Why DTC Brands Must Rethink Creative Strategy for Meta and Amazon in 2025
For modern e-commerce brands, ad performance isn’t just about budget and targeting. It’s about creative. And in a post-iOS world where algorithms are shifting and attention spans are shrinking, creative strategy is no longer optional—it’s your biggest performance lever.
In the latest episode of Executive Roast, I sat down with Charlotte Sargeant of The Creative Strategy Lab to talk about why creative strategy is the true difference-maker in Meta campaigns—and why the same thinking needs to be applied to Amazon.
What is Creative Strategy, Really?
Creative strategy isn’t just about making pretty ads. It’s about:
Understanding why people buy
Mapping messaging to different stages of awareness
Using visual and verbal cues to stop the scroll, resonate emotionally, and convert quickly
As Charlotte put it: "It’s not new. What’s new is that brands are finally realising they can’t just throw things at the wall anymore."
Why Most Creative Doesn't Work
Most creative fails not because the idea was bad—but because it wasn’t rooted in strategy. Many brands default to trend-chasing on Meta or generic features-led messaging on Amazon. The result? High spend. Low performance.
What you need instead is a system:
Message mapping based on customer psychology
Creative frameworks that support testing (like multi-message static ads or story-driven UGC)
Data-backed iteration that informs both paid and organic strategies
The Testing Trap
Too many brands still test one creative execution at a time, or base their messaging on internal assumptions. A better approach:
Mine customer reviews and testimonials for real emotional drivers
Map key benefits to different personas
Build creative that mirrors how different segments talk, think, and feel
Charlotte explains how challenger brands can find messaging gold in competitor reviews, using them to surface the true language and desires of the category—even before they have a large review base of their own.
This is as true on Meta as it is on Amazon. On Meta, you need hooks, relatability, trust signals. On Amazon, you need infographics, lifestyle imagery, and A+ content that lands within 0.3 seconds of a scroll.
Creative Strategy for Amazon: Still Underused
Despite its impact, creative strategy is still wildly underused on Amazon. Many brands obsess over traffic and PPC performance, but overlook the listing creative itself.
Let’s be clear: your listing is your storefront. And your:
Hero image is your billboard
Infographics are your sales rep
A+ content is your landing page
If you're driving Meta traffic to your listing or building a high-intent funnel via Amazon ads, and your content fails to convert—you’re not just wasting ad spend, you’re damaging your brand.
How Mature and Challenger Brands Should Think Differently
Charlotte also shared insight into how brands at different stages should approach creative:
Challenger brands should mine competitor reviews and test multiple emotional angles early. Their priority is education and rapid trust-building.
Established brands should focus on consistent visibility, brand recall, and messaging that solidifies preference. Meta remains powerful for brand maintenance and retargeting—even when things feel "settled."
As she notes, "Only 5% of your market is ready to buy right now. But if you’re not visible when they enter the buying stage, someone else will be."
What Works Right Now
Across both Meta and Amazon, these creative formats are outperforming:
Multi-message static ads (especially 'Us vs Them' comparisons)
Trust overlays (ratings, press logos, UGC quotes)
Authentic UGC (not overly scripted or influencer-style)
Problem-first video scripts (anchored in pain points and outcomes)
The common thread? They speak to a specific problem and a specific person. Not the generic "we're premium and sustainable" story that now bores most consumers to tears.
What's Next?
AI is changing the creative landscape. As Charlotte shared in the podcast, consumer discovery will soon be heavily influenced by tools like ChatGPT, Rufus, and Google's Gemini. If you want your product to be recommended by the algorithm, your creative and content strategy need to be razor-sharp, consistent, and insight-led.
Final Word
At Zeal Agency, we manage Amazon PPC for lifestyle, wellness, and home-focused brands every day. But we also believe that growth doesn’t happen in silos. That’s why we bring in experts like Charlotte—because the best insights come from conversation, not competition.
If you want to improve your creative strategy across Amazon and Meta—and turn attention into sales—let’s talk.
