UGC

User-generated content is the ad creative you licence rather than produce. A creator films your product in their kitchen, their gym or their bathroom, and you run that footage as paid social, on product pages and in email — because it converts better than studio work almost everywhere it is tested. The distinction that matters: UGC is a content supply chain, not an audience play. You are buying the asset, not the creator’s followers.

What we actually do

We source creators against the brief rather than the follower count, because for UGC an account with 2,000 followers and a good phone camera is often the better buy. Vetting covers the things that go wrong later: whether they can actually shoot to a brief, whether their past work looks like yours, and whether they will hit a deadline.

Then briefing, which is where most UGC campaigns are won or lost. A brief that specifies hook, format, length, aspect ratio, must-say claims and must-avoid claims produces usable footage. A brief that says “be authentic” produces a reshoot. We build variant matrices so a single creator round returns several testable hooks rather than one video.

We handle the licensing properly — term, territory, channels, and whether paid amplification and whitelisting are included — because the most expensive mistake in UGC is discovering a hero asset’s licence expired mid-flight, or that it never covered paid at all.

Where it goes

Paid social first, since that is where the conversion difference shows up most clearly against studio creative. Then product detail pages, where real-use footage lifts conversion; email and lifecycle; retail media; and organic social. One well-briefed creator round should feed several channels, which is what makes the economics work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between UGC and influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing buys access to someone’s audience — the creator posts to their own followers. UGC buys the content itself: the creator films it, you licence it, and you distribute it through your own paid and owned channels. The same person can do both, but they are separate deals at separate prices, and confusing them is how brands end up paying audience rates for footage they then cannot legally run as an ad.

Do UGC creators need a large following?

No. You are buying craft and reliability, not reach. Many of the best UGC creators have small followings and an excellent grasp of hooks, lighting and pacing. Follower count only matters if you also want them to post it.

Who owns the content?

The creator owns the copyright unless it is explicitly assigned. Most deals licence usage instead — defined term, territory and channels — which is usually the cheaper and more sensible structure. What matters is that the licence explicitly covers paid amplification if you intend to run it as an ad, and that you know the expiry date before you build a campaign on it.

Does UGC used as a paid ad still need disclosure?

If it runs in a paid ad unit, the ad label does the disclosure work. If the creator also posts it to their own account under a commercial arrangement, that post needs clear disclosure under ASA and CAP rules. We brief for both cases so nothing depends on the creator guessing.

How much UGC do we need to test properly?

Enough to separate a good hook from a good product shot — in practice several distinct concepts, each with a few hook variants, rather than one polished video. We build the brief so a single creator round returns a testable matrix instead of a single asset.