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Field Notes

Dispatches from building a creative strategy loop that compounds — what works, what doesn't, and why.

September 17, 20264 min read

I read 22 DTC ad accounts. Ten had no cold-audience entry.

A first-party read of 22 US DTC advertisers in the Meta Ad Library, July 17 2026, sorted by awareness stage. Ten had no problem-level ad live at all.

Andreas Filimon

Recent dispatches

  • September 17, 20263 min read

    Your problem-aware ads may run on someone else's account

    In the same read of 22 DTC advertisers, the missing top-of-funnel creative often was not missing. It was live on a retailer's account, or a creator's.

  • September 17, 20263 min read

    Five of 22 accounts opened cold. What they did differently.

    The same read of 22 DTC advertisers, inverted: what the five accounts with a real cold-audience entry had in common, across five different categories.

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