New Meta Creative Workflow vs the Classic Ad Setup: What's Different?

Meta has been rolling out a new creative workflow in Ads Manager that changes how you upload and customize media — but the older method is still available for some accounts. Here's how the two compare, so you know which one you're using and what you're missing.

The old (classic) method

In the classic ad customization flow, you'd:

• Upload a single image or video per ad

• Manually go into placement customization to crop or swap creative per surface

• Handle each placement's asset largely one at a time

This method still works and is documented separately by Meta, but it's more manual and doesn't support uploading multiple assets in one step.

The new creative workflow

The new workflow, available in the ad setup's creative wizard, changes the process:

• Upload up to 10 images and videos in a single ad in one step

• Automatic variant grouping — same creative in different ratios gets bundled without extra clicks

• Built-in crop tool at both the media selection stage and the ad creative stage

• Advantage+ creative toggle integrated directly into the enhancements step

• A more guided, wizard-style setup (Creative setup → Media → Text/Image generation → Enhancements)

Side-by-side comparison

| Classic workflow | New creative workflow

Max assets per ad | Typically one at a time, adjusted manually | Up to 10 images/videos

Variant handling | Manual | Automatic grouping

Cropping | Separate placement customization step | Built into media upload and ad creative sections

Advantage+ creative | Available, but separate flow | Integrated into Enhancements step

Setup speed | Slower for multi-placement campaigns | Faster, especially for multi-ratio creative

Which one should you use?

• If your account has access to the new workflow, use it — it's faster for anyone running the same creative across multiple placements, since variant grouping and cropping are handled in the same flow.

• If the new workflow isn't available to you yet, the classic placement customization method still fully works; you'll just do more of the ratio and crop management manually, placement by placement.

How to tell which one you're using

When you click + Create and go to set up your creative, if you see a step-by-step wizard with a dedicated Media section allowing multiple uploads at once, you're in the new workflow. If instead you're placing a single asset and then separately customizing it per placement afterward, you're on the classic method.

Bottom line

The new workflow doesn't fundamentally change what's possible — placement customization, cropping, and Advantage+ creative all existed before. What it changes is how many steps it takes to do it, consolidating multi-asset, multi-ratio ad creation into a single guided flow instead of a scattered manual process.