Hello, this is Marlerino Group.

Today, we’ll tell you about our creative department — an infrastructure unit that generates hundreds of creatives every day and helps our buying teams achieve 100,000+ FTDs monthly.

In this article, you’ll learn about the department's structure, the training system, the department head, and his secrets for working with creatives based on over 5 years of experience in the field. We’ll explain how we don’t just cut videos, but systematically package offers in a way that grabs the audience’s attention from the very first seconds.

From a solo editor to a team of 15+ people

The Head of Creative at Marlerino Group is Ilya. He used to be a one-man editor, handling tasks for dozens of buyers on his own, working around the clock without days off. But as the number of buyers and teams grew, Ilya started building a creative team. Today, his team consists of over 15 editors who create content for 10+ media buyers teams working with Facebook within our holding.

Each editor is assigned to a specific team to streamline communication. The longer an editor works with the same people, the less time is spent on approving the final version of the creative, and new briefs become clear without unnecessary additions.

To maintain this format and ensure growth, we are always looking for people ready to join the team and generate fresh ideas. Just recently, we opened recruitment in our channel and welcomed a few new specialists into the department. Ilya personally participates in interviews to assess not only skills but also motivation — we prioritize those who are eager to grow and unafraid to implement new ideas.

Once we find the right people and ensure our goals and values align, the next step is systematic skill development. For this, the team has created a comprehensive training system based on Ilya's and his team's years of experience.

Minimize beginner's mistakes

Editors without significant experience in the field often make mistakes that make the creative less clickable and engaging. One of the most common mistakes is the lack of motivating elements. The viewer has watched the fun video, but then what? If you don't push them to take action, they'll simply scroll past. That's why bright reactions, dynamic text inserts, and visual accents are not just decorations, but triggers that hold attention and influence how the user behaves next.

Another common mistake is using outdated, overused templates. If they brought millions of views in 2018, they no longer attract the audience's attention today. People quickly recognize tired techniques, and if they're not surprised, they won't stay for even a second. The foundation of creativity is constant experimentation, finding new tricks and fresh solutions. Therefore, relying on worn-out templates almost always leads to losing clicks.

However, even a great idea can flop due to technical shortcomings. For example, the font overlay differs from the original, making everything look awkward. Or the voiceover sounds like it was read by a robot from 2005 — cold, unnatural, emotionless. And when lip sync is done poorly, with the character's mouth opening out of sync, it immediately lowers trust and perception of quality. These details work subtly—the viewer might not even realize what exactly is putting them off, but the feeling of "cheapness" and rawness will linger.

There are no small details in creatives. Every second, pixel, or tone of voice affects the result. Either you control the process and create engaging, dynamic, native content, or you lose clicks and your audience's money again.

The success of a creative directly depends on the skill level and expertise of our team members, so hiring, training, and developing our team is a top priority for us.

How we train and develop the team

The team training system is built based on Ilya's experience and includes studying guides, the information in which has been gathered and refined over years. The guides cover everything necessary for the work: from the nuances of various neural networks to methods for finding competitor creatives that are inaccessible to most media buyers.

What is included in the training system:

• A collection of guides on editing in Premiere Pro and After Effects: suitable for both beginners who are opening the software for the first time and for mid-level editors who want to level up their skills. 
• A compilation of effective creatives with clear examples, helping to understand what motivates users to take the desired action.
• An archive of past works with footage, plugins, motions, and everything that can help in implementing a new idea. 
• Mentorship: Every newcomer undergoes adaptation under the guidance of experienced colleagues, and Ilya coordinates the process, ensuring everything goes according to plan.

After the initial immersion, each team member receives a development plan based on their current needs: for one editor, it could be increasing visual awareness to work with a specific approach, while for another, it could be improving techniques with particular software. The team regularly shares insights, so everyone is up to date with the latest trends and discoveries. Once an editor "finds their feet," they work almost autonomously, and Ilya steps in only in rare cases, such as when an especially complex task arises or a new tool is discovered that can speed up video creation.

The goal of this system is to help editors hone their strengths and accomplish tasks efficiently and quickly.

Creative Workflow

With years of experience working with creatives, we've developed a specific workflow that the entire team follows. This agreed-upon flow helps systematize the process and makes each step clear and transparent for both sides — the buyer and the editor.

