A few years ago, a brand needed a film crew to look credible. Today, a 30-second video filmed on a phone by a real customer can outperform a studio production on TikTok, Reels and Stories. This kind of content is called UGC, for user-generated content, and it has become one of the main tools in our creative testing.
Why UGC works
- It looks native. It looks like the content people already scroll through, so it doesn’t trigger the “skip, it’s an ad” reflex.
- It builds trust. People believe someone like them more than they believe a brand.
- It’s cheap to test. For the price of one studio shoot, you can test ten different hooks and angles, and let the numbers pick the winner.
The structure of a winning UGC video
Most of the UGC ads that perform best for our clients follow the same four-part structure:
- Hook (0–3 s): a bold statement, a question or a surprising visual. “I stopped paying for a cleaner after I found this.”
- Problem (3–8 s): the frustration your customer knows well.
- Demo (8–25 s): the product in real use, close-up, with honest reactions.
- Call to action (last 5 s): what to do next and why now, for example a launch offer or free delivery.
How to brief a creator
A good brief gives direction without a script. Creators who read a script word for word sound like an ad again. Share the key message, three possible hooks, the points that must appear in the video, and the things to avoid. Then let them speak in their own words, in Darija, French or Arabic, depending on your audience.
Don’t forget the rights
Before you run a creator’s video as an ad, agree in writing on where and for how long you can use it. It protects both sides and avoids awkward conversations when a video becomes your best performer.
Test the hook, not the whole video. The same video with three different first sentences can give three very different results.
Need a steady flow of UGC videos for your brand? Talk to our content team about a monthly creative package.