Somewhere along the way, UGC stopped meaning user-generated content and started meaning a look — handheld, vertical, lo-fi, talking-to-camera. Brands brief it like a deliverable: "we need three UGC videos." Agencies sell it like a SKU. The result is content that mimics the aesthetic of trust without earning any of it.
Real UGC is a relationship between a creator, a product, and an audience that already pays attention to them. The format is incidental. A 90-second voice note over a static photo can be UGC. A polished studio piece can't be, no matter how shaky the camera.
The shift that actually moves performance is briefing for a point of view, not a shot list. Pick creators whose audience overlaps with yours, give them the product long enough to form an opinion, and let the opinion be the script. The aesthetic follows.
Brands that treat UGC as a format end up with a library of videos that all look the same and convert worse over time. Brands that treat it as a relationship end up with a roster of creators who keep showing up — and content that compounds.