There is a figure circulating a lot right now, and it makes more than one marketing director think: a UGC video ad can generate up to four times more clicks than a traditional campaign, the kind you designed, lit and colour-graded. In other words: video shot on a smartphone, vertical, imperfect, “homemade”, performs. And it performs precisely because it does not look like an ad.
For a brand, the conclusion seems obvious: film less beautifully to look more real. We think that is a misreading. And we are going to say why.
What UGC has really won
Let’s not get the diagnosis wrong: UGC has won something real. In 2026, audiences flee content that is too polished, too clean, too “brand”. The saturation of feeds, the distrust of standardised content, the explosion of generative AI that churns out smooth beauty on a loop, all of it converges on the same desire: to see something real. Nine marketers in ten now make video their main lever, and vertical video has taken over because that is where attention is won, on mobile, in the thumb that scrolls.
UGC ticks that box of perceived authenticity. A real person, an imperfect frame, a direct tone: the viewer lowers their guard. That is a genuine gain, and a brand that ignores it cuts itself off from a channel that works.
The misreading: confusing authenticity with image quality
Where the reasoning goes off the rails is when you conclude that authentic means “badly filmed”. As if emotion were a matter of resolution, and sincerity a matter of blur.
Authenticity has never been a question of image quality. It is a question of intention. A film can be beautifully produced and deeply sincere; it can also be shot on a smartphone and utterly hollow. What makes a video “true” is not the grain or the missing tripod, it is that it starts from something real to say, and says it without lying. Deliberately lowering quality to mimic UGC is manufacturing fake-authentic: the worst of both worlds, content that has neither the real spontaneity of UGC nor the strength of a considered film.
What UGC cannot do
UGC is unbeatable at grabbing attention in the first three seconds and driving clicks. But ask it to build a narrative that holds over two minutes, to raise an emotion, to establish a brand world you will still recognise six months from now: it is not equipped for that. Its advantage, immediacy, is also its limit, the absence of duration.
This is exactly premium’s ground. Not “more budget to make it prettier”, but the ability to structure a narrative, to direct an emotion, to make choices: that shot you cut a second earlier because a glance just passed, that silence you keep, that light you wait for. UGC wins the race to perceived real. Premium has to run another race: the emotion that stays.
Our answer: both, but each in its place
We do not defend beauty against UGC. We defend intention, whatever the format. In practice, that means putting an end to the opposition between the two and making them work together: UGC for immediacy, social proof, the top of the funnel, where it excels; and one strong, embodied, directed piece for everything that has to carry the brand over time and make people feel something.
The real mistake is not using UGC. It is believing it makes the rest useless, and dragging all your communication downward in the name of authenticity. A premium brand that starts filming badly does not become more authentic. It just becomes indistinct.
Beauty draws the eye, the result stays
That is our whole line, and it has never been more useful than at the moment the market confuses authenticity with carelessness. Pas que du beau, du BOW. The real is not played out in the quality you take away, it is played out in the intention you put in: starting from a stake, understanding what you want to provoke in the person watching, and making every choice serve it.
UGC has been a healthy reminder: the public wants the sincere. It is up to us to remind everyone of what comes next: the sincere and the crafted are not enemies. It is precisely when they meet that a brand truly leaves a mark.
Do you want authentic content that performs and film that stays? Let’s talk.