UGC and performance creative for app brands

Your app deserves ads people actually watch.

Fresh UGC ad tests every single week. Strategy, creators, scripts and editing handled by one specialist, with zero agency markup. Built to stop your CPA creeping while you scale.

Book a free 15 minute creative audit Free. No pitch deck. You keep the 3 hook ideas either way.

I have made creative for teams at Plum · Chip · Monzo · Freeletics · Getir · Headway

Apps and brands I have created for, across fintech, fitness, education and consumer

PlumChipMonzoFreeletics GetirHeadwayTemboNibble RacketPalDelliBrickMotion YhangryUnihomesTikTok

Why installs get expensive

Your targeting is fine. Your creative is tired.

Creative fatigue is silent

The same 3 ads have been running for weeks. Frequency climbs, hook rate drops, and your CPA creeps 10 to 20 percent before anyone notices.

Sourcing creators is a second job

Vetting, briefing, chasing footage, requesting reshoots. Marketplace UGC arrives generic and off brief. Your team burns hours on it.

Since iOS 14, creative IS the targeting

The algorithm finds your audience through the ad itself. The teams winning right now are simply out testing everyone else.

The work

Ads that look native. Results that are not.

Fintech UGC

Performance UGC for money apps. Hooks built around real outcomes and compliant from the script stage.

Native storytelling

Content that never feels like an ad. Organic style storytelling that earns the watch before it earns the click.

Hook-first UGC

Rapid, self-shot hook tests. New angles, openers and CTAs shipped every week.

The results

48%

lower acquisition costs through structured creative testing

6 figure

installs generated for app brands

100M+

users reached across paid campaigns

Results from campaigns I created and worked on across previous roles and client projects. Happy to walk through the specifics on a call.

Packages

Simple pricing. No surprises.

Start here

Test Pack

£950

One per brand · single project · 7 day turnaround

  • 4 UGC ad videos
  • 8 hook variations (2 per video)
  • 1 revision round
  • Judge me on the data
Start with a test
Scaling spend

Performance Partner

£4,800/mo

For apps spending £30k+ per month

  • 20 videos per month
  • 40 hook variations (2 per video)
  • Full creative strategy and weekly iteration
  • Static ad versions of winning videos
Talk it through

How it works

A testing engine, not a video vendor.

01

Audit and strategy

I analyse your live ads and build a hook testing matrix. What to test, in what order, and why.

02

Production

I source, brief and direct creators, then handle every script, edit and variation myself.

03

Iterate

Winners get scaled into new variations. Losers teach us what to test next. Your CPA stays honest.

Who you are working with

Both sides of the table.

I have worked in house at app brands, briefing creators, managing agencies and running paid campaigns. And I have been behind the camera, making the ads myself.

That means you get one person who handles strategy, creator direction, scripting and editing. No account managers, no markup, no telephone game between the person who understands your numbers and the person cutting the ad.

Marc Castro

Marc Castro, founder of Castro Creative, with the London skyline behind him

Questions

Before you ask.

We tried UGC before and it did not work.

UGC without a testing framework is a coin flip. I ship 2 hook variations on every video against a testing matrix, so we find winners systematically instead of hoping one video lands.

You make the ads, but who runs them and how do you know they perform?

You keep media buying in house or with your buyer. I ask for read only analyst access to your ad account, or a simple weekly export. Every ad ships with a naming convention so we can see exactly which hook, creator and format drives results, then we iterate on the winners.

How is this different from Billo or Insense?

Marketplaces give you footage. I give you briefed, edited, performance ready ads with strategy behind them, and I iterate based on what your ad account says.

We already have an in house team.

Keep them on organic. I am your paid creative volume engine, so your team stops firefighting edits and gets fresh tests every week.

What about compliance? We are a finance app.

I have made creative for fintech brands including Plum, Chip and Monzo. Every script gets your approval before filming, and I know what ad policy allows.

Am I locked into a contract?

The Test Pack is a single project. £950, four ads, judge me on the data. Growth runs on a 3 month minimum because creative testing needs iterations to pay off.

How fast is turnaround?

Test Pack: 7 working days. Growth ships as 2 batches of 5 videos per month at 7 working days per batch. Performance Partner runs 4 weekly batches of 5 at 5 working days per batch, the fastest cadence I offer. All turnarounds run from approved brief and are contractual.

Stop feeding tired ads more budget.

Book a free 15 minute creative audit. I will review your live ads and show you 3 hooks I would test first. Useful whether we work together or not.

Book the free audit I run this solo and take on a small number of clients at a time.

Prefer email? marc@castrocreative.co.uk