UGC Video Examples: 10 Formats From My Portfolio and What Each One Is For (With the Brief Behind It)

People searching “UGC examples” usually want one of two things: a brand wants to see what the format looks like before hiring someone, and a new creator wants to know what to film before anyone hires them. This page is for both. Every example below is a format I’ve filmed for a real brand (or as a spec video), they’re all in my portfolio, and I’ve added what the brief behind each one typically asks for.

I’ve deliberately kept the brand details general. What matters for you is the format, the brief and what worked.

The 10 UGC video formats, with examples

Two things to notice. First, half of these have no talking at all; “UGC” doesn’t mean “review to camera”. Second, the formats that go into ads are the ones that show the product doing something in the first three seconds.

Examples from my portfolio, format by format

Unboxing + try-on. A footwear brand sent one pair of boots and the brief was essentially “one pair for the whole trip”. So the video is: box opened in a hotel room, boots on, then the same boots on cobblestones, on a train, at dinner. The brand ran it with #ad on my account as well. It’s one of the three I’m proudest of, and not because of the talking (there isn’t much): the editing and the locations do the work.

Talking-head review. A clean-skincare brand, straight to camera, with on-screen captions that carry the three claims (“one single ingredient”, “completely unscented”, “third-party tested”). The structure is the one in my script template: hook, the problem, the product, proof, a soft close. Brands love this format because they can cut any 10 seconds of it into an ad.

Demo, macro. A moisturizer: texture on the back of the hand, then on the face, then the finish in daylight. Fifteen seconds. No face needed for half of it. The brand said they wanted to work together again, which is the best review a demo can get.

Routine. A toner and blemish pads, filmed as “two new steps in my routine”. The brief was tiny (“show how you use it”), and the brand had found me on its own, so the video needed to look like the rest of my feed, not like an ad.

Lifestyle B-roll. A candle brand, three videos: a dinner table being set with the candle lit, golden hour on a sofa, and a slow Sunday morning in bed with the first candle of October. No voice, music only, the scent’s mood (vanilla, lemon, tomato leaf) translated into props. Another of my three favourites: the styling in the frame is the strongest I’ve done, and the brand took me into its holiday program afterwards.

On-location ad. A mineral water, filmed as a post-workout reset: gym, bottle, breathing, done. Twenty seconds, shot in one afternoon.

Outfit check. One tee styled three ways for an apparel brand. The whole thing is cuts: same spot, three outfits, captions for each.

Vlog + voiceover. A manicure-day video for a salon and a hotel-morning travel vlog. These are the “day with the product” format, and they’re also the ones brands repost most, because they don’t look like ads at all.

Tech ad. A portable hotspot, filmed around the city as “travel internet without a SIM”. Different category, same rule: product doing its job in the first three seconds.

Sun care demo + voiceover. A beach SPF and after-sun routine, filmed as part of a gifted ambassador program. The brand reposted my clips in its own Reels. Third of my three favourites, for the atmosphere: the light, the water and the product all match.

What the three favourites have in common

Boots on a trip, candles at golden hour, SPF on a beach. None of them is a review. In all three the product sits inside a scene that already matches its mood, the props and styling were planned before I pressed record, and the editing (cuts on the beat, one colour palette) was where I spent most of the time. That’s my stylist background showing, and honestly it’s the thing brands comment on most.

If you’re starting out and can’t decide what to film: pick a product you own, decide what mood it sells (calm, energy, clean, cozy), and build the frame around that mood before you think about what to say.

Gifted vs paid: does it show in the examples?

No, and that’s the point. About half of my first thirty brand videos were gifted collabs and half were paid, and you can’t tell which is which from watching them. I filmed every gifted video as if it were a $500 job: planned hooks, early delivery, clean files. Several of the paid ones came from brands that had seen a gifted one first (how that worked).

How to use these examples if you’re a brand

Pick the format from the table that matches where the video will live. Ads: unboxing, talking head, demo, on-location. Feed: routine, B-roll, vlog. Then write a brief that says the format, the length, the one claim you want made, and whether you’ll run it as an ad (that changes the price, here’s why). The full packages and current rates are on the work-with-me page.

How to use them if you’re a creator

Film your first six spec videos in six different formats from the table, for products you already own. That’s exactly the six-video starter set in my portfolio guide, and the day-by-day version of it, with my 25 hooks on one page, is in the free starter pack at the bottom of this page. The newest examples are always on my Instagram.