57 Next Ads Plan Global

Next Ads Plan (Global)

A plan without last period's data is guesswork, and guesswork is expensive. The order never changes: read the data, scale the winners, fix or stop the losers, then test something new. This is the last skill in the performance chain and the first skill of the next cycle.

Information gathering

Step 0 — always read the previous period first (mandatory input)

Before writing a single line of plan, you need:

1. Previous period performance report from 07-marketing-report-global or the tracking dashboard: spend, CPA, ROAS, leads, orders, broken out by channel, campaign, creative, and market.
2. Audit findings from 21-ads-audit-global or 03-performance-eval-global if the previous period had problems.
3. KPI target for the new period — unchanged or changed? If changed, recalculate with 10-reverse-kpi-global.
4. New period budget and any new offer or product entering the mix.

Missing the report means stop and either request the data or run 07-marketing-report-global first. If only part is missing, write the assumption explicitly into the plan.

Principles

1. Data before opinion. Never plan from a feeling that something "seemed fine".
2. Scale proven winners before funding new ideas. Capital goes first to what is already working; new tests get the 30% testing slice.
3. Maximum 2-3 new hypotheses per period. More than that and no test reaches significance.
4. Every keep/stop/fix decision carries a number. "Creative A at $42 CPA against a $30 target, frequency 3.1" — never "it was performing badly".
5. Plan three budget scenarios. Commit to the base case; keep prepared actions for the other two.
6. Adjust for the calendar. Per references/benchmarks-global.md, Q4 CPM runs about 26% above Q1, November peaks around 27% above average, and January is the cheapest month at roughly 21% below. A flat month-over-month plan across a seasonal boundary is already wrong.

Workflow

1. Review the previous period

Extract the winning patterns:

• Creative type: video, static, carousel, UGC — which produced the best CPA?
• Hook type: pain, curiosity, social proof, demonstration — which produced the best CTR?
• Audience: interest, broad, lookalike, Advantage+ — which was cheapest and highest quality?
• Channel: which delivered the best ROAS, and which dragged the blended average down?
• Market: compare each market against its own tier baseline in references/benchmarks-global.md, never against the blended account average.
• Operational lessons: best posting times, creative refresh cadence, setup mistakes to avoid.

2. Direction for the new period

If the target changed, or the offer, price, or market changed, recalculate with 10-reverse-kpi-global before continuing.

3. Multiply the winners

Apply the 55-scaling-ads-global rules: +20-30% per step, never double, do not edit the winning ad set.

4. Stop or fix the losers

Use the diagnostic order from references/benchmarks-global.md: weak CTR is a creative problem; good CTR with weak CVR is a landing page or offer problem; good CVR with weak ROAS is a margin or AOV problem. Every stopped item gets a logged reason so nobody retests the same thing next period.

5. Budget split for the new period

6. Three budget scenarios

If the new period crosses into Q4, build the downside scenario as the default assumption rather than the exception — the seasonal CPM lift is documented, not speculative. Commit to the base scenario with stakeholders; keep prepared actions for the other two so nobody is caught flat-footed.

7. New hypotheses (maximum 2-3)

Set up and conclude these according to 19-ab-test-setup-global: one variable at a time, at least 7 days, enough conversions to decide.

8. Creative pipeline

Have 2-3 reserve creatives ready before the period starts. Do not wait for fatigue to brief.

9. Weekly schedule and acceptance thresholds

At the end of each week, compare cumulative actual against the threshold. A shortfall above 15% triggers the downside scenario immediately — do not wait for the period to end.

Output structure

File name: next-ads-plan-[product]-[YYYYMMDD].md — nine sections matching the nine steps above: review, direction, multiply winners, stop losers, budget split, three scenarios, hypotheses, creative pipeline, weekly schedule.

Related skills

• 07-marketing-report-global: the primary data source — run it first.
• 21-ads-audit-global and 03-performance-eval-global: audit before planning if the previous period had problems.
• 10-reverse-kpi-global: recalculate whenever the target, budget, offer, or market changes.
• 54-media-plan-global: when the new period involves a major change (new channel, new offer, new market), build a full media plan instead of an increment.
• 19-ab-test-setup-global: how to set up and conclude each hypothesis.
• 52-account-structure-global: build and launch the campaigns this plan defines.

Quality checklist

• Previous period report and audit were read — the plan is not written from impression
• Review table has all three columns (keep / stop-fix / untested) with numbers attached
• Market performance compared against its own tier baseline, not the blended average
• Winners are multiplied first, following the +20-30% scaling rule
• Every stopped item has a logged reason
• Budget split follows 30/50/15/5 and totals 100%
• Three scenarios present, each with a prepared action
• Seasonality applied where the period crosses a Q4 or January boundary
• Maximum 2-3 hypotheses, each with a variable, metric, and timeline
• Creative pipeline has deadlines and 2-3 reserve creatives
• Weekly schedule has cumulative acceptance thresholds of 20/45/70/100%