UGC1
High ROAS AI-Driven UGC Videos That Scale
Without The High Production Costs & Unpredictable Results
Built For Businesses Spending $25k+ a Month on Meta, TikTok or YouTube Advertising.
Grow faster with high performance creatives. Our experience of 10000+ ads, $100mm ad spend and 100+ products help craft winning, performant ads - without breaking the bank.
Screenshot from TikTok Partner portal
Eva Juretic, Growth Marketing Lead, Highrise As one of the top-spending advertisers on TikTok, we have a high bar for great creatives, and Rocketship delivered on both production and performance. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the team, as they communicated strategy clearly, shared detailed briefs, and were generally very open and collaborative.
Siberia Su, UA Lead, MobilityWare Working with RocketShip HQ was like working with a full-blown marketing department. They produced an incredible amount of innovative creatives, and offered detailed and valuable insights in our weekly reviews.
With Rocketship HQ’s UGC videos, you will be able to:
📈 Unlock up to 20-40% ROAS improvements using top 1% ads that are human, relatable - and performant.
🤝 Work with a variety of creators and micro-influencers across demographics, age ranges, and interests so you have a creator mix that fits your brand like a glove.
😎 Lean on our signature remote-shoot process to get testing-ready creative without breaking the bank.
💪 Use proven frameworks and script formats built on our experience of making 10,000+ ads.
🤼 Tackle head-on the challenges with ATT’s broken measurement and reporting with a strategy that is squarely focused on the unautomatable(is that a word?): creatives.
🎯 Hit key user motivations with our proven scripting process(based on decades-old frameworks) - to appeal to a wide variety of audiences, so you can scale faster.
💥 Lead with killer hooks that are not just clickbait-y, but are also custom-tailored for your vertical and product.
🎨 Customize creative formats by channel - so you can scale and grow across channels with tailor-made creatives.
🖌️ Get creative that is performance marketing informed - made by folks who breathe creative *and* performance metrics day in and day out.
✅ Stay on the bleeding edge based on the latest insights from our partnerships with Meta, Google, and TikTok.
😍 Get AI-informed creative to be on the leading edge of what is coming and new.
🎉 Access exclusive offers from time to time(for instance, TikTok frequently has offers of free ad spend and fully funded creative for qualifying advertisers) - so you can mitigate your risk while unlocking tremendous upside.
TRUSTED BY
**
Hi!
I am Shamanth Rao. I’m the CEO of the boutique growth marketing firm RocketShip HQ. I’ve led mobile growth leading up to 3 exits: Bash Gaming (sold for $170mm), Puzzle Social (acquired by Zynga) - and FreshPlanet (acquired by Gameloft).
I have helped numerous other mobile apps grow and scale sustainably during my work at RocketShip HQ, where we’ve managed $100mm+ in ad spend and produced over 10000 ads for 100+ products.
What I am truly passionate about though is demystifying the performance creative process - to have it be less of a woo-woo inspiration driven thing - and something that can be tackled and tamed through rigorous thinking, planning and strategy.
Why?
I started my career as an Excel-monkey. I truly thought that I could analyze my way out of any marketing problem - and that creatives almost didnt matter, and if they did, they were the realm of the inspired, long haired geniuses that I just couldnt relate to.
**
Until one day….
“I’m seeing some great performance with Musical.ly influencers.🎩 ”
This was my friend Adam Hadi(also popular guest and friend of the Mobile UA show) - way back in 2016.
“Tell me more,” I said.
“Well these folks are very different from Youtubers and Instagrammers. The videos you’re going to get are much more music-and-dance oriented - the aesthetic is very different, but the performance is very strong.”
🕺 Music-and-dance oriented influencers?!
Snort.
Ain’t got no time for that, I told myself. The Excel monkey that I was, I thought that if I analyzed my spreadsheets right, the ads would generate revenue, ROAS and profits.
I shrugged and proceeded to promptly forget what Adam had said.
🗓 Until 4 years later.
Which was when TikTok burst upon our collective internet consciousness - and became unignorable(Musical.ly was acquired by TikTok in 2017 - and these early influencers are today’s TikTokers).
By this time, as targeting on Meta, TikTok and Google became more and more automated, I started to see that all the analysis in the world couldnt salvage an account with bad creative(I’d had some, let’s just say, unpleasant experiences).
As I thought back to my conversation with Adam - and the ascent of TikTok, I realized that hiding within spreadsheets was no longer an option.
I HAD to figure out this whole creative thing.
**
In a burst of frenzied research over many months, our entire team dived into short form TikTok videos to truly understand and deconstruct what made these tick, and what truly drove performance in TikTok.
It was like learning a new language. We had been oblivious to the TikTok opportunity - just because I thought this new language was strange and ‘not for us.’
Soon we started to see how massive the potential for UGC was - and also started to see results in our own testing.
This was a night-and-day difference.
We’d expected that showing relatable humans would make a difference, but we didnt expect this massive a delta.
