Hey everyone,
Welcome back for another bite to chew on.
Picture this: You're running a $50M brand with dedicated creative staff and performance marketers. But when it comes to testing creatives, you have no systematic way to track what actually works.
We recently sat down with the DigiCom team to understand how to fix this exact problem.
If you haven’t heard of Digicom, they are one of the fastest-growing marketing agencies in America. Recently listed on the Inc. 5000, they have driven over $500M in revenue for DTC brands.
Today we're breaking down their systematic approach that turns random creative wins into predictable growth.
🍽️ On the Menu:
The Amateur Hour Problem Costing You Millions
The Data Tagging Framework To Create Predictable Creative Wins
The Four Metrics To Live By
How to "Pull the Thread" Instead of Starting
🚨 Free Marketing Audit from DigiCom 🚨
Before we dive in, DigiCom is offering free marketing audits to Chew on This readers. They'll analyze your full marketing funnel and show you exactly where you might be leaving money on the table. → Claim your free audit
Note: this newsletter covers insights from our podcast discussion with the Digicom team. You can listen to the full conversation below.
The Amateur Hour Problem Costing You Millions
Most brands think they're sophisticated when it comes to creative testing. They have dedicated teams, run multiple campaigns, and analyze performance data. But DigiCom's experience working with hundreds of brands reveals a different reality.
"90% plus of the brands we speak to, doesn't matter if they're a $20 million brand, a $100 million brand, or a $1 million brand, they are not organized. Like they don't know what hooks work."
- Hemant Varshney, CEO of DigiCom
Here's what this disorganization actually costs your business:
Brands name their ad sets "V1, V2, V3" with zero tracking of what actually worked
Teams can't point to specific elements that drive performance
When ads fatigue, there's no systematic way to iterate or improve
Testing becomes "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks"
Success feels random instead of repeatable
When campaigns fatigue, teams scramble without direction. They operate in reactive mode instead of building systematic approaches to creative testing.
Digicom’s data-driven methodology helps brands escape this reactive cycle by building predictable creative strategies that scale winning concepts instead of constantly starting from scratch.
The Data Tagging Framework To Create Predictable Creative Wins
The fix isn't more budget or better creative talent. It's systematic data organization.
DigiCom treats every creative asset like a data point. They tag video versus static content, language style, video length, camera angles, product placement, influencer type, and hook style. Then they combine these attributes with performance data to find patterns.
Creative Attributes to Track
Content type: video vs static
Language and messaging style
Video length and pacing
Camera angles and visual approach
Product placement and positioning
Influencer or creator type
Hook type: visual, audio, or text-based
The Implementation Process
Pull existing ad performance data from Meta, Google, and TikTok
Tag every creative asset with these specific attributes
Combine performance metrics with creative attributes
Analyze patterns in what drives results vs what fails
Build your testing roadmap based on data insights, not hunches
The Organization System
The organization starts simple. As Digicom’s team explains, it comes down to having video assets in one folder, static assets in another, and within each folder, organizing by influencer type or messaging style.
This systematic tagging reveals which specific combinations of elements actually convert, eliminating the guesswork that keeps most brands stuck in reactive testing mode.
Digicom’s attribution system helps brands identify these specific creative elements that drive performance, revealing the exact combinations of messaging, visuals, and hooks that convert for each brand's audience.
Digicom is offering free audits to identify the gaps in your current approach. Get your free marketing audit here.
The Four Metrics To Live By
DigiCom breaks down performance into 4 key indicators:
1) Hook rate
2) Average watch time
3) Click-through rate
4) Conversion rate
Why Each Metric Matters:
Hook Rate: Are you stopping the scroll? High hook rate means your opening works
Watch Time: Are you holding attention? Shows if your message resonates
Click-Through Rate: Are you driving action? Indicates offer and urgency effectiveness
Conversion Rate: Are you closing the sale? Reveals landing page and product-message fit
Here’s how you can use these metrics to make real time optimizations:
High hook rate + low conversion = misleading ads or landing page mismatch
Low hook rate + high conversion = messaging works but opening needs work
High click-through + low conversion = offer/landing page disconnect
Low across all metrics = fundamental message-market fit issues
When you combine this metric analysis with your creative attribute tagging, patterns start showing.
You can see that certain hook types consistently get better hook rates, or specific messaging styles drive higher conversion rates.
This eliminates the guesswork and shows you exactly what to amplify and what to avoid.
How to "Pull the Thread" Instead of Starting Over
When an ad stops working, most brands panic and create entirely new concepts from scratch.
Wrong move.
DigiCom’s approach is the opposite. They systematically build on what's already working through what they call "pulling the thread."
The Thread-Pulling Strategy:
When a creative wins, identify the specific attributes that drove success
Test variations that amplify those winning elements
When creatives fail, document what didn't work and avoid those patterns
Build a systematic approach: "If this test wins, here's what I want to do next. If this test doesn't work, here's what I want to do next"
Create testing roadmaps instead of random creative production
The goal is systematic improvement.
Think of it like this—if orange works and black doesn't, you put black in the rearview mirror and keep pulling on orange. You're eliminating things with bad performance while continuing what works.
This is where DigiCom's growth performance expertise really shines.
Instead of letting brands waste budget on random creative experiments, they implement systematic approaches that build on what's already working.
For brands looking to scale their ad spend without the constant creative panic, Digicom’s thread-pulling methodology becomes part of their ongoing creative strategy, ensuring they never have to start from scratch when campaigns fatigue.
Sum It Up
Creative testing doesn't have to feel like gambling.
Digicom’s work with hundreds of brands proves that systematic organization beats throwing money at random creatives. The brands scaling predictably are the ones treating creative testing like a science.
The systematic alternative is straightforward:
Tag every creative element
Track four key metrics instead of just ROAS
Pull the thread on what works instead of starting over
Build roadmaps for wins and losses
Each test teaches you something that improves the next test, creating a flywheel of better creative performance over time.
If you're ready to stop guessing and start scaling systematically, claim your free marketing audit from DigiCom.
Let us know how we did...
All the best,
Ron & Ash