Perpetual Traffic – Episode Summary

Episode: The New Meta GEM Update + The Secret to Meta’s Andromeda Revealed with Andrew Foxwell – Part 1
Hosts: Ralph Burns (Tier 11), Lauren Petrullo (Mongoose Media)
Guest: Andrew Foxwell (Co-founder, Foxwell Digital)
Date: November 26, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode tackles the seismic changes in Meta’s advertising ecosystem, focusing on the newly announced GEM (Generative Engine Model) update and how it works alongside Andromeda—the core ads algorithm. Ralph and Andrew break down what GEM is, why it matters for advertisers, the convergence of organic and paid strategies, and what concrete workflow changes marketers should be making to stay ahead.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Is Meta’s GEM?

• GEM is Meta’s new central AI “brain” that accelerates how ads are delivered across Facebook, Instagram, and beyond.

• It acts as a convergence layer, processing every user action in real time to better match ads to buyers, solving both "signal vs. noise" and cross-platform data fragmentation.

• Whereas Andromeda optimizes how your ads are "understood" by the algorithm, GEM is focused on how and to whom those ads are actually served (04:49, 07:16).

  "It's essentially what they're trying to solve is, I guess a couple different things...what GEM does every single day is use every user action in real time to find buyers."
  — Andrew Foxwell (04:49)

GEM by the Numbers (from Meta sources):

• 5% increase in ad conversions on Instagram, 3% on Facebook Feed in Q2 2025
• Doubled efficiency gains in Q3 2025 after launch
• GEM now considers signals from all Meta platforms (including WhatsApp, Reels) for ad delivery

2. Why Is GEM a Big Deal for Advertisers?

• Unified cross-platform learning: GEM breaks down the division between Facebook and Instagram engines, now learning from all of Meta’s platforms—including organic content.

• GEM factors in:

  • Historical user behaviors (via “sequence features”)—what you clicked on, searched, engaged with over months
  • Demographics & context (age, location, ad format)

• For the first time, Meta has explicitly communicated they’re using all user interactions across platforms and even the wider web.

  "Apparently Meta was still looking at Instagram and Facebook as two different ad serving engines and this brings them into one."
  — Andrew Foxwell (07:16)

  “GEM will learn from Meta's entire ecosystem, including user interactions on organic and ads content across text, image, video, and audio that can rank.”
  — Andrew Foxwell quoting Meta (10:38)

3. The Increasing Strategic Importance of Organic Content

• Organic and paid are merging: Historically, brands siloed organic and paid strategies, but with GEM, organic engagement now boosts paid effectiveness.

• Engagement with your organic posts (not just ads) will now increasingly impact ad ranking and distribution.

  “Organic will play an important role in ad ranking. My question was like, what do we do? How does it get it? And he's like, it's going to—he said organic twice in one sentence. So that, that's a very interesting thing to me.”
  — Andrew Foxwell (14:41)

4. Key Questions Answered by Meta (Andrew’s Direct Q&A):

• How should advertisers train GEM?

  • Diversification in creative still matters, across both paid and organic.
  • It’s no longer enough to have only Instagram-forward or Facebook-forward strategies; cross-platform integration is essential. (13:13)

• What's the biggest workflow change marketers should make?

  • Rank and track both organic content and ads.
  • Organic content should be seen as part of the creative mix for ad ranking.

  "Workflow change advertisers should make right now... rank both organic content and ads. Organic will play an important role in ad ranking."
  — Andrew Foxwell (14:41)

5. Practical Advertiser Takeaways for GEM/Andromeda Era

• Creative diversification matters everywhere—replicate your innovative ad strategies on your organic social presence (18:34).

• Build systems for tagging, tracking, and workflow so that creative testing isn’t “gambling with prettier chips” (19:33).

  • Use tools like Motion for creative tagging.
  • Treat creative testing as a “factory” with workflows for ideation, iteration, persona exploration, and style experimentation.

  "Because gamble-like creative without a system is like gambling with prettier chips. Like it doesn't do anything."
  — Andrew Foxwell (19:33)

• Focus less on intricate audience targeting, more on creative and strategic marketing:

  • “Interest targeting and lookalikes are less relevant now; creative diversity and understanding consumer triggers is key.”

  “Your resistance...to thinking that old-school style...it's not going to help you in the long run. ...We are now marketers back to being marketers, not just lever pullers.”
  — Andrew Foxwell (27:25)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the magnitude of GEM:

  "I look at Andromeda as like the biggest thing to happen to Meta since ads went into the Newsfeed in 2013... this [GEM] is a PR move but it's also a major engine change."
  — Ralph Burns (09:41)

• On strategic shift for agencies and brands:

  "These changes...are about workflows in your agency or your brand. It's about building systems that allow you to diversify and build things differently."
  — Andrew Foxwell (19:33)

• On the mindset change needed for marketers:

  "We are now effectively a creative shop. ...We're back to being marketers and what we are going to do is get deeply into the consumer's mindset...and build systems for that so that you can have a creative factory that's churning in a way that it wasn't previously."
  — Andrew Foxwell (27:25)

• Light Moment:

  "Let's just start the hashtag now. #RalphGetsANewBike."
  — Andrew Foxwell (07:14)

Important Timestamps

• 00:59 – Introduction to GEM ("the central brain that accelerates ads on Meta")
• 04:49 – What GEM solves for advertisers; foundational principles
• 07:16 – Unity of ad engines across platforms, real-life example (cycling content)
• 09:41 – Difference between GEM and Andromeda in the ad ecosystem, Meta's PR strategy
• 10:38 – Integration of organic interactions into ad ranking
• 13:13 – How to train GEM, importance of cross-platform creative
• 14:41 – Workflow changes and explicit focus on organic in ad ranking
• 16:38 – Resurgence of organic reach and measurement’s new role
• 22:10 – “Good ad” signals in Andromeda/GEM: spend, purchases, creative metrics, rolling reach
• 27:25 – Why the traditional “algorithm hacks” mindset won’t work anymore; embracing creative marketing

Actionable Summary for Marketers

1. Treat creative diversification as a cross-channel mandate: Apply innovative ad concept strategies to both paid and organic content.
2. Systematize creative workflows: Tag, track, and iterate systematically on new concepts and formats—both in ads and organic.
3. Embrace the return of organic: Organic post engagement will directly influence paid ad performance; build and measure a holistic content presence.
4. Shift mindset from tactical lever-pulling to deep marketing strategy: The new automation means less micromanaging targeting and more investing in idea development, audience understanding, and creative storytelling.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where the hosts dig into the metrics that matter most for growth in the GEM/Andromeda era—and what your team should track next!