Ad Engine
A performance team, systematised and automated
weeks to operation
assistants in the loop
costs avoided
Paid advertising demands three kinds of work that have to run in parallel, continuously: deciding which ads even make sense given strategy, audiences, and numbers. The ongoing production of new motifs and copy, because every ad loses effect once its audience has seen it too often. And running the ad account itself, from setup through measurement to budget allocation. The effort for this is largely independent of how much ad budget ultimately gets spent. The same decisions, the same production, the same oversight are needed whether the monthly spend is four figures or five. Management is therefore a fixed-cost block that doesn’t scale down. That creates a threshold. Below a certain budget size, the cost of managing the channel exceeds the value of what’s being managed. Paid advertising then stops paying off, even though the channel itself works. For smaller companies and young brands it therefore regularly drops out entirely, not for lack of effect, but because the cost structure only carries above a certain size. The work behind it is, however, remarkably regular. It repeats in fixed cycles, follows traceable criteria, and draws on data that the ad account produces anyway. That means it can be fully described, and what can be described can be built.
What was blocked
- Evaluating, producing, and running paid advertising takes full effort regardless of ad budget
- The effort for management doesn’t scale down, below a certain budget size it exceeds the value of what’s being managed
- Smaller companies and young brands therefore regularly drop the channel, not for lack of effect, but because of the cost structure
Voyage conceived, architected, and built the Ad Engine in-house as a standalone, client-agnostic system, and runs it in its own venture, wool.deals.
How we thought about it
- 01Daily pull into Supabase, plus an HTML report email via Brevo
- 02Composite score by percentile rank, fatigue by frequency thresholds, fully deterministic
- 03Four creative templates, motifs from generative image models (Magnific, Higgsfield, Canva), three format cuts each
- 04Approval points as set during setup, recommended before an ad goes live and before larger budget shifts
The stations
01 Reading context · Strategy and planning
01 Reading context · Strategy and planning
Four assistants bring together everything else builds on: brand, offer and tone, the media plan with funnel stages and channel choice, competitors’ ads, and the existing ad account inventory. This intake happens during setup and is kept current afterward.
02 Deriving ads · Creative strategy
02 Deriving ads · Creative strategy
Context and numbers produce the brief: which angle, which message, which funnel stage, which format. Plus fatigue detection, which flags from contact frequency and performance history which ad has passed its peak and needs a replacement.
03 Producing motifs · Art direction and design
03 Producing motifs · Art direction and design
Motifs are generated through generative image models, addressed via their interfaces: Magnific for image production, Higgsfield for motion and models with different strengths, Canva for the template-based route. Which model runs is swappable and set during setup. Plus a check on whether the landing page delivers on the ad’s message.
04 Building in the ad account · Media buying
04 Building in the ad account · Media buying
Campaign, audiences and ad groups are created via the ad platforms’ interfaces, currently Meta and Pinterest. Further platforms follow the same logic and connect via the same path, with one assistant added per platform.
05 Going live · Traffic management
05 Going live · Traffic management
Two checks run before an ad goes live: whether measurement is tracking cleanly, so later decisions rest on solid numbers, and whether the ad meets the platform’s policies. Without either check, budget quietly leaks away, unnoticed.
06 Monitoring and reallocating · Performance lead
06 Monitoring and reallocating · Performance lead
Every day, the numbers from every connected platform come together. Each ad gets a composite score from click rate, conversion rate and cost, measured not against an arbitrary threshold but against the rest of the field. Budget moves to what performs, weak ads get throttled, a formatted daily report goes out. That starts station one again.
What was built
The engine runs as an orchestration of fifteen assistants across six consecutive stations, from reading context through to the daily evaluation that kicks off the next round. Approval points sit where control over ad spend matters most, for instance before an ad goes live and before larger budget shifts.
What it produced
What comes next
More ad platforms
Google, TikTok, LinkedIn and Microsoft follow the same interface logic as Meta and Pinterest. One assistant is added to station four per platform, the rest of the loop stays unchanged.
Performance dashboard
A dedicated interface for numbers, decisions made, and budget history, instead of the daily email report. That makes it traceable at any time why the engine did what, and when.
Continuous monitoring
Round-the-clock control instead of a daily rhythm, with intervention on outliers. Relevant from budget sizes where a day’s delay has a noticeable impact.
What the setup includes and what operations are based on
One-time setup
3,900 eurosStrategy and brand intake: offer, audiences, positioning, tone. Stock-take of the ad account: what’s running, what has carried, where budget sits wrong. Creative track set up for the brand: templates, visual language, copy repertoire. Connecting the ad accounts and the data storage. First full pass through to a launch-ready campaign.
Ongoing operation
by ad volumeOperating and monitoring the loop. Ongoing motif resupply. Budget management and optimisation. Reporting. Adjustment to range, offers and season. The amount depends on ad volume and number of channels, because that’s what the actual effort hangs on.
Zwölf von 41 Motiven einer Produktionswelle, quer durch die drei Ausspielungsarten: breite Ansprache, Leistungsausspielung, Wiederansprache.
Why the engine came to exist at all
The engine wasn’t built on a drawing board, it was built because at wool.deals the numbers themselves didn’t add up for us. Around a thousand euros a month for management and motifs, before any ad budget even flows, is more than a young venture can carry. So we built the work instead of buying it in. Anyone operating at the same scale has the same problem, and that’s exactly what the engine is for.
Andreas Hartenfels, founder of Voyage Digital
Voices
What the collaboration says
“Anyone who wants to bring order into complex topics and take their marketing to the next level needs you on the team. You gave my team essential support in setting up a well thought through CRM strategy, building automated lifecycle journeys and establishing the right processes. Together with you we made the leap from simple newsletter sending to real, working CRM. You are extremely clear, structured and honest, you combine strategic foresight with pragmatic solutions, you think along actively and you stay reliably on top of the projects. Throughout the whole time you were a firm part of the team for us and a great sparring partner on equal footing. Thank you for your outstanding commitment!”
