When a brand is unhappy with delivered UGC, the autopsy almost always finds the same cause: the brief. Too vague and the creator guessed wrong; too controlling and the video sounds like a press release read hostage-style. A good brief is one page that makes guessing unnecessary and scripting-by-committee impossible.
The one-page template
1. The product, in customer language
What it is, who it is for, and the one problem it solves best. Attach the product page link. Skip the internal positioning deck; the creator needs the customer's view, not the boardroom's.
2. The destination
Organic post, paid ad, or both, and on which platforms. This single line changes how the creator films (ad-safe hooks, caption placement, aspect ratio) and determines the usage rights you need to buy. Briefs that omit it are negotiating a surprise.
3. Three key points, maximum
The messages the video must land. Three, not eight. Overloaded briefs produce cluttered videos that convert nothing. If you have eight points, you have three videos.
4. Required and forbidden
Required: exact claim wording where compliance matters, mandatory mentions, discount codes. Forbidden: competitor mentions, off-limits claims (especially health and finance), words your legal team has banned. Creators cannot respect rules they were never told.
5. Tone references
One or two links to videos with the feel you want, from any brand. "Casual like this, energy like that" communicates more than three paragraphs of adjectives.
6. Specs and logistics
Length, aspect ratio, captions on or off, raw files or edited only, deadline, and how the product reaches the creator. Note: start the delivery clock at product receipt, not order date.
7. What you are NOT prescribing
Say explicitly: "Hook and wording are yours. Make it sound like you." This is the sentence that separates direction from micromanagement, and it is where the performance lives: the creator's natural voice is the thing you are paying for.
The three briefing mistakes that guarantee reshoots
- The full script, written by marketing. If every word is prescribed, you have hired an actor for a commercial, and it will perform like a commercial. Prescribe claims, not sentences.
- The vibe-only brief. "Just be authentic! Have fun with it!" contains zero decisions and outsources your strategy to a stranger. Authenticity needs edges to be authentic within.
- Feedback as a moving target. If round two introduces requirements absent from the brief, that is a new order, and fair brands treat it as one. Revision rounds fix brief misses, not brief changes.
Brief once, reuse forever
The template above, saved as a form, turns every future campaign into a fill-in exercise and makes multi-creator campaigns consistent: same brief to five creators, five takes on the same strategy, and your ad account picks winners. That workflow, including rates and vetting, is covered in how to hire UGC creators. On InfluencerMetric the brief travels with the booking and payment sits in escrow, so scope and money are settled before filming starts.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a UGC brief be?
One page. Length correlates with anxiety, not quality. Attach links for depth.
Should the creator see performance data from past ads?
Yes, if you have it. "Our best hook so far was X" is the most useful sentence a brief can contain.
Same brief to multiple creators?
Yes, that is the standard testing pattern. Their different interpretations are the experiment.