The New Creative Strategy Behind Meta’s Andromeda
If you’ve been running Facebook ads for years, it’s time to unlearn some habits. Meta’s new Andromeda system has quietly rewritten how campaigns are optimized, and the biggest shift isn’t technical. It’s creative. This guide breaks down what changed, how to set up facebook ads in 2025, and how to think about creative diversification using a persona-centric framework.
Whether you manage ads for clients or run your own brand, this is how to build campaigns that perform in the Andromeda era.
TL;DR: Meta’s Andromeda system shifted Facebook advertising from targeting audiences to targeting ideas. Success in 2025 depends on broad targeting, creative diversity, and building campaigns around personas, desires, and awareness levels not micro interest-based audiences.
What Is Meta Andromeda?
Needless to say, AI is changing how marketers operate. But, the fallout from AI is also technical. AI creative tools forced Facebook to make adjustments to how its algorithm processes creative. Andromeda is Meta’s new-generation AI engine built to handle the massive scale of modern advertising. The old system worked like a “king-of-the-hill” contest: you’d upload a few ads, Meta would find the strongest one, and pour your budget into that single “winner.” That worked when there were fewer advertisers and fewer ad variations. But now, with millions of ads uploaded daily (thanks to AI), that model collapsed.
Andromeda acts like a matchmaker, pairing different creative concepts with different pockets of the audience. Instead of “one ad to rule them all,” the system learns which message resonates with which type of person across hundreds of micro-audiences.
The takeaway: creative variety is the main input Meta needs to optimize effectively.
Old Way vs. New Way
| Aspect | Old Facebook Ads | Andromeda (2025) |
| Targeting | Narrow, interest-based, multiple ad sets | Broad or open (18–65+), minimal segmentation |
| Optimization | Find and fund one “winning” ad | Run multiple creatives meant for different audiences |
| Structure | Many ad sets, one audience each | One campaign → one ad set → 8–15 ads (or even more!) |
| Creative Strategy | Small tweaks and tests | Conceptually different ads for different personas |
| Retargeting | Separate campaigns | Built into Advantage+ or handled by AI |
| Measurement | Ad-level ROAS | Campaign-level performance and lift |
Meta’s Creative Strategy: From Targeting to Diversification
Meta let everyone know in late 2024 that the rise of AI-enabled tools was shifting their focus from niche targeting to creative diversification as the best lever to find the most relevant audiences. Without getting too far into technical details, Meta basically made a bunch of adjustments to their tech stack so that their ad server could identify audiences, and then serve up relevant creative a lot faster. That means that the ad server is placing more emphasis on the diversity and relevance of the creative, and less emphasis on the targeting constraints that you put in place.
What does “creative diversity” mean? Well, small edits like new colors or headlines don’t count. You need conceptually different ads that appeal to different people, emotions, and even ad types.
Creative Diversification Examples
Use this system to create distinct ad concepts Andromeda can learn from.
1. Persona — Who and Why They Care About You
Don’t just think about demographics. Think of motivation. Who is this person? What’s their day like? What frustrates them? Most importantly… Why does your product solve their problem?
Example for a fitness brand:
- Persona A: A new mom who feels she’s lost her identity and needs time for herself. Problem X: “I want to have more energy to play with my kids.”
- Persona B: A busy professional in his 40s who wants more energy after work. Desire Y: “I want to feel confident in my clothes again.”
- Persona C: A college student with little money but big motivation. Desire Z: “I want to finish a 5K without stopping.”
The “Old” Facebook campaign setup would have each of these audiences segmented into their own campaigns or adsets. With Andromeda, each of these personas would have many separate creatives, added into the same campaign and adset.
2. Formats — Short Video, Long Video, Static Image, Carousel
It wouldn’t have been uncommon to have all of the formats below represented in a campaign or ad set targeting “The New Mom.” With Andromeda, Meta would tell you to have all of these ads in a single campaign, along with similar versions for Persona B and Persona C. For example, the creative engine has the ability to identify that New Moms resonate with the short video, while busy professionals flip through a carousel, and college students watch the long video. So, instead of having multiple formats within unique campaigns or adsets, you’d have all of these options, for each persona, in a single campaign or adset:
Persona A: The New Mom
Core Message: “I want to have more energy to play with my kids.”
Short Video (0:15–0:30)
Quick morning clips: a mom yawns, pours coffee, then finishes a short 10-minute workout before her child runs in. Text overlay: “10 minutes a day. More energy for what matters.”
Long Video (0:45–1:00)
Narrative voiceover: “I thought being tired was just part of motherhood.” Shows short workouts, playtime, laughter. Ends with: “Strong for them. Strong for you.”
Static Image
Before-and-after split photo: tired mom with coffee vs. energized mom lifting her toddler. Headline: “Reclaim your energy—in just 10 minutes a day.”
Carousel
- “Too tired to work out?”
- “Built for moms short on time.”
- “Quick home workouts that work.”
- “Start today. Feel better tomorrow.”
3. Concepts & Angles — Problem/Solution, Testimonial, Pain Points, Product Demos
Similar to the creative formats are the different angles or concepts of creative. So, you may identify that short videos work for the Mom persona, but you could have different versions of a short video. Once again, Facebook tells us to place all of these into a single campaign or adset, for every persona.
Persona A: Mom
Problem/Solution
“Too tired to chase your kids?” → “Our 10-minute workouts rebuild your energy, no gym required.”
