Creative Preparation for Holiday 2022

My team and I have been studying with the gurus in our industry: Ezra Firestone, Depesh Mandalia, and the folks at Common Thread Collective to name a few. The common theme we are hearing from these leaders as well as seeing in our own data is the UGC (user-generated content) is winning in terms of driving the strongest results against the following objectives:


  1. Ad Recall Rate

  2. Video Views (Highest Thumb Stop Rate and Video Completion Rate)

  3. On-Platform Lead Generation

  4. Conversions


Winning UGC Creative Formula

Videos in the voice of the customer are killing it right now.

We are seeing "UGC compilation" ads work really well. Examples include this one from oVertone (and this one).

Long-form UGC from one customer is also trending, see Purple Mattress, OUAI and Vegamour. It’s worth noting that ~50% of Vegamour ads on Meta right now are SUPER long-form like 7+ mins of customers talking about their experience...this seems a little excessive and I wouldn’t recommend all brands go that extreme.

Overall UGC Formula Includes:

(again, all in the voice of the customer)



  1. Name product

  2. What it does

  3. Why it's good

  4. How it works/demo

  5. Overcome the main objective a customer might have before converting

  6. Detail out MORE unique selling propositions (USPs)

  7. End with the customer before and after

    example from Vegamour and Act+Acre

UGC Video Assets Not An Option?

Testimonial ads are still doing great. Example from oVertone (use in a pinch and know results will be meh!)

And, if we have any press tie-in, something like these examples from Everlane and Act+Acre are awesome!

Final Thoughts

If your designer, your team, and even YOU are not entertained by the ads you are developing your target audience will not be either.

While we don’t recommend you strive for perfection with every ad (ahem, A/B testing) we do need to put out assets that are enjoyable.

Happy developing!

The Pennock WayNikki Lindgren