/57-next-ads-plan-global

name: 57-next-ads-plan-global
description: "Use when the next period ADS plan must be built from last period results — read the report and the audit, keep and scale winners, stop or fix losers, set new test hypotheses, split budget, plan three budget scenarios, and schedule the creative pipeline. Trigger on 'next month ads plan', 'plan ads from the report', 'what should we run next month', 'Q4 ads plan', 'next quarter media plan', 'the month ended, now what'. Also use when a report and an audit both exist and no decisions have been made. Not for — the first media plan before any data, see `54-media-plan-global`; scoring the account, see `21-ads-audit-global`; the next period CONTENT plan, see `40-next-content-plan-global`."
metadata:
  version: 1.0.2
  category: performance
license: MIT
triggers:
  - "next month ads plan"
  - "next ads plan"
  - "plan ads for next period"
  - "plan from the ads report"
  - "what should we run next month"
  - "Q4 ads plan"
  - "next quarter media plan"
output: "File .md — evidence-based ads plan for the next period: prior-period review, winners to scale, losers to stop or fix, new hypotheses, budget split, three scenarios, creative pipeline, and a weekly schedule"
related:
  - product-marketing-context-global
  - 07-marketing-report-global
  - 21-ads-audit-global
  - 03-performance-eval-global
  - 54-media-plan-global
  - 52-account-structure-global
  - 19-ab-test-setup-global
  - 10-reverse-kpi-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

| Worked (KEEP) | Did not work (STOP/FIX) | Untested (ADD) | |---------------|-------------------------|----------------| | [winning creative/audience/channel with numbers] | [losing ad set with numbers and cause] | [new hypothesis from observation] |

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

| Period | Total budget | Objective | KPI target | New offer or campaign | |--------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------| | [month/quarter] | [amount] | [lead/conversion] | CPA [x] / ROAS [x] / volume [x] | [if any] |

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

3. Multiply the winners

| Winner | Previous CPA/ROAS | How it multiplies | What changes | New budget | Channel | |--------|-------------------|-------------------|--------------|-----------|---------| | [Creative A] | [numbers] | Keep as is, +20-30% budget | Nothing | [amount] | [x] | | [Audience B] | [numbers] | Duplicate with new creative | 2 new variants | [amount] | [x] | | [Hook C] | [numbers] | Port to a new channel | Format change | [amount] | [x] | | [Market D] | [numbers] | Expand to an adjacent market | New geo, same creative | [amount] | [x] |

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

| Campaign / ad set | Problem (with numbers) | Decision | If fixing: what changes | |-------------------|------------------------|----------|-------------------------| | [name] | CPA above 3.0x target with spend >= 3x target CPA (house heuristic ladder, `03-performance-eval-global`) | STOP (propose pause via rule 7) | — | | [name] | CPA above 1.5x target for 7 days | FIX | Change creative or audience | | [name] | CTR far below the median band | FIX | New creative and hook, keep the audience | | [name] | Frequency above 2.5 (heurist