Gradually, we regularly started to see north of 20-40% of improvements in ROAS. The teams at TikTok took notice - and soon we were recognized as a TikTok Creative Exchange partner, so we were working closely with the official TikTok teams, and soon were at the bleeding edge of performance.
And what’s more, the UGC creatives that we were making for TikTok started to outperform other formats on channels like Meta, Google and ad networks as well.
It started to feel like we had unlocked a cheat code in a game - as we started to regularly churn out top 1% creatives.
UGC is HARD
What we also learned along the way is that UGC was HARD - in part because there are a lot of entrenched assumptions about how it ‘should be done.’
In our team’s UGC journey, we hit LOTS of roadblocks with UGCs - including but not limited to:
😢 Creators would give us footage that looks nothing like what the brief specified.
🎥 🙅♂️ We’d get footage with light reflecting off the screens - or background sounds, which basically rendered the footage unusable.
😲 We’d contact an influencer - and they quote an astronomical price for their 100k+ audience which we really didn't need.❌
📞 We’d contact an agency - and they give a quote for a warehouse and filming crew that we really didn't need and couldn't afford.❌
😂 We’d get a script that sounded funny - but didn't even show the product. :(
☹️ We’d realize that creators or agencies just don't ‘get’ performance marketing. For instance, there would be no hook - and you wouldn't see any product walkthroughs AT ALL, even if the video was entertaining.
🧐 We’d miss footage - so we’d have to get creators to reshoot, and that would push back delivery by weeks.
❌ Agencies would just not have the right demographic or psychographic profile of creators that we needed.
📸 ✨ We’d get ads that ‘looked’ great - but would bomb on the ad platforms.
😊 ….Or ads would have great upper funnel metrics(great - because it shows people are engaged) but just no downstream conversions(not great - because they aren't buying).👎
😣 And oh: Apple’s ATT policy made performance SO MUCH harder to optimize for and track metrics - so there was already a LOT of pressure on us to deliver.
After having made TONS of these mistakes, we took notes, learned from them - and decided to anticipate every single one of them, to make a BULLETPROOF UGC process that would be nearly-guaranteed to unlock performance.
Our entire team spent months iterating over every element of the UGC production process - to see what we could do to find and unlock UGCs that were easy to produce - and likely to deliver on performance without breaking the bank.
After iterating over 100+ products, 10,000+ ads and over $100mm in ad spend, we realized: this was a solvable problem.
UGCs did NOT have to be hard - or reserved for elite multi-million dollar budget advertisers.
Here is what we now do to unlock a UGC process that is rock-solid - and nearly guaranteed to perform.
👩💻 Our entire process is run and managed by performance strategists and marketers that also manage millions in monthly ad spend - so we’re very dialed in on performance and data, not aesthetics.
🤝🏻We use proven frameworks leaning on decade-old formats from direct-response copywriting - because we want the ads to sell, not just entertain.
👨💻 We are intentional about our script and hook generation process - to make sure these are not needlessly clickbaity - yet are high-converting.
🤝 We work with creators, not influencers: so you’re not paying for their audiences(unless it’s their audiences that you want).
💪 We hire and work with trained actors, with whom we have direct relationships. These are folks typically in NYC and LA that are coachable, so we can work with them to get the exact footage we need.
✅ We have a comprehensive shoot checklist that ensures creators have all the information they need to produce high-quality footage(so: no reflections on phone screens, or unnecessary props).
👌 We have a smooth post-production process that ensures raw creator footage is stitched together with quick cuts, overlays, and transitions, so it’s ready for prime time while looking organic and native.
💯 We take care of the end-to-end production process so that the ads you receive are ready to test.
📝 We take care of legal processes and paperwork, so you don't have to worry about usage rights.
And because we’ve refined and fine-tuned these processes over 10000+ ads, we’ve anticipated every pitfall, every challenge, every delay - and we now have a plug-and-play process that YOU can bolt onto your business to make and use high-performance UGC ads for ROAS, performance, and scale.
Join the Rocketship HQ UGC production program
If all of these appeal to you, I invite you to be a part of Rocketship HQ’s UGC creative production program.
If you join us, here is what the next 4 weeks will look like….
Week 1: Fasten your seatbelts
🤔 Intake questionnaire: We review your inputs to truly understand your brand, your customers - and what drives performance.
🥇 First concept outlines: We come up with outlines of concepts that we believe can work well for your products - based on our experience of 10,000+ ads, and our understanding of your product.
📞Onboarding call: We review with you the first concept outlines, to get your feedback and to ensure these are in line with your vision for the product and ads.
✍️ Finalize concepts: Based on any feedback, we finalize and tighten the concepts, so they are ready to shoot.
Week 2: Lights, camera, action
🤝 🎬 Recruit creators: We shortlist and recruit creators that based on our past experience would perform well for your product.
🎥 Remote async shoot: It’s shoot time! We use our signature remote-shoot process to get high-energy, high-performance footage from our creators.
