Toni LaGree
I diagnose why creative isn't converting — then build the strategy to fix it.
Performance creative driven by testing. Not opinions.
Case Study 1
One Hypothesis Changed What a Brand Believed About Creative
The Problem
A DTC brand's paid social performance had plateaued. Creative in rotation came primarily from outside agencies, often polished, produced, and not converting. ROAS was stagnating at 0.79.
The Hypothesis
The problem wasn't the offer. It was the format. Audiences were tuning out content that looked like an ad. The question was: if we introduce native-feeling UGC creative built around real tension, will relatability outperform polish?
The Execution
Created a single low-production UGC video: intentionally casual, hook-first, shot to feel native to the platform. One angle: curiosity plus free gift. Tested directly against existing top performers.
The Result
The UGC ad outperformed every existing creative in rotation.
- ROAS scaled from 0.79 → 2.10 (+166%)
- 669+ purchases generated
- Became the new creative benchmark for the brand
The Insight The win wasn't just the ad — it was what it proved. Relatability and real tension outperformed visual polish. That single test changed the team's entire creative strategy going forward.
What Happened Next
The test didn't just win — it changed how the team approached paid creative. UGC-style, concept-led ads became the new standard. Over subsequent campaigns, three additional videos scripted and directed using the same strategic approach:
| Spend | Sales | ROAS | CPA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video A | $6,400 | 68 | 2.46 | $42.70 |
| Video B | $1,500 | 26 | 1.94 | $57.00 |
| Video C | $8,200 | 118 | 1.82 | $68.00 |
| Combined | $16,100 | 212 | ~2.0 | ~$56 |
The account that started at 0.7 ROAS grew its paid program on the back of this creative direction.
Case Study 2
The Problem
Nood's email conversions were underperforming. Small copy variables were being overlooked. The team wasn't systematically testing messaging.
The Approach
Ran a focused copy testing sprint across 4 emails in a single week which isolated variables to identify what was actually moving the needle.
The Result
Conversions increased 0.6% — which translated to $6,574.80 in incremental revenue in one week.
The Insight
Most teams skip copy testing because the numbers look small — but at volume, it's the highest ROI work in the funnel. A sub-1% improvement sounds insignificant until you run the math at volume.
This Is What Happens When the Brief Says "Be Bold."
Three pieces for Nood — a retargeting ad, a Mother's Day email, and a problem/solution email. All concept-led. All written to stop a scroll or open a wallet. One of them is technically about stalking.
Diagnosis in Action 1
This took five minutes. Here's what most teams miss.
Ad 1
Ad 2
Ad 2 Wins. Here's why:
Trust & Risk Reversal
The physical badge is doing real work. It's a visual object. It carries subconscious weight that plain text doesn't. "60-Day Money-Back Guarantee" as a badge reads as a seal. The second ad's flat text version reads as a footnote. (We process visual images 60,000x faster than text.)
Hierarchy & Breathing Room Ad 2 has clear visual zones: offer → proof → guarantee. The eye travels intentionally. The ad 1 is compressed. Everything competes at roughly the same visual weight, which creates cognitive friction.
The Before/After Treatment Ad 2 uses the full frame. The skin issue is visceral and undeniable, and the after is clean and smooth. In ad 1, the before/after is shrunk to make room for... nothing particularly valuable. The emotional contrast is the product - that's what does the selling. Shrinking it kills the conversion mechanism.
"1 Day Only" vs "Our Biggest Deal of the Year" This is important. "1 Day Only" is urgency through scarcity but it also leaves a brand open for lawsuit, unless the sale ends in 24 hours. "Biggest Deal of the Year" is urgency through magnitude. Both work, but "biggest deal of the year" implies more value and feels less gimmicky to skeptical buyers.
The core issue:
Winning ads usually work because they...
Reduce perceived risk and amplify emotional desire simultaneously.
Ad 2 does both. Ad 1 strips the risk-reduction element (the badge) and weakens the desire element (smaller before/after).
Diagnosis in Action 2
Ad 1
Ad 2
Ad 2 Wins. Here's why:
The Trust:
"97% of real users" vs. "Formulas validated by real results."
The Problem:
One is social proof with specificity. The other is a company claim. Buyers are trained to discount company claims automatically. Whey've heard them too many times and don't trust them at face value.
Why the Number Wins:
"97% of real users" does three things simultaneously:
- It implies a real study was conducted
- It signals near-universal agreement
- It's fast math: almost everyone love it, only 3% weren't happy. Those are good odds. That's risk reduction happening in a split second.
Specificity implies methodology. Someone counted. Even if the buyer never consciously thinks that, the brain processes specific numbers as evidence and vague claims as opinion.
The Company Line Actually Backfires: "Formulas validated by real results" raises a quiet question in the buyer's mind: as opposed to fake results? It signals nothing. It reassures no one.
The Core Issue: Winning ads reduce perceived risk and amplify desire simultaneously. The 97% claim does both. Removing it does neither.
This is how I look at every brief.
When the Headline Is the Creative
Same audience. Same spend. Two different image approaches tested head-to-head on Meta.
The winner wasn't the polished product shot. It was the ad that led with a line: "Keep Your Happy Trail Happy. Stop Man-Scraping."
| CP Purchases | Link Clicks | Total Clicks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | $54.38 | 150 | 800 |
| Control | $60.12 | 130 | 603 |
| Baseline Avg | $147.66 | — | — |
Both ads beat the baseline by over 60%. But the copy-led creative won on every metric. Sometimes the image is the headline.
Truly Videos
About Toni
I started in comedy. Performed and wrote with Broad Comedy, an Off-Broadway award-winning group. Then I discovered you could make people laugh and get paid per conversion, and here we are.
Ten-plus years in performance creative including, paid social, email, UGC, video strategy. Mentored by Emmy-award winning directors and producers. Currently open to freelance and full-time opportunities.
Ready to find what's actually holding your creative back?
Most brands are sitting on a conversion problem they've misdiagnosed. If you're scaling spend but not seeing the returns, the issue is usually upstream in the strategy, the messaging, or the creative brief — not the execution.