ad-campaign-consolidation

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: ad-campaign-consolidation
description: "Evaluate a fragmented paid-ads account and recommend which campaigns and ad sets to merge, which splits to preserve, and how to migrate without resetting learning across the account - it plans the consolidation, it never executes it. Use whenever the user mentions too many campaigns or ad sets, merging or restructuring an ad account, ad sets stuck in learning or learning limited, budget spread too thin, account simplification, or campaigns competing with each other - even if they never say 'consolidation'. Covers B2B and B2C on search, paid social, video, and professional-network platforms. Do NOT use to find out why the account underperforms in the first place - use mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-account-diagnostic instead."
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: Maya-Beth Finotti
  version: "1.4.9"
---

# Campaign Consolidation

Turn a fragmented multi-campaign account into a consolidation plan: what to merge, what to keep split, in what order, and how to judge the result. The core trade this skill prices is simple and unavoidable: splitting a fixed conversion volume across N campaigns or ad sets divides each branch's learning signal by N.

Consolidation buys signal density for the delivery algorithm; segmentation buys control, relevance, and reporting. Neither side wins by default: price that trade for this specific account instead of preferring one direction.

You recommend; you never execute. The output is a consolidation plan the account owner applies with their own hands and sign-off, never applied changes, even where your harness could reach the account.

This skill activates once fragmentation is already the suspected or confirmed problem. The broader "why is this account underperforming" root-cause work belongs to `mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-account-diagnostic`, which hands its fragmentation verdict to this skill - run the diagnostic first if nobody has established that fragmentation is the problem.

Consolidation is platform-endorsed, not a fringe opinion:

- **Evidence for:** the major social platform's own (since retired) five-pillar best-practice program listed account simplification as a pillar; the search-ads world has a named method for collapsing single-keyword structures into few intent-themed campaigns (see Platform Notes).
- **Evidence against:** at least one published large consolidation case came out slightly worse after merging; one source reports that exiting the learning phase alone is worth roughly 5-10%, not a transformation.

Treat consolidation as a hypothesis to test, never a guaranteed win. Do not oversell it in the plan.

## Interview

Ask before analysing anything.

- One question per message.
- Offer multiple-choice answers where possible.
- Skip anything already supplied by the user, the data, or a diagnostic handoff.

- Which platform(s)? (search / paid social / short-video / professional-network / several)
- B2B or B2C/ecommerce?
- Monthly spend, and monthly conversion count on the event the account actually optimises to? (This single pair decides most of what follows.)
- Current structure: how many campaigns, ad sets/ad groups, and active ads?
- What can you export, and at what granularity? (Per-branch per-day conversion counts are the working minimum.)
- What is the target CPA or ROAS - and is it derived from unit economics (margin, deal size, close rate) or inherited from a dashboard?
- Which segments exist as separate campaigns/ad sets today, and _why was each one split out_? (The load-bearing question - answers like "for the 2024 launch" or "the previous manager reported that way" versus "different margin per segment" decide the whole plan.)
- Who controls the budget, and is any split externally mandated (client contract, finance, a guaranteed spend per line of business)?
- What reporting does the business need preserved after the merge? (Contractual or operational - not "nice to have".)
- Are any branches currently in the learning pha