The INKEY List: When UGC beat branded content on every channel.
Alongside IMA-HOME, The INKEY List wanted to find out how powerful UGC could really be as part of its media mix. We scripted briefs for TikTok-native creators around Hyaluronic Acid and Retinol, then ran the content against branded ads on Meta, Snapchat and YouTube. UGC outperformed branded content on every channel, and our best piece hit a 69% view through rate on YouTube.
Results at a glance
44% uplift in CTR on Snapchat.
0.91% to 2.1% CTA rate on Meta.
69% view through rate on YouTube, against a 40% benchmark.
Branded or UGC? Let the numbers decide.
The INKEY List and IMA-HOME had a simple question: how powerful can UGC really be as part of a paid media mix? Rather than guess, they wanted to test it properly, with the same core products running across Meta, Snapchat and YouTube and branded content and UGC going head to head.
Drive viewers to convert on The INKEY List's core products, Hyaluronic Acid and Retinol, through paid social.
Test whether TikTok-style UGC could outperform branded content across every paid social channel.
Take TikTok's style everywhere else.
TikTok has its own way of selling, straight to camera and in a creator's own words. We took that style and used it across every paid social channel, not just the one it came from.
01
The insights
The INKEY List's whole proposition is effective ingredients without the inflated price tag, and that's a message that lands best from a person rather than a brand. When a creator looks into the camera and asks why we're all spending so much money on serums, then says “The actual ingredients are incredibly similar”, it sounds like advice from a friend. TikTok made that style of content familiar, and there was no reason it should only work there.
02
The strategy
We used carefully scripted briefs and worked with TikTok-native creators to produce content around two of The INKEY List's core products, Hyaluronic Acid and Retinol, all with the aim of driving viewers to convert.
Scripted for native creators
Every brief was carefully scripted, and every creator was native to TikTok, so the content felt like it belonged in a feed rather than an ad break.
Cut for every placement
Working with IMA-HOME on placements, we optimised each piece in length for Meta, Snapchat and YouTube, while IMA-HOME optimised the audience targeting.
Branded vs UGC
We then tested the UGC against branded content on each channel, so the results would show which approach actually performed.
Campfire services on this project
03
The impact
UGC outperformed branded content on every channel. On Snapchat, it delivered a 44% uplift in CTR. On Meta, the CTA rate moved from 0.91% to 2.1%, more than doubling. On YouTube, where IMA-HOME's benchmark view through rate on ads is 40%, our top-performing UGC piece came in at 69%, cutting through the noise on the channel. The experiment showed that TikTok's style doesn't have to stay on TikTok. Carried across a multi-channel approach, it improved performance dramatically.