UGC: original content, rights in writing

UGC (user-generated content) means video assets created from scratch by creators for your brand — not cut from your material like clipping. Payment is per accepted asset, not per views: you're buying the content, not the distribution. That's why the legal side matters even more here: a UGC asset without a clear license is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

How it works on AdLicens

1. The brand defines the brief: product, angle, format (e.g. 30–60s, vertical), tone and the number of assets wanted, with a price per asset.
2. The budget goes into escrow — creators can see the money exists before they film.
3. Creators deliver assets inside the platform (not by email, not via WeTransfer).
4. The brand reviews: accept (payment triggers automatically) or reject with a written reason — the mandatory-reason rule applies here too, with a right to appeal.
5. On acceptance, the written license is generated: who can use what, where, and for how long.

The license: exactly what you get

Every accepted asset ships with a machine-readable license document, permanently attached:

• scope of rights — use in paid ads, on your site, on your own social channels;
• duration — perpetual or limited, as the campaign is configured;
• territory — global or per jurisdiction;
• credit — whether and how the creator is credited.

Six months later, when someone in marketing asks "are we still allowed to use that clip?", the answer is a link, not an email archaeology project.

For brands: briefs that produce good assets

• Show examples: three links to assets you like are worth three pages of description.
• One message per asset. UGC that sells is specific, not encyclopedic.
• Ask for platform-native formats (9:16 vertical for Shorts/Reels/TikTok).
• Define rejection criteria IN the brief. Rejections that quote the brief don't end up in appeals.

For creators: how to pass review

• Deliver exactly the requested format — duration, orientation, product presence.
• Clean audio > perfect image. A phone is enough; a bad microphone is not.
• Disclosure is part of the deliverable in UGC too, if the asset will be posted on your own accounts.
• A rejected asset with a written reason is a map for the next one: the reason is mandatory precisely so you can learn from it.

UGC vs. clipping: which one?

Clipping when you already have long-form content and want measurable distribution (you pay for the outcome). UGC when you need assets to reuse — in ads, on landing pages, in retail media (you pay for the asset, with its rights). Many brands run both in parallel from the same budget: good UGC becomes source material for clipping.