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UGC Agency

Philips

The UGC campaign that took Philips to No1 market share, storming a new category

“Our campaign has quite literally wiped the floor with the competition! Thank you Smoking Gun.”
448%
rise in unit sales
18.2m
video views
263
earned media hits

Cleaning up in a new category for Philips

Influencer Marketing Agency

B2C PR Agency

Homes & Interiors PR Agency

UGC campaigns with impact

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Need clarity on what drives real commercial impact and how UGC marketing translates into measurable outcomes? Whether you have a brief in mind or just want to find out more, let's chat.

    UGC Agency

    The Most Convincing Voice in the Room Isn't Yours.

    User-generated content isn’t a nice-to-have add-on to your marketing mix; it’s the trust infrastructure modern brands are built on. Your customers are the best storytellers you never hired, and when perception needs shifting, visibility needs earning, or a category disruptor needs challenging, their voices do what polished brand messaging can’t.

    Consumers have consistently trusted recommendations from people they know more than any other content type for nearly a decade, and consumer opinions posted online rank as the next most trusted content format overall. Ignore that shift and you cede ground to competitors who won’t.

    As the agency for ballsy brands with brains, we welcome the creatively courageous. We’ll challenge you to think differently about what UGC can achieve, and demonstrate its power through our proven communications strategy for commercial success.

    We help the nation’s biggest brands, from Philips and Swizzels to Alton Towers Resort, command an unstoppable digital profile that directly accelerates business goals.

    We’ll grow your brand positioning, visibility, likeability, and memorability through ingenious UGC.

    Content Doesn't Work in Isolation. Neither Do We.

    From strategy and curation to compliance and measurement, Smoking Gun manages the entire UGC lifecycle, so nothing gets lost between a great piece of content and a business result.

    And we won’t let your best stories sit in a silo. We connect UGC with the PR and earned media that amplifies it, turning individual voices into a chorus loud enough to shift perception and drive real commercial impact.

    Because when it comes to creators, we don’t just sign them up; we forge genuine connections that spark relatable content marketing which moves audiences to action.

    Influencer Marketing & Creator Matching

    Creator storytelling has become one of the most significant forces in modern marketing. As investment accelerates, the challenge for marketers is no longer whether to work with creators, but how to do it with confidence.

    Smoking Gun gives brands clarity about what drives real impact and how storytelling translates into measurable outcomes.

    And sometimes the smallest voices make the biggest impact. Our micro and nano influencer marketing approach is highly effective because it’s rooted in authenticity, turning creator partnerships into a powerful source of UGC, not just paid reach. From research to concept to execution, we manage the entire influencer process.

    Real Customer Voices

    Reviews, testimonials, unboxings, and unprompted social mentions – your customers are already talking. We help you harness it. Genuine customer voices carry a weight no brand messaging can replicate; they’re the recommendation your prospects actually seek out before they buy.

    We identify your most compelling advocates, capture their stories in formats that convert, from star ratings to video testimonials, and put them to work across your owned and earned channels. Because when a real customer says it, audiences believe it. That’s the trust polished marketing can’t buy on its own.

    Product Gifting & Seeding

    Creator gifting is one of the most authentic routes to UGC, but it requires a real understanding of your audience and who they trust. We identify creators who have a natural affinity with your product, and craft the gifting experience – packaging, timing, personalisation – to make it memorable.

    We also guide brands through the compliance landscape, from disclosure requirements to responsible targeting. The result: content that feels spontaneous, not staged. It’s a proof point that speaks for itself – our campaigns consistently exceed industry benchmarks for post-through rates.

    Shoppable UGC

    We turn authentic content into a direct route to purchase, tagging products within creator and customer content so inspiration leads straight to checkout; discovery leads straight to sale.

    Competitions & Co-Creation 

    We turn audiences into collaborators. From branded challenges to community competitions, we design campaigns that go beyond fleeting engagement, woven into your wider brand narrative so participation drives real momentum, not just noise.

    Compliance

    UGC moves fast, and so do the rules around it. From ASA guidelines to disclosure requirements and usage rights, we make sure every piece of content is watertight, so your brand reaps the rewards of authentic voices without ever ending up in hot water.

    Measurement & ROI

    UGC has grown far more quickly than the measurement systems designed to assess it. Influence is created through meaning, trust and connection, yet the most commonly used metrics illuminate only a fraction of that picture, often falling short of delivering truly measurable results.

    At Smoking Gun, we believe measurement and evaluation of social media should not constrain creativity; it should clarify it. We use a four-step evaluation framework that offers brands a practical, adaptable method rooted in human behaviour, ready to apply across briefs, channels, and categories.

    And we don’t just talk business impact over vanity outputs; we’ve won it. Nine global AMEC awards for effective measurement in comms prove our approach delivers.

    PR Measurement

    Brand Reputation

    Every service we’ve covered leads back to one thing: your reputation. From the creators you partner with to the compliance that protects you, it all serves the same goal.

    We define the narratives that define your business. At Smoking Gun, we build, shape and protect brand reputations, turning authentic voices into your most powerful asset and your strongest defence.

    • “The team demonstrated the perfect blend of strategic prowess and creative storytelling to bring us to the fore – and the commercial results are undeniable”

      Philips – Consumer Marketing Lead

    • “A hardworking influencer campaign with great results – well worthy of our GOLD award. Great to see evidence of impact beyond outputs”

      PRMoment Awards Judge

    Less control. More direction. The Smoking Gun Approach.

    Too many brands still brief UGC like a script and wonder why the results feel stiff. The truth is, underperforming UGC is rarely a creator problem. It’s a briefing problem.

    The best UGC doesn’t feel polished, scripted, or overly branded. It feels like something a real person would actually say to a friend; imperfect, conversational, unmistakably human. That’s precisely what makes it work: audiences can spot a script from a mile off, and the moment content feels manufactured, it stops being trusted.

    Our approach flips the traditional brief on its head. Rather than dictating what to say, we give creators clear direction, the message, the moment, the goal, and then get out of the way. Less control. More direction. Let creators create.

    Because the brands winning at UGC right now aren’t the ones with the tightest scripts. They’re the ones brave enough to loosen their grip.

    Judged By The Best: Our Digital Awards

    We're proud to be an award-winning UGC agency, consistently recognised for excellence and best practice in social media marketing and influencer marketing by the industry's most prestigious bodies.

    The Smoking Gun Way

    Smoking Gun is a globally-renowned earned-first PR agency uniting media storytelling, social strategy, and influencer expertise to drive measurable impact and growth for brands.

    From our Manchester HQ, we help household names and challengers alike to grow brand visibility, likeability, and memorability, and spark conversation across every channel - UGC and beyond. If you're ready to unlock your brand's full UGC potential, our team can help. We offer bespoke audits of your current content approach and a proven process to grow with the right strategy.

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        Our Awards

        Why stop at global stardom and incredible sales? When our clients work with us, they get the silverware to boot. We’re not into tooting our own horns, but the awards we’ve won with our clients are too good to miss…