UGC ads for apps are filmed by a real person on their own phone, in the everyday style that reads as a post, not an ad. For an app the hook is usually someone naming the problem in their own words before anything gets shown, because the screen alone does not explain why anyone downloaded it.
This page is the app side of ad production. It says how UGC ads get written and tested, what they did on two accounts, and what the sprint of fifteen ads includes. Games have their own page, because they are briefed differently.
How the ads get written
I go through your ad account and the ads your competitors are running, and write the ideas from what that shows. A creator I work with handles the direction, the script and the opening line, and the talent comes from my creator network. The first round is rough on purpose. Nothing gets finished properly until testing in your own account, inside the fourteen days, has picked the winner. The elimination stage of that test is written out step by step.
How an app brief differs from a game brief
The four formats are the same for apps and games. What changes is the brief, and it changes the script more than the format.
| Part of the ad | For apps | For games |
|---|---|---|
| The opening | Say what is wrong before the screen means anything | Show the product in the first second; the caption does the rest |
| A creator on camera | Someone naming the problem in their own words before anything gets shown | A reaction, or someone playing and talking over it |
| App or gameplay capture | The screen doing the one thing the person downloaded the app to do | Gameplay, usually the moment that makes the mechanic obvious in three seconds |
| AI footage and presenters | A presenter reading a script, to test which promise lands first | Rarely the finished ad; useful for finding which claim is worth filming |
| 2D motion | The problem and the promise drawn out when the screen alone does not carry them | The mechanic explained in motion before the polished gameplay exists |
What it looked like
At Diress, a UGC ad of someone trying on the product cut CPI by 40 percent. At EatBetter, turning creator content into paid acquisition on Meta was the engine behind $10K to $180K in monthly recurring revenue in two months. What to do with the winner once it is old is its own question, and its own post.
Who it is for
- Subscription apps whose Meta creative has gone stale
- Teams that have bought UGC from a marketplace and got footage with no strategy attached
- Apps where the product is a screen with text, and the ad has to carry the why
What you get
- 3 ad ideas written from your ad account, 5 versions of each, 15 ads ready to run
- A creator on camera where the idea calls for it, screen capture or AI footage where they fit better. The account read decides the mix.
- Fourteen days of testing in your ad account, set up so the ads get a fair read
- A written summary at the end: what worked, and what to make next
- The winner remade properly, then versions of it, if you continue month to month
Questions people ask
Who is the creator in the UGC ads?
Someone from my network, cast for the app. I do not name individual creators on this site. You see the person in the ads before anything runs.
Do I supply the script for the UGC ads?
No. The ideas come out of your ad account, and a creator I work with writes the script and the opening line. If you have a brief it helps, but it is not the starting point.
Are all fifteen ads in the sprint UGC?
Not necessarily. Which formats you get is decided by what the account read shows, so a sprint is usually a mix.
What if none of the fifteen ads win?
The summary says so plainly and sets out what the test ruled out, which narrows what is worth making next. A round that kills three ideas is still a result you can act on.
Do UGC ads work for games too?
Yes, with a different brief: a reaction, or someone playing and talking over it. There is a separate page for game ads.