lower-Your-Home_Static_NM_Inside_Icon_05/07 Home ALC $30,460 2,073 $14.69 2.64% May 7
8 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_04/30 Auto BAU (Custom) $26,460 1,225 $21.60 1.16% Apr 30
9 Lower-Your-Home_Static_NM_Inside_Icon_05/07 Home Max Val $25,580 1,200 $21.32 1.19% May 7
10 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_04/28 Auto BAU (Vehicle Ins) $20,590 862 $23.89 1.18% Apr 28
11 Odometer_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/22 Auto BAU (Broad) $13,440 606 $22.18 0.92% May 22
12 Odometer_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/22 Auto BAU (Young R.E.) $13,206 618 $21.37 1.05% May 22
13 TYFYS_Video_M_Anim_Swipe_03/24 Auto Max Val $11,984 328 $36.54 0.65% Mar 24
14 Odometer_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/22 Auto BAU (Custom) $9,274 454 $20.43 0.94% May 22
15 Odometer_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/22 Auto BAU (Vehicle Ins) $8,477 427 $19.85 1.06% May 22
16 Lower-Your-Auto_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/04 Auto ALC (Broad 2.0) $7,336 317 $23.14 0.78% May 4
17 Lower-Your-Home_Static_NM_Inside_Icon_05/07 Home BAU (Custom) $5,363 423 $12.68 2.73% May 7
18 Drive-On_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/29 Auto Max Val $5,288 154 $34.34 0.76% May 29
19 Drive-On_Static_NM_Anim_Swipe_05/30 Auto BAU (Custom) $5,159 280 $18.43 1.40% May 30
20 Odometer_Static_M_Anim_Swipe_05/22 Auto BAU (Digital Mktg) $4,227 190 $22.25 1.00% May 22

Validation of Mo's specific creative findings

Mo's claim Live data Verdict
Odometer_05/15 at $34.63 CPL on ~$178K (DEFINITIVE) Auto Max Val: $180,727 spend, $38.85 CPL MATCH on spend (within 1.5%); CPL slightly higher ($38.85 vs $34.63 — Mo's window probably includes earlier days at lower CPL). Mo's v2 said $38.92 — matches that closer.
Odometer_05/15 at $222K spend, 1.21 ROAS (v3 across all campaigns) Across all campaigns: $180,727 + $41,309 + $13,440 + $13,206 + $9,274 + $8,477 + $4,227 = $270,660 all-Odometer (incl. v05/22 variants) Mo's $222K was only the original 05/15 variant; with the 05/22 follow-on, Odometer concept is even larger spend at $270K+ for 30d. Recommend treating Odometer as a concept family.
Lower-Your-Auto_04/28 at ~$22 CPL, 1.45 ROAS, +$191K net BAU Broad $95,830 / $21.88 CPL; BAU Digital Marketing $64,671 / $20.39 CPL; BAU Young R.E. $40,789 / $22.99 CPL; BAU Custom $26,460 / $21.60 CPL; BAU Vehicle Ins $20,590 / $23.89 CPL; ALC Broad 2.0 $7,336 / $23.14 CPL; Max Val Broad $115,062 / $32.10 CPL = $370,738 30d spend on Lower-Your-Auto concept CONFIRMED as the workhorse winner. Across BAU: $248K at avg $21.85 CPL. Max Val cut: $115K at $32.10. The Max Val pay-up is real.
TYFYS at 1.57 ROAS in v3, best high-spend ad Max Val: $11,984 / $36.54 CPL on 0.65% CTR. BAU Vehicle Ins: $3,194 / $21.73 CPL on 2.26% CTR TYFYS still active but at much lower spend than v3 era. BAU variant works ($21.73); Max Val variant does not ($36.54). Consistent with v3's "TYFYS works at BAU, value-blindness kills it at Max Val."
Veteran-VO at 0.90 ROAS, loses money (v3 inversion) One active variant in Auto Max Val: $2,052 spend, $34.78 CPL. Most Veteran-VO variants paused. Veterans-Save sibling concept: ~$89–$366 each, $29–$67 CPL MATCHES v3 inversion — Veteran-VO has been correctly deprioritized; only $2K spend on the one active variant. The audit fix is already in place.
Drive-On_05/30 at $18.48 CPL — best auto CPL, newer creative (v2) BAU Custom $5,159 / $18.43 CPL ✅ MATCH (within 0.3%). Drive-On is performing as Mo identified.
Lower-Your-Home_05/07 (not in Mo's older audits) Home ALC $30,460 / $14.69 CPL (2.64% CTR), Home Max Val $25,580 / $21.32 CPL, Home BAU Custom $5,363 / $12.68 CPL NEW finding from this pull: Lower-Your-Home is the dominant Home creative, ~$61K/30d spend at $14.69–$21.32 CPL. The Inside_Icon format works on Home where Animation_Swipe works on Auto.

