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Paid acquisition

The bidding is automated. The thinking is not.

Over 60% of Google Ads spend now flows through Performance Max, and more than 91% of Meta advertisers run AI-optimized Advantage+ campaigns. When everyone hands the same levers to the same algorithms, the account structure stops being the edge. Creative and data become the edge.

Managed spend$3k to $200k a month
EngagementMonthly retainer
Creative20 to 60 variants a month
OptimizationWeekly, with a monthly review
The problem

What moves an automated account

  • Performance Max
  • Demand Gen
  • Advantage+
  • Google Ads
  • Meta Ads
  • Microsoft Ads
  • TikTok Ads
  • Shopping feeds
  • Creative testing
  • Landing pages
  • Server-side conversions

Google has narrowed the gap between Demand Gen and Performance Max to the point where the choice is mostly about how much you want to hand over: Demand Gen keeps tighter creative and audience control on upper-funnel placements, Performance Max automates across every surface Google owns. Neither is a strategy on its own.

The levers that are left are the ones the algorithm cannot invent for you. The quality and volume of creative you feed it. The accuracy of the conversion signal you send back. The structure of your product feed. And the landing page, which is still where the money is won or lost and which no bidding algorithm touches.

AI-generated creative is a real advantage in one specific place and a liability in another. It has been shown to outperform human-produced creative for ecommerce products under roughly $100 average order value, and to underperform above it. We use that as the production decision rather than as an ideology.

There is also a compliance layer now. Meta has required a "Made with AI" disclosure on photorealistic AI imagery since March 2026, and Google has required an "AI Generated" label on primary AI-created elements since March 5, 2026. We build the disclosure into the asset workflow so it is never an afterthought.

Deliverables

What we run

Account management, creative production and the conversion path, from one team, because splitting them is how accounts quietly stop scaling.

  • Account architecture. Campaign type by intent, asset group structure, exclusions, brand splits and the signals Performance Max is allowed to chase.
  • Creative testing on a weekly loop. A weekly loop: generate variants, ship them, read the result, kill the losers, brief the next round from what won. Volume with a memory, rather than volume.
  • Creative production. Static, motion and UGC-style, produced with AI where it earns its place and shot or edited by people where it does not, with platform AI disclosures applied.
  • Feed engineering. Title structure, attributes, custom labels, supplemental feeds, and the exclusions that stop budget going to products that never convert.
  • Landing pages. Built by the same team that builds the sites, matched to the ad, measured against the ad.
  • Conversion accuracy. Server-side tracking, enhanced conversions, offline conversion imports and value-based bidding, so the algorithm optimizes toward revenue rather than form fills.
  • Audience and exclusion strategy. First-party lists, customer match, and the negative work that automated campaigns will not do for you.
  • Weekly optimization, monthly review. A named person on the account, a weekly change log, and one report that ties spend to revenue.
Method

The first ninety days

The same sequence every time, so you always know what is happening this week and what you will see next.

  1. Audit and instrument

    Account teardown, tracking accuracy check, feed review. Nothing is scaled until the conversion signal is trustworthy.

    Weeks 1 to 2
  2. Rebuild

    Campaign architecture, feed fixes, the first creative batch and the landing pages behind it.

    Weeks 2 to 5
  3. Test hard

    The creative loop runs weekly. Early spend is deliberately allocated to learning rather than to a target return.

    Weeks 4 to 10
  4. Scale what won

    Budget follows proven creative and proven audiences. Targets tighten as the data thickens.

    Weeks 8 onward
Evidence

One we ran like this.

Client names and identifying details are changed. The figures are not.

Paid media reporting dashboard with KPI tiles and a rising performance chart
Paid media · PMax + Advantage+

Meridian Group

Multi-brand paid media run end to end across Performance Max and Advantage+, with a weekly creative testing loop feeding both, feed engineering underneath, and one dashboard the account team presents every month.

3.1×Blended ROAS
$280kSpend managed
4Brands
See all work →
Questions

Asked before every engagement.

Performance Max or Demand Gen?

Both, usually, and for different jobs. Performance Max is coverage: it automates across every Google surface and is hard to beat on efficiency once the signal is clean. Demand Gen keeps creative and audience control on upper-funnel placements, which matters when your creative is the differentiator or your brand needs protecting. For ecommerce they work better together than either does alone.

Do you use AI-generated ad creative?

Where the data supports it. AI-generated creative has been shown to outperform human creative for ecommerce products under about $100 average order value, and to underperform above it, so we make it a production decision rather than a default. Where we use it, we apply the required platform disclosures: Meta’s "Made with AI" label on photorealistic imagery and Google’s "AI Generated" label on primary AI-created elements.

What is your fee?

A percentage of managed spend with a monthly minimum, or a flat retainer on smaller accounts. We publish indicative numbers on the pricing page and quote the real one after the audit, because an account with a broken conversion signal costs more to fix than one that is merely underperforming.

What is the minimum spend you will work with?

Around $3,000 a month. Below that, automated campaigns do not gather enough signal to leave the learning phase, and you are better served by putting the same money into the site and organic visibility first. We will tell you that rather than take the retainer.

Who owns the ad accounts?

You do. We work inside your accounts, not a shared agency account. If we part ways, your history, your audiences and your learning stay with you.

Find out where AI sends your customers today.

We run your brand through the answer engines your customers use, then send you the transcript of what they say about you. Free, and yours to keep whether or not we work together.

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