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Your Creatives Bombed, But Not for the Reason You Think

Aesthetics weren’t the problem. This was.

Author

Kody Nordquist
June 07, 2025

Welcome back to the 115th edition of Nord Media

A friend of mine spent $75K on new creatives last quarter.

They looked amazing. Slick visuals, cohesive brand colors, trendy typeface, the whole thing.

But the ads flopped.

  • Click-throughs tanked.

  • CPMs stayed high. 

  • And the landing page converted worse than their old one.

The agency's response?

"Well… the branding looks great."

This is the problem.

Most creative is built to impress, not to convert.

What should you do differently?

Build every asset with a P&L in mind.

In this email, you’ll learn:

  • Why “brand-first” creative is slowing you down

  • The performance design shift top DTC teams are making

  • How to balance aesthetics with conversion to build creative that scales

Let’s dive in:

Exclusive Partner: Goodo Studios

You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through your feed, and every ad looks exactly the same?

Yeah, your customers feel that too.

You’ve spent countless hours building something unique, yet when it comes to creative, most agencies default to cookie-cutter ads. Same trendy sounds, same tired formats.

Good Studios does things differently. 

Instead of chasing trends or copying competitors, their team digs deep into why your customers actually buy from you. Then, they craft creative that captures attention and turns views into growth.

They’ve helped startups scale from zero to eight figures, designed campaigns for industry leaders, and consistently turned passive viewers into loyal customers.

Here’s how they do it:

  • Deep Discovery: They learn exactly what makes your brand special and why customers care.

  • Strategic Planning: They map insights into a clear creative roadmap focused on your growth goals.

  • Expert Execution: Your story comes to life with standout visuals that actually convert.

  • Performance Optimization: They constantly refine your creative based on real-world performance data.

Whether you need scroll-stopping social ads, YouTube content that blends storytelling with sales, or end-to-end video and photography production, they handle it all.

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Performance Design > Pretty Design

When every creative decision runs through the lens of “does this feel on-brand?”

You slow everything down and kill what actually works.

  • You hesitate to launch “ugly” ads that convert.

  • You scrap high-performing UGC because it doesn’t match your brand guidelines.

  • You water down strong headlines because they don’t sound like your tone of voice.

The irony:

Your customers don’t care about your aesthetic.

They care about clarity, relevance, and whether your product actually solves their problem.

Obsessing over polish doesn’t just waste time.

It traps your best-performing ideas in a Figma file. Never tested, never scaled.

The fastest-growing DTC brands have figured this out.

They don’t waste time debating taste.

They build creative systems that drive outcomes fast.

Every asset has a job:

  • Hooks stop the scroll

  • Visuals build desire

  • Pages convert traffic

  • Emails pull people back in

They treat UGC like a growth lever, not a last resort.

They run creative reviews around function, not personal opinion.

They test landing pages for clarity and conversion, not just brand feel.

And their designers and marketers work in sync, not silos.

This mindset shift unlocks faster launches, tighter feedback loops, and real learning velocity because the brands that grow test fast, learn faster, and focus on what actually performs.

Make It Convert and Look Good: The Balance That Scales

You don’t have to sacrifice brand to drive performance, but you do need a process that keeps both in check.

Here’s how to balance aesthetics with outcomes:

  1. Set the conversion goal first, then design around it.

The CTA, offer, and hook dictate layout. Design enhances, not overrides.

  1. Use brand as a constraint, not a crutch.

Stick to core elements (logo, font, color), but give creative freedom within those rails.

  1. Start with raw concepts, polish only after testing.

Ugly ads can teach you what resonates. Save the design lift for what proves it can scale.

  1. Make your style guide conversion-aware.

Include things like proven headline formats, button styles that convert, and scroll-trigger layouts.

  1. Build templates around your top performers.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, systemize what already works with consistent branding baked in.

  1. Create feedback loops between creative + data teams.

Performance insights should inform your next round of designs, not just live in a dashboard.

This is what scalable creative looks like in 2025:

Strategic, repeatable, and built for results.

Every brand needs high-converting templates. Static Ads. Emails. Landers. Create proven ads in minutes with templates proven to convert.

They also have incredible templates for landing pages & emails.

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Final Thoughts

If your creative looks great but isn’t driving results stop waiting for it to “ramp.”

Audit your top assets, strip out what isn’t tied to performance, and rebuild around what’s actually moving the needle.

Start here:

  • Rebrief your design team with clear goals and KPIs

  • Launch one scrappy test version before polishing anything

  • Create a feedback loop between ad performance and design decisions

Creative isn’t a beauty contest. It’s a growth engine, if you treat it like one.

Want growth that looks like this👇?

HOW??

We Use Strategies and Systems that Produce Consistent Results.

We’ve helped 100+ brands—from early-stage DTC startups to global brands—scale smarter, grow faster and get profitable. Whether your goal rapid growth, consistency at scale or just to be profitable again, we've built systems and strategies to achieve that for hundreds of brands over the years.

The results? You get reliable and consistent growth without sacrificing your profitability.

» Hire me to scale your DTC Brand «

Want to learn more? Connect with me on social 👇
LinkedIn • Instagram • Twitter 

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.

Sincerely,
Kody

Disclaimer: Special thanks to Goodo Studios and CreativeOS for sponsoring today’s newsletter.