Week 3: Getting ready for prime time
📥 🗂️ Receive and organize footage: We receive footage and clips from our creators(often we request 2x or 3x the footage that we truly need - so we have a buffer) - and get these organized for edits.
🎞️ ✂️ Post-production: Our designers take over, and add overlays, messaging, transitions and quick cuts - so that the ad flows smoothly, while looking natural.
Week 4: Rock ‘n’ roll
📢 Feedback and finalizing of footage: We share a master cut for your feedback, and work through any edits.
📏 Prep variants/resizes: We make variations and resizes, to ensure you have everything you need to get rolling.
We offer 3 engagement levels. Which one is right for you?
Get a FREE no-obligations consultation to receive a FREE UGC strategy & roadmap that will lay out the exact opportunities for your product with UGC.
There are a lot of options you can choose from. Why choose this one?
Let’s face it. You’ve plenty of options out there for making performant ad creatives. You could:
🤝🏻Hire an influencer agency(and pay for the audience of these influencers).
🤝 Hire a micro-influencer agency(that may or may not ‘get’ performance marketing).
🧑🎨 Try to recruit creators with your internal in-house team.
📲 DM creators on TikTok or Insta - and hope they’d be a good fit for you.
🤔 Watch webinars or read books to try and ‘figure this out’ yourself.
📨 Ask folks on Slack groups what to do.
🧮 Ask your colleagues or industry friends what they are trying.
The truth is that these things may not move the needle at all for you. You’ve probably tried some of these multiple times.
And sometimes, you don’t want to hire an influencer and wonder if it will work. Or watch a 60 minute webinar and apply it all on your own.
Are you doing it right? Is the agency’s strategy right for YOUR situation? How do you even know if this is the right path?
I get it.
Sometimes you just want someone to do it for you.
Someone that’s been there, done that.
Someone with over a decade of experience, and a nuanced understanding of everything marketing, everything creative, everything UGC - with experience based on over 10,000+ ads made.
Zach Dixon, Co-Founder, Players’ Lounge“We unlocked some massive scale in the last few months thanks to the aggressive creative ideation, testing and iteration by RocketShip HQ. The volume and variety of creative they produce is staggering. RocketShip HQ has been a true partner in our ongoing growth. Our business has changed for the better. I’d recommend them to any friend scaling their business.”
Meela Imperato, VP of Marketing, Seated“Rocketship HQ not only understood intricacies of mobile, but also turned around campaigns, channels and creatives very very quickly - helping us to scale aggressively in a hyper competitive market.”
Someone that’s recognized by and has partnered with Meta, Google and TikTok - and prides themselves on being on the bleeding edge.
Someone that’s literally written the definitive books on marketing with UGC and creatives.
That is exactly what the Rocketship HQ’s UGC production services give you. Everything you need to win with UGCs, proven to perform, delivered to you in a ready-to-test format.
Who is this for?
This offer is right for advertisers that are:
💰 Spending at least $25k a month on digital performance advertising.
🧪 📝 Willing to test and experiment with messaging, copy, and scripts in the service of breakout performance.
📈 💰 Focused on ads that perform and sell, not just entertain.
🔎 Clear about their ideal customer profile, and key user motivations.
FAQs
I’m just starting out. I have never run performance ads. Should I test UGCs?
No. We typically do not recommend UGCs for completely new advertisers, as these can be a significant commitment that may not be the best use of your time and money if you are brand new to performance marketing.
We’d recommend that you test out performance marketing with other creative formats - and come to us when you have reasonable clarity on your unit economics - and feel ready to scale.
TikTok advertising has never worked for us. Will this work for me?
While each product is different, our observation has been that many products that ‘do not work’ on TikTok ads struggle because they dont have high-performance UGC creative(typically because the creative is funny-but-not-performant, or isnt optimized for performance marketing best practice).
If you’re seeing performance on other platforms but not TikTok, our high-performance UGCs might be just what you need to break open performance on TikTok.
Can you absolutely guarantee that UGCs will have X% ROAS for me?
Numerous factors go into performance of a marketing campaign. While there is no way to absolutely guarantee a certain ROAS or performance, our dialed-in process based on 10000 ads, 100+ products and $100mm in ad spend ensures that you have the strongest possible chance of unlocking strong performance, ROAS and scale.
What is a variant of an ad?
A variant typically takes a concept produced by a creator - and makes minor changes to it: this could include different overlays, hooks or footage - essentially changes that do not require a script or shoot that are done from scratch.
Do you produce creatives for CTV?
Yes!
How do CTV creatives differ from those for TikTok or digital advertising channels?
CTV creatives require a slightly different approach as compared to creatives for TikTok - as they require high production value creatives, often shot in locations that are specifically chosen(outdoors etc.), and require props/costumes.
We offer 3 engagement levels. Which one is right for you?
Get a FREE no-obligations consultation to receive a FREE UGC strategy & roadmap that will lay out the exact opportunities for your product with UGC.