10: Why the Weird Ad Wins: CEO of Ramdam on Finding UGC Champions | Xavier de Baillenx

Xavier, CEO and co-founder of Ramdam, breaks down how subscription apps can scale creator ads on TikTok and Meta, why volume beats perfection in UGC testing, and where AI-generated video actually makes sense (and where it doesn't).Xavier spent five years at Match Group working on AI teams after his dating app was acquired. He then launched an app studio and discovered firsthand how painful it was to find winning ad creatives: months of testing 50 different videos just to find one that cut his cost per install by 5x. That frustration became Ramdam, a platform that helps consumer apps produce creator ads at scale. The company now works with Tinder, PhotoRoom, Flo, and other category leaders, delivering over 10,000 creatives per month.What you'll learn:Why a 5% success rate on ads is completely normal (and how to structure campaigns around it)How to start a UGC test: 20-40 creators, 4-5 concepts, $20-50K minimum spendWhy US English ads often perform in non-English speaking marketsHow winning apps keep one narrative from ad to paywallWhy TikTok carousel ads are massively underrated for dating appsHow to structure "test" vs "scale" campaigns to measure both CPI and ROASWhen AI-generated video makes sense: hard-to-source personas, scaling winning conceptsWhy the ad your team wants to reject might get 350 million viewsHow Ramdam uses AI to match briefs with creators and QA videos before deliveryWhy "happy accidents" from real creators still outperform AI-perfect executionKey Takeaways:Volume always wins over perfection. 50 different creators who don't perfectly match your persona will beat 5 who do. You can't predict which ad will work. Even Xavier, after thousands of campaigns, has no idea which ad will succeed when he sees it. The only strategy that works is testing at scale and following the data.Winning ads have a 2-3 week lifespan. Ad fatigue is real. If you're scaling on TikTok or Meta, you need to refuel with new creatives every month. The biggest spenders are producing 1,000+ creatives per month to stay ahead of fatigue.Start broad, then replicate winners. Early briefs should leave room for "happy accidents" where creators interpret the concept in their own style. Once you find a winner, run replicate campaigns: same hook, same narrative structure, but new faces and fresh energy.The ad-to-paywall story must be consistent. Winners keep one promise throughout the entire journey. If the ad says "sleep better in 7 minutes," that same message should appear on the store page, onboarding, and paywall. Breaks in this narrative kill conversion.AI video is a complement, not a replacement. AI-generated creators work for hard-to-source personas (high-income demographics, pregnant women, complex scenes). But they can't produce the weird, human moments that go viral. Find winning concepts with humans, then scale variations with AI.TikTok and Meta behave differently. TikTok rewards short (around 10 seconds), trend-driven content with trending sounds. Meta prefers structured narratives, product demos, 15-30 second videos. Carousels perform well on both, especially for storytelling.Creator diversity expands reach. Meta and TikTok treat ads with the same creator as nearly identical. Using many different faces helps you reach new audiences. This is why Ramdam assigns one creator per video across their 50K creator network.One ad can change everything. This business follows power law dynamics, similar to the music industry. Most ads do nothing. A small percentage capture all the budget. One viral hit can transform an app's trajectory overnight.Bonus for podcast listeners: Xavier can walk you through a fully personalized demo and share creative insights here: https://meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/xavier-de-baillenx/30min?utm_campaign=jacob-post&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social”Links & Resources:- Ramdam: ramdam.io- Xavier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xavier-de-baillenx/- Email: [email protected] (mention Botsi Podcast for personalized demo)- I also found the TikTok SwipeWipe video: tiktok.com/@vdanielle22/video/7298313654594800942Timestamps:00:00 Intro/Teaser03:00 Xavier's background: Universal Music to Match Group to Ramdam05:00 UGC formats explained: Classic, Trends, Carousels09:30 Ad lifespan and creative fatigue11:30 Why volume and experimentation beat perfection15:30 Starting a UGC test: creators, concepts, budget19:00 Creator diversity and platform algorithms23:00 Balancing authenticity with replication26:00 TikTok vs Meta: what works on each30:00 Connecting ad performance to product funnels36:00 Structuring test vs scale campaigns38:00 How Ramdam uses AI for creator matching and QA43:00 AI-generated video: use cases and limitations49:30 Marketing fundamentals: clarity and authenticity51:30 Counterintuitive learnings from UGC