A UGC brief that works is one page, names the one thing the video has to prove, and gives the creator three hooks to choose from. Everything else is permission to be themselves. The briefs behind our best creator content were the shortest ones we wrote. The flattest content came from eight page decks with mood boards.
Why do most UGC briefs fail?
They are written for the brand, not the creator. A brand team writes down everything it knows about the product, the tone, the competitors and the legal lines, then hands that to a person who films in her kitchen between school pickups. She reads the first paragraph, guesses at the rest, and sends back something safe.
The second failure is asking for a finished ad. Creators are not production companies. When a brief asks for a 30 second spot with three product shots and a tagline, you get a worse version of a studio ad. Ask for a real answer to a real question and you get something that looks like the feed.
What does a UGC brief look like when it works?
Ours fits on one page. Five parts, in this order.
One claim to prove
Not three benefits. One. “This vitamin is the one my kid asks for” or “I pumped at my desk and nobody knew.” The creator builds the whole video around proving that sentence with her own life. If the brief has two claims, the video has none.
Three hooks, creator picks one
We write the first two seconds three different ways: a question, a confession, a contrast. The creator chooses the one she can say without reading. Forced hooks sound forced. Her pick tells us which angle she believes. We publish the hooks we use for kids vitamin brands so you can see the shape.
The must say and the never say
Two short lists. The must say is usually one sentence about what the product is. The never say is the legal and category lines: no health outcomes for a supplement, no insurance claims for a pump, no competitor names.
Where it runs
Organic, paid, or both, and on which platform. A video built for a Spark Ad opens differently from one built for a Reel. If we plan to put spend behind it, we say so, because that changes the hook and the length.
One reference, not a mood board
A single link to a video that already works, with one line on why. Mood boards make creators imitate aesthetics. One reference makes them imitate a result.
What changes when the brief is right?
Revisions drop. On accounts where we moved to the one page format, first cut approvals went from roughly half to most, and the content that needed a second round needed it for legal lines, not creative direction. And the content starts winning in paid: a kids vitamin brand we work with saw a 930 percent lift in TikTok engagement once boosted creator content replaced polished brand video. The Hiya case study has the numbers.
The brief is the cheapest part of a creator program and the one most teams spend the least time on. If your creators keep sending back content you have to fix, the fix is upstream.
How we run it
We batch evergreen briefs monthly and write trend briefs weekly, so creators always have one proof claim in production and one fast turn in the queue. The creator and UGC program page covers how we source, brief, review and license, and the how to run a UGC campaign guide walks through the full cycle for an ecommerce brand.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a UGC brief be?
One page. One claim, three hooks, a must say and never say list, where the content runs, and one reference. If it needs a second page, the claim is not clear yet.
Should creators get a script?
No. Give them the claim and the hooks and let them say it their way. A script produces an ad read; a claim produces a story. In regulated categories the must say list carries the exact legal wording.
How many hooks should a brief include?
Three. Fewer than that and the creator has no real choice; more than that and she picks at random. Write a question, a confession and a contrast, and let her pick the one she can say naturally.
What is the biggest mistake in UGC briefs?
Asking for a finished ad instead of a proven claim. The second is a mood board. Both push the creator toward imitation, and imitation is what the feed scrolls past.
Ashley Rector is Founder and CEO of Quimby Digital, a social media and paid media agency for parenting, women’s health, CPG and consumer brands.