The dominant creative concepts (the ~10 Mo identified, now more precisely mapped)

Concept Format Variants 30d Spend Avg CPL Where it works Where it fails
Lower-Your-Auto-Insurance Static + Animation + Swipe 04/28, 04/30, 05/04 ~$371K $21–32 BAU (~$22) Max Val ($32)
Odometer Static + Animation + Swipe 05/15, 05/22, 06/03 (Moving-Odometer) ~$270K $20–47 BAU/ALC ($20–23) Max Val ($38–47)
Lower-Your-Home-Insurance Static + Inside + Icon 05/07 ~$61K $12.68–$21.32 All Home placements (Home concept only)
TYFYS (Thank You For Your Service) Video + Animation + Swipe 03/09, 03/24 ~$17K $21.73–$36.54 BAU low spend Max Val
Drive-On Static + Animation + Swipe 05/29, 05/30 (NEW) ~$13K $18.43–$34.34 BAU Custom ($18.43) Max Val ($34)
Simplified family (V2-Stopwatch, V3-Gradient, V4-Camo) Mostly Video + Inside + Icon 01/12, 01/13, 03/16, 03/17 ~$8K $13.22–$41.62 Home ($13–14) Auto Max Val ($41+)
Moving-To-Do-List Static + Animation + Swipe 05/04 ~$3.6K $25.31–$41.31 BAU Max Val
Veteran-VO / Veterans-Save Video + Animation + Flag-Swipe/Headlight mostly paused ~$3K $29–$67 (deprioritized — correct) All
Family-outside / Loading-car-2 / Save-Piggybank-Camo / Half-Truck Static + Outside + Family 12/03/25, 03/03/26 ~$6K $19.81–$23.21 Auto ALC
Gradient-V3_You-Earned-It / Half-Car / Drive-Down / More-Savings / Blue-Camo-Vets-Save Static + Animation + Swipe various ~$10K $18.27–$69.78 BAU (More-Savings $18) Max Val (More-Savings $70!)

~10 distinct concept families — Mo's count is right. ~15 if you split families into sub-concepts (e.g., V2, V3, V4 of Simplified).

Critical creative observations

  1. The Max Val penalty is HUGE on identical creatives. Same creative concept (Lower-Your-Auto Static), same format, same audience targeting — but the campaign objective changes CPL by 47% premium ($32.10 Max Val vs $21.88 BAU). The value-pipe fix is what unlocks Max Val. Currently, every Max Val dollar is paying that penalty.

  2. Static dominates over Video by ~5:1 in spend. The top 20 spenders are 18 Static, 2 Video. The TYFYS video at $11K in Max Val and Video 2 family ($2-4K) are the only video presence. Massive video opportunity gap — competitors run video heavily.

  3. No UGC, no testimonial, no real-veteran-on-camera creative. The whole library is graphic/animation-driven. Mo's audit conclusion is confirmed: this is the defensible moat that's unbuilt.

  4. Home creative is materially different and materially cheaper. Home uses Inside_Icon format (icon-driven, calmer); Auto uses Animation_Swipe (motion-driven, urgency). Home CPL is 40–60% lower than Auto. The opportunity: scale Home creative production + spend share faster.

  5. Creative cadence: 8 net-new creative launches identified in May–June (05/04, 05/05, 05/07, 05/15, 05/22, 05/29, 05/30, 06/03). That's ~2 net-new shippable concepts per week, which is consistent — but the variant count per launch is low (2–4 placement variants). True diversity is closer to 1 new concept/week → fatigue clock keeps ticking.

  6. All ads use the same auto custom conversion event (26414218331497189) for Auto, and 527662590217855 for Home — confirming Mo's "click to quotes" finding. Native Lead and Purchase events are not the optimization target despite Purchase having ROAS optimization on Max Val campaigns (which is exactly the broken-value-pipe problem).

  7. Frequency on top Odometer ad: 3.27 (the $180K one in Auto Max Val). Reach 3.1M. Not yet in fatigue territory, but climbing. Within 14 days at current pace it likely passes 4.0.

  8. purchase_roas: "Not available" on every single ad — the broken value signal is account-wide. Every ad in the account has this state. This is not "some events malformed" — this is structurally no usable Purchase ROAS data in Meta. The 98% Mo cited may actually understate it.

Top 5 longest-running active ads (by created_time)

  1. Video 2_Video_M_Anim_Phone (03/03/26) — created Mar 3 — ~$2,333 30d / 1.75 freq / 8.33% CTR ⚠️ anomaly
  2. Family-outside_Static_M_Outside_Family (03/03/26) — Mar 3 — $3,992 / 23.21 CPL
  3. Loading-car-2_Static_NM_Outside_Family (03/03/26) — Mar 3 — $1,078 / 22.95 CPL / 4.47% CTR
  4. Save-Piggybank-Camo_Video_M_Anim_Swipe (12/23/25) — created Dec 2025! — $662 30d but 10.49% CTR ⚠️
  5. Video 2-V2-Emojis_Video_M_Anim_Phone (12/03/25) — created Dec 2025 — $780 / 32.51 CPL

The 10.49% CTR Save-Piggybank-Camo video and 8.33% Video 2 are anomalies worth investigating: very high CTR but moderate spend. Either (a) they only deliver to narrow audiences that ad set targets, or (b) they're cheap because they self-throttle on CTR but Mo could push more budget here.

What's still open after this pull

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