Pain Point
“You finally get five minutes to yourself—then guilt kicks in.” → “Your health matters too. Take back your energy.”
Testimonial
“I used to crash by noon. Now I finish every day with energy to spare.” — Sarah, mom of two.
Product Demo
Quick clips: app timer counts down a 10-minute session, mom follows along at home, child plays in background. Text overlay: “Workouts that fit into your life.”
Hopefully you’re starting to see how complicated all of this is getting. Rather than just putting guardrails around your interest-based targeting, Meta is asking us to supply as many creative examples as possible, and then to trust them to serve the proper creative to the proper audience.
Skeptical? Well, so are we. But, sometimes we need to just give it a test. So, how do you actually set all this up?
How to Set Up a Facebook Ads in 2025
The emphasis on creative means that you’ll need to do some additional
Step 1: Build Personas and Pain Points
Start with three to five personas that represent your main audience types.
For each, outline: Primary Pain (what’s frustrating them), Emotional Angle (what’s the feeling behind that frustration), and Desired Outcome (what transformation they want). Be sure to also identify the ad types you’d like to have available. Keeping all of this organized is really important!
| Persona | Pain | Emotional Angle | Desired Outcome | Ad Type(Use separate table for each persona to keep you organized. See below) |
| Mom | No time for self-care | Guilt → Hope | Regain confidence | Short video, long video, carousel, static |
| Busy Executive | Low energy, high stress | Frustration → Control | More energy and focus | Short video, long video, carousel, static |
| Student | Limited funds | Overwhelm → Clarity | Simple, affordable path | Short video, long video, carousel, static |
For each target audience, you might want to create something like this:
| Persona | Pain | Emotional Angle | Desired Outcome | Ad Type | Summary |
| Mom | No time for self-care | Guilt → Hope | Regain confidence | Short video | Quick clip of a tired mom fitting in a 10-minute workout before her child wakes up. Message: “More energy for what matters.” |
| long video | Storytelling ad showing a mom balancing work, family, and short workouts. Ends with: “Strong for them. Strong for you.” | ||||
| static | Split image: tired mom vs. energized post-workout mom. Headline: “Reclaim your energy—in just 10 minutes a day.” | ||||
| carousel | 1. Too tired to work out? 2. Quick routines built for moms. 3. No gym needed. 4. Start today and feel better tomorrow. |
Step 2: Campaign Structure
Build your campaigns. While the volume of creative might be changing, much of that portion of the build out is relatively similar to how things were done in the past. On the other hand, the actual campaign build will look fairly different. Here’s what that looks like:
1 campaign
1 ad set
8–15 ads.
Use Advantage+ targeting. Keep everything broad! Target broad (18–65+). Add age constraints only if necessary.
Always optimize for Conversions, not Traffic. Minimum Daily Budget = 1× AOV. Ideal Daily Budget = 3× Target CPA.
Step 3: Creative Development
For smaller budgets, start with 4–6 distinct ads. Each ad should address different personas or emotional angles. Mix your formats: video, static, carousel, quote graphics, and UGC.
Step 4: Launch and Learn
Once live, avoid touching anything during the first 5–7 days (learning phase). When stable, begin creative refresh cycles. Every 1–2 weeks, add 2–4 new ads and pause 2–4 lowest performers. Keep the total number steady.
Measuring Success (And Why GA4 Can Mislead You)
Many advertisers see GA4 showing short session durations or no attributed revenue from Meta ads and assume those ads are underperforming. The truth is, both tools see the customer journey differently. Meta’s platform measures influence (including view-through and cross-device activity), while GA4 focuses on last-click conversions. For example, someone might see your ad on Instagram, then later buy on desktop.
Rather than ignoring either system, use them together. Meta’s data (although inflated) still can be a good bellwether for success. GA4 might be the “source of truth” for conversions, but try to also validate at least a portion of Meta’s view through conversions and traffic.
Here’s a simple workflow:
- Use UTMs and GA4 Explorations to track assisted conversions.
- Run small geo or audience hold-out tests to confirm incremental lift.
- Use a screen tracking tool like Clarity (it’s free!) to see if short sessions reflect landing-page friction or mismatched creative.
The goal isn’t to “believe Meta over GA4.” It’s to interpret both in context before making cut decisions. Only pause ads after confirming they provide no measurable incremental value.
Scaling and Retargeting in the Andromeda Era
Scaling: Increase your budget 20–30% every 3–4 days after leaving learning. If results dip, scale back.
Note: Advantage+ includes built-in retargeting. Meta’s AI now re-engages warm audiences automatically if your creative mix includes solution-aware or product-aware ads. Run a separate retargeting campaign only if you have a specific time-sensitive offer such as a discount code.
The Devil’s Advocate View
For small advertisers, 8–15 concepts might be overkill. If your daily budget is limited, it’s better to run 4–6 well-funded ads than spread dollars too thin. Give each creative room to breathe, gather data, and reach significance. Even with variety, creative refreshes are mandatory. Diverse concepts still fatigue after a few weeks, especially in competitive industries where everyone is implementing the same strategy.
Final Thoughts
In 2025, success on Facebook isn’t about who you target; it’s about what you say and how many ways you can say it. The best advertisers aren’t audience engineers anymore. They’re storytellers who understand how to build diversity into their creative.