Creative
UGC
Ad creative that looks and feels like organic content created by real users rather than polished brand advertisements. Includes customer testimonials, unboxing videos, product reviews, and 'day in my life' style content. Consistently outperforms studio-shot creative on social platforms because it matches the native content format. Typically drives lower CPA than traditional brand creative on Meta and TikTok. UGC outperforms in prospecting but often underperforms polished creative in retargeting.
Why it matters
It tends to outperform studio creative on cold audiences because it reads as testimony rather than advertising, though the gap narrows as the format itself becomes familiar.
In practice
Test it as a format against your own studio work rather than assuming the advantage. The effect is real but it is not universal and it decays.
Related terms