“Together we developed a solid CRM strategy, built a lifecycle system with automated journeys and designed and rolled out the processes that go with it. That is how our classic newsletter turned into real CRM. What makes the collaboration so valuable beyond that: alongside his pragmatic and structured way of working, we also value him enormously on a personal level. With his genuine interest in the projects and his consistently open, helpful manner he is a real asset you can rely on 100 % at any time.”
“With Andy we built and automated our entire lifecycle system, among other things. Working with him was always clear and structured, we could rely on him, and we never lost the fun on the way to the goal.”
“Over the past five years or so you have always been a constant and reliable point of contact for me across different stations and for the most varied projects. From process development and optimisation through coding and technical topics, the holistic view and consolidation of the CRM area, all the way to strategic direction and the implementation of a wide range of subject areas, I could always count on you. With your way of working you were able to give us, and me, structure and guidance. Setting up the automated post purchase strategy was, I think, our most intensive collaboration. I was able to benefit and learn an incredible amount from you, and for that I am immensely grateful. Working with you throughout was always great fun, and I really valued that we could talk about more than just work while keeping productivity high. I will definitely miss our regular exchanges.”
“Andreas is the structuring element most teams are missing. Focused, targeted execution. Maximum ownership. Ruthless prioritisation. He takes topics that look difficult and complex at first and brings them to the finish line. If need be, he takes them over himself. Anyone looking for someone who takes ownership instead of just advising is in the right place with him.”
“Andi held our delivery together. Projects, infrastructure, coordination, that was on him. Weeklies and dailies ran without me, and for me that was the real proof. I never had to ask whether the status was accurate. On the bigger calls, offers, partners, budgets, he was my counterweight, even when that was not comfortable for him. No agency speak, straight answers.”
“Andy and the team rebuilt my whole online presence from the ground up. What changed is who shows up: every qualification call I took in the first month closed. Three out of three. Anyone landing on my page now can see straight away that I'm an exclusive high ticket coach. So impressed with you lads and what you've built, this is phenomenal.”
“Andreas kept the overview in a complex project, including when things around it got chaotic. Thank you for your commitment and your overview in the shared chaos. Without him a lot would have been lost on the agency side. I very much hope we work together again.”
“In Andreas I have a professional partner who is able to think across industries and to look at my business model afresh from his perspective. That lets me steer my company toward the future with more confidence and keep challenging it.”
“Andreas stands out through an exceptional strategic understanding and the ability to consistently think from the outcome backwards. He reliably supported our CRM team in structuring processes and prioritising projects efficiently. Beyond strategy development, his strengths include leading workshops and producing concise management presentations. With his direct communication he is a valued sparring partner on equal footing.”
“Andy built the whole thing for me in like no time, and it was a banger. What amazed me most is that he got my tone of voice right straight from my instagram, I didn't even have to explain it. Changes I asked for were often live the same day. And he kept delivering even when things got messy on my side. I'm really grateful for all he's doing, it means a lot.”
“Thank you for everything you did for us. It was genuinely seen and appreciated. You worked closely with both our team and the people doing the work, helping to keep things moving and well coordinated.”
“Andy and I have exchanged regularly on product, data and strategy for years. Beyond his technical expertise, I value his entrepreneurial drive: he meets challenges with vision and openness. He sees opportunity where others fear complexity. What makes him stand out for me is that he doesn't just develop concepts, he digs rigorously into the details of digital products, as his own online shop shows. Andy never shies away from conflict and always gives a direct, honest picture. A fearless sparring partner you'd want at your side.”
“With Andreas we were able to run a highly successful AI workshop and develop a well-founded AI roadmap for our team. He did an excellent job of making the opportunities and possibilities of AI tangible – without stoking fears, but with a clear focus on real potential. Together we developed AI solutions that took our work in Customer & Market Research to a new level. Andreas supported us perfectly with his expertise, his neutral perspective and enormous solution orientation. He was a sparring partner and a reliable advisor at once – always honest, structured, pragmatic and to the point. The partnership was consistently on equal footing. What I particularly value is that it did not stay in grey theory, but created real, lasting value for our everyday work. The result has a noticeable impact on my daily work and my professional development. Thank you so much for your outstanding support!”
“Andreas and I kept overlapping over the years: me deep in the technical implementation, him in the strategy and the process above it. That fit together cleanly. He operates more strategically than most people you deal with on projects like these. Strictly speaking he is only half a service provider, at his core he builds business models.”
“My collaboration with Andreas has been with me and Decathlon since 2023. What started back then in CRM with automating customer journeys in email marketing and support in day-to-day operations has grown over the years into a genuinely strong partnership. As head of the Customer & Market Insights team it was clear to me that I wanted Andreas at my side again in 2025. He was instrumental in developing the strategy for our team and the project. His AI expertise was a huge gain: through his hands-on training and the implementation of deep-research projects he moved the team forward enormously. But what truly sets Andreas apart for me goes far beyond the technical side: over the years the purely business relationship has grown into a real, trusting foundation – and a friendship. Andreas is both a sparring partner and a coach to me. He knows how to motivate me again and again, to see things from a new angle and to push my own projects forward boldly. What I value enormously: he is never too proud for anything. He acts lightning-fast, helps me sort topics correctly and shares his wealth of experience completely without fuss. For me Andreas brings exactly that rare mix of deep expertise, real hands-on mentality and human class that you wish for in a partner. Thank you for the great support over all these years!”
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