Creative agency or full funnel?
A creative agency makes the ads, videos and brand assets. Many now run the ad account too, as an add-on to production. A full-funnel agency starts from the plan: your margins, the offer, the budget and the cost per purchase you can afford. Then it makes and runs ads to hit that number, and fixes the pages and emails behind them. Making a good ad and running a profitable ad account are different skills.
Making the ads, or making and running them.
| The question | Creative agency | Full-funnel agency |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Ads, videos, brand campaigns | Ads, plus the ad account, pages and emails |
| Where the plan starts | The idea or the shoot | Your margins, offer and cost per purchase |
| Running the ad account | Often added beside production | The core job, every week |
| Brand identity and big campaigns | Often the core of the job | Usually out of scope |
| Sees which ad sold | Only if they run the ads too | Reads cost per purchase per ad, every week |
| Next batch of ads | Briefed by you | Briefed from what sold last month |
| Volume | Set per project or package | Set by spend, so tests keep running |
| After the click | Out of scope | Product pages, offer, checkout |
| When an ad flops | Creative and media blame each other | One team owns the fix |
Four questions to ask a creative agency that runs ads.
What cost per purchase are you buying to?
It should come from your margin and order value. If the answer is a platform ROAS, nobody has done that math. Work out yours.
What do you change when ads get clicks and no orders?
If the answer is always a new ad, the product page, offer and checkout never get fixed.
Which number do you report on?
Shopify sales and new customers, or the platform’s ROAS? Meta and Google can each claim the same order.
How many ad accounts have you run through a Q4?
November cost spikes, January slowdowns and budget pacing are learned by running accounts through them, year after year.
When a creative agency is the better call.
A creative agency is right when
- You need a brand identity, a rebrand or a launch campaign
- A strong media buyer already runs your ads and reports back
- The work is for TV, retail, wholesale or print, not only paid social
- You want one big shoot, not a monthly testing rhythm
Full funnel is right when
- The ads look good and don’t sell
- Nobody briefs new ads from purchase data
- Clicks come in and orders don’t
- Your creative team runs the ads, and nobody owns margins and budget
From what sold to what gets made next.
Read
Cost per purchase, hook rate and click-through for every live ad, checked against Shopify sales.
Brief
The next batch copies what worked: the angle, the hook, the format. New concepts get tested beside them.
Make
Creator videos and statics, made at the volume the ad spend needs. How many a month.
Fix the page
If an ad gets clicks and no orders, the product page or offer gets the change, not the ad.
Cost per purchase from $37.10 to $21.19.
Creator videos and statics were made and tested on a schedule, with the pages and emails reworked beside them. Store sales count every channel. The full case study, every number sourced.