1. Briefing with the Buyer — the first and most important step in creating creatives. Here, we clarify the geo, formats, and references for the creative to ensure the client gets exactly what they requested. Essentially, the brief acts as a roadmap for creating the bundle. It includes:

• Geo — Where will we be targeting?
• Format — Vertical for stories, horizontal, or square?
• Type of Creative — Influencer, live, reaction?
• Motion — Is animation needed?
• Application — Which platform are we promoting on?
• Text — What should the copy say?
• Footage — What source material or references are available?

If anything is missing, the creative specialist immediately clarifies all details with the buyer. The more input provided, the clearer and more structured the process and result will be.

We believe that 70% of the success of the campaign is tied to the creative. That’s why it’s important for the buyer to personally understand what resonates with the audience and develop their visual awareness. The request for creative always comes directly from the buyer: they set the idea and share insights they’ve filtered during their analysis.

Typically, to analyze what resonates with the audience and what competitors are using, buyers rely on several tools ↓

Paid spy-services:

• Tyver
• AdHeart

Free sources that help you quickly catch current trends:

• Facebook Library
• Social networks: Instagram, YouTube

2. Material search. Once the brief is finalized, the search for materials begins — the raw content from which the creative will be made. This can include both social media and spying tools, as well as live shoots: often, videos for creative use are filmed right in the office.
3. Adaptation. This is the stage where the found materials are refined for use in a specific geo. Typically, this involves changing the currency, adjusting the character's face, or replacing part of the visual elements.
4. Editing. This is the core part of the work, requiring the most hard skills. When creating creatives, the choice of software plays a crucial role — it affects both the speed of work and its quality. For example, paid neural networks allow for realistic voice overs, while lip sync becomes smoother. We've tested numerous solutions and gradually eliminated those that didn't provide the necessary efficiency. In the end, we've settled on the optimal set of programs and services that help create high-quality creatives in a short amount of time.

The main programs used by editors:

• Adobe Premiere Pro — the primary program for editing
• Adobe After Effects — for adding additional visual effects
• ElevenLabs — for creating realistic voiceovers
• Sync.co — for realistic lip sync

5. Review and approval of the brief. At this stage, team insights may come into play: sometimes, experience and industry awareness suggest that a particular trigger, which performed well in previous projects, might be the best fit for a specific country.
6. Feedback: After completing a task, editors always collect feedback from the buying team. The goal is to understand how the creative performed and how the applied solutions impacted the numbers provided by the buyer. We always look at various metrics, not just the CTR percentage, to analyze how effective the creative was and what adjustments could improve the result in the future.

This workflow and open communication between buyers and editors help us achieve consistently high results and scale further — both in terms of quantity and quality of the created creatives. To ensure that the information you gained from this material works effectively, we've also compiled a few universal tips. These will help avoid common mistakes, adapt quickly to any geo, and make the most out of the resources invested.

Adapting creatives to geo: what works in different regions?

Often, the details emphasized in a creative can influence not only the CTR but also the subsequent conversion to deposits. Below are several examples that demonstrate how we adjust our approach in different regions to increase engagement and trust.

Throughout the process, we've noticed that each country has its own nuances. For example:

• In Turkey, videos featuring light-haired women perform well. Link to video
  
• In Asia, people are drawn to powerful emotions (big wins, sudden success). Link to video
  
• In Europe, inspiring "success stories" that build trust are highly appreciated. Link to video
  
• In regions with lower income levels, showcasing a luxurious lifestyle (cars, watches, lavish homes) works well. Link to video
  

Here are examples of successful approaches:

• News-style videos with a dynamic presentation of facts. Link to video
• Creatives where the emotions of the winners are vividly expressed — this boosts trust and engagement. Link to video
• Viral videos with unexpected plot twists that people want to share. Link to video

Conclusion

Creatives are the foundation of successful media buying in 2025. That's why in our Creo department, we have not just assembled a team of editors, but built a system that creates effective creatives that sell the products we promote. We constantly adapt to market demands and develop our team, not just following trends, but creating new ones. This approach allows us to never rest on our laurels, always pushing ourselves to grow.

If you're an editor or media buyer who also wants to grow both professionally and financially, leave a request in our HR bot — we’d be happy to get to know you and learn about your experience. Join Marlerino Group

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