How to create a UGC campaign and launch one with real creators (the HICARI method)

I'll start with a scene that happens more often than it should: a brand writes to us and says something like:

They show us what they're using:

• Perfect spots
• Corporate voiceovers
• Flawless creatives
• The creative's price displayed prominently
• At best, UGC Ads but… very ad-like

And the problem is simple:

It looks like advertising. ARRRGHHH it makes me shudder.

And today, in 2026, that's almost an insult to the algorithm… and to people. Because we're all immune to it. But then something curious happens. We try a video recorded by a real person, on a mobile phone, saying:

And suddenly:

• CPA goes down
• CTR goes up
• People comment
• It feels like someone is genuinely talking

That's UGC.

And that's why it's changing marketing.

UGC is content that doesn't look like an ad, even though it is.

It's not “production”.

It's “people”. And that's what makes it so powerful.

UGC campaigns, unlike UGC videos where the creator delivers the content to the brand for its use, are posted on the creators' social media.

A campaign allows you to activate microcreators (1k–8k followers) to talk about your product on their own social channels:

• TikTok
• Instagram Reels
• Instagram Stories
• YouTube (Shorts or Horizontal)

It can be collaborative (Instagram) with the brand or not, although in most cases it isn't. It's simply posts on the UGC creators' social media.

Real content, small audiences but incredibly authentic and… amplification with Paid.

Launching a campaign allows you to:

1. Have 5, 10 or 20 creators post about you at the same time
2. Generate visibility at scale, without relying on an expensive influencer
3. Reach audiences segmented by:
   📍 city
   🎯 niche
   👤 audience type
4. Get content that feels like a recommendation, not an ad

The video you receive is an extra.

The goal is this:

This is important because many brands come to us saying:

But what they really want is something else.

UGC vs Influencer: Where is the real impact?

An influencer is theoretically about:

• Reach
• Audience
• Brand Awareness

And the talent agency tells you they have top influencers for your campaign in Seville, while forgetting to mention that, on average, their audience is from Latin America. In other words, visibility among people in Chile for your Seville campaign—a fantastic ROI. Irony intended.

UGC is:

• High-quality, conversion-focused videos with targeting controlled by the creator's location and demographics
• You control reach with high-quality, targeted Paid content

Although the objective is the same in both cases—visibility—with UGC it's more visibility + performance, while with influencers it's visibility + brand.

Let’s look at 2 use cases:

1. Giving a physical store local visibility. You select creators from your city → they post from your location → people discover it because “it’s happening nearby”. Plus, that video is amplified with Paid, targeted to that specific area, giving you 10 quality pieces of content + visibility among their audiences + highly geographically targeted Paid.
2. Launching a campaign / offer. Instead of 1 big collaboration… We activate 15 microcreators talking about your launch in the same week. Result: much more buzz, greater trust and more cumulative reach.

This is where HICARI comes in. Because the hard part isn’t “making a video”. The hard part is building a scalable system. Here’s how we do it:

Objective: visibility on creators’ profiles

1. Define the number of content creators who will post on their profile and their followers
2. Indicate how the content will be used: 100% organic or Paid
3. Select the content type and brief details and launch the campaign.
4. Once launched, you’ll receive applications from creators, and you’ll be able to review their profiles and select them.

Step-by-step guide to launching your first UGC campaign.

This is something we always repeat: with fewer than 5 creators, you’re not running a campaign—you’re testing. In a single campaign, this often happens:

• One is just average.
• One creator performs normally
• Another surprises you
• One takes off
• Another creates incredible content that you want to use on your social media.

And that’s where you start building.

On HICARI, you can segment by community:

• 500 – 3,000 followers
• 3,000 – 6,000 followers
• More than 6,000 followers

And here’s our opinion: Many times, the best videos come from smaller profiles. Because they literally look like customers. Not creators. And that… is gold.

This depends on the brand. But honestly: almost all of them end up amplifying with paid.

Because UGC is powerful, but the organic audience of these creators with micro-audiences is limited. And paid lets you do things like:

• “I want people in Madrid to see this video”
• “Only users near the theatre”
• “Targeted by interest and location”

Clear example:

• A musical doesn’t need global views.
• It needs local sales.
• UGC + Paid = emotional precision.

Yes, Stage and its musicals such as The Lion King and Cinderella are our client—do you want to be one too?

On HICARI, you can define whether the creator provides:

• Collaborative post
• Instagram Stories
• Tags or mentions

This multiplies touchpoints. And many times, a spontaneous Story sells more than the feed.

Once you launch the campaign:

• You start receiving applications from real creators.
• You review their style, tone and vibe.
• You select the creator, with the ability to review their profile, social media and portfolio.
• You validate the content. Or request changes.
• The creator posts on their social media and sends you the link.
• No endless DMs. No contracts.
• No chaos.

At HICARI, we’ve worked with brands such as: Yoigo, MasterD, Quehoteles.com, TotalEnergies, Flexicar… and productions such as The Lion King, Cinderella and The Pillars of the Earth (see examples of videos from HICARI clients here), and what we do is simple:

Real campaigns with real creators that work in ads.