Why Meta’s New Algorithm Benefits Purpose-Led Brands

by Jake Drant

Overview - what's inside

TLDR: Why Meta’s New Algorithm Benefits Purpose-Led Brands

• Andromeda is Meta’s biggest update since iOS 14.5. It changes how ad spend is distributed. Instead of concentrating on one or two “winning” ads, the algorithm now rotates spend across multiple narratives more evenly.

• Creative diversity is rewarded. Brands need distinct ad messages that speak to different motivations, not shallow variations of the same idea.

• Creative has become a targeting signal. With privacy limits and cookies disappearing, Advantage+ broad targeting plus diverse creative gives Meta the best chance to map messages to the right audiences.

• This is a big opportunity for purpose-led brands. Instead of forcing all values into a single ad, sustainability, heritage, craftsmanship, gifting and impact stories can each stand on their own and find the right audience.

• Broad vs niche. Broad Advantage+ campaigns are now the default for scale, with lookalikes still useful for doubling down on specific high-value groups.

• The new playbook. Success comes from a portfolio of narratives that reflect different buyer motivations. Hooks, formats and editing still matter, but variety of message is what expands reach and builds long-term growth.

• The takeaway. Brands that embrace diverse storytelling will thrive. The update makes Meta feel like it is finally rewarding the way purpose-led founders already see themselves: as businesses built on layered values, not single-message sales tactics.

I should caveat this article by saying my perspective comes from working with D2C ecommerce brands, particularly purpose-led businesses that care about sustainable growth. In the wider advertising space, there’s often an emphasis on short-term sales and immediate returns, which makes sense given the pressure many brands are under. But our clients tend to focus on the long term, and building a business that grows steadily over many years requires a slightly different approach.

And this is why I’m so excited about Meta’s new algorithm update. In the past, we always seemed to be fighting the system. Winning ads would be identified quickly and starve the other messages that brands wanted to communicate to specific customer types. The algorithm doubled down on what worked most efficiently, even if it meant narrowing the story.

Now, however, there is more weight on creative diversity, with spend rotating between different narratives rather than allowing one to dominate. The platform is better at mapping creative angles to distinct audience segments. For brands, this opens up the chance to move beyond a single storyline and build out multiple messages that speak to different motivations. For purpose-led businesses in particular, it’s a major opportunity to communicate with different audiences and uncover new areas of growth.

Of course, this has always been technically possible with interest targeting, but in my view that approach was largely guesswork. With privacy laws tightening and third-party cookies being phased out, it is only becoming less reliable. This is exactly why broad Advantage+ targeting is becoming so central.

The Meta Andromeda Update

At its core, the Andromeda update changes how Meta distributes spend across your ads. In the past, the system would quickly identify one or two top performers and funnel the majority of budget into them. That meant the other creatives in your account, even if they told an important part of your brand story, were often starved of delivery. To get around this, accounts had to be structured in ways that deliberately forced balance. It was rarely efficient and heavily reliant on human input.

Andromeda seems to shift that behaviour. Instead of doubling down on a single “winner,” the algorithm now rotates more actively between different messages, and does so far more efficiently than any human could. The result is that spend is spread across a wider mix of narratives, rather than allowing one to dominate. For brands looking to pivot their messaging and reach new audiences, this is a real opportunity.

This doesn’t mean performance no longer matters. Ads still need to capture attention and convert, but the balance has tilted. Variety in messaging is rewarded because it gives the system more options to map against different audience segments. In other words, creative has become a much stronger signal for targeting.

The New Playbook for Creative

For a long time, the playbook for Meta ads revolved around execution. Advertisers spent their energy testing hooks, experimenting with video lengths, and tweaking formats to find the combination that captured the most attention. Success was often defined by uncovering one or two high-performing ads that could then be scaled.

That approach still has a place, but Andromeda shifts the centre of gravity. The system now rewards advertisers who can supply a variety of distinct messages rather than endless variations of the same one. Hooks and editing still matter, but they work best once you’ve already established the message behind them. Hooks amplify reach within an audience, but diverse messages are what expand reach into new audiences altogether.

In practice, this means thinking less about producing multiple versions of one core idea, and more about developing a portfolio of narratives that reflect different buyer motivations. For a purpose-led brand this might include sustainability, craftsmanship, durability, gifting, or heritage. Each of these angles gives the algorithm something new to work with and increases the chance of matching your brand to the right audience segment.

Why This Matters for Purpose-Led Brands

The shift brought by Andromeda is particularly valuable for purpose-led businesses. These brands rarely have just one story to tell. Alongside a core product message, there are usually layers around sustainability, local production, craftsmanship, or social impact. In the old system, these narratives often struggled to gain traction because the algorithm would quickly identify one or two high-performing ads and funnel spend into them. In some cases, ads were repeatedly shown to sustainability-focused audiences who engaged with the message but were not the brand’s core buyers.

Now, with creative diversity rewarded, purpose-led brands are in a stronger position. Instead of forcing all of their values into a single ad, they can let each narrative stand on its own and reach the audiences most likely to respond. A message about sustainability might resonate with one group, while a story about heritage or gifting appeals to another. The important point is that no single story needs to carry the weight of the brand. The algorithm can distribute them more evenly and discover new pockets of growth.

For brands that care about long-term, sustainable growth, this shift feels like the platform is finally catching up with how they already see themselves: not as a single message optimised for clicks, but as a collection of values that build a lasting business.

The Balance Between Broad and Niche

Andromeda and Advantage+ have made broad targeting the default for many advertisers, and with good reason. By giving the algorithm a wide audience and a diverse set of creative messages, you allow it to do the work of matching narratives to the people most likely to care. For most brands, this is both simpler and more effective than trying to engineer complex audience structures manually.

That said, broad is not the be-all and end-all. In certain cases, lookalike audiences can still play a useful role. They allow you to layer in some additional precision, especially when your brand attracts a niche segment that may not surface easily through broad distribution alone.

The key is balance. Broad Advantage+ campaigns give Meta the space to find scale, while lookalikes can help you double down on high-value groups when there’s a clear reason to do so.

To Wrap It Up

The Andromeda update is a shift in how growth on Meta is achieved. Where once the system rewarded a handful of winning ads, it now creates room for a broader mix of messages to find their audience. For purpose-led brands, this is a real advantage. It means you no longer have to compress everything into one narrative, but can let the different facets of your brand stand on their own and reach the people who care about them most.

Targeting still has its place. However, Broad Advantage+ will often be the most effective, with lookalikes providing support in certain niches. The real lever of growth now sits with the creative. The brands that will thrive in this new environment are those that embrace diversity of storytelling and use it to build lasting connections across multiple audiences.

We believe the best growth marketing is powered by strong creative. As Meta’s Andromeda update makes clear, success is no longer about one winning ad but about telling a mix of stories that connect with different audiences.

That is why we are expanding our creative content team. Kirstyn Boyle has recently joined us alongside Rachel Webb, and together they bring thoughtful storytelling, sharp editorial skills and a passion for purpose-led brands.

For our clients, this means more capacity, more creativity and more space to build campaigns that reflect their mission and connect with their audience.

At Three of Us, culture and clients are everything. We are proud to grow in a way that lets us do more of what we love: helping purpose-led brands scale with clarity and care.