How We Generated 25,000,000 Views in 7 Days With UGC

So Incoherent — they're a board game company. They're in Target and Walmart. Legit distribution. They were launching a mobile app companion to their games.

They'd hired a bunch of UGC creators in-house. Like, their creators were actually really talented. Going above and beyond. Working hard, producing consistent content, hitting all their brand guidelines.

But nothing was hitting.

Their best video had a few hundred thousand views, and honestly they were happy about that. That was their ceiling. Months of work, talented team, and the best they could do was "pretty good."

What the founder told us

Peter came to us honestly probably just trying to save money. I wanted to get him on a big package but he was like "nah, let's start small".

So we started small.

Found a winning angle basically Week 1.

Hit like 25 million views in the first two weeks.

"We've never seen views like this. Ever."

What was actually wrong

Their in-house team was too close to the product.

Think about it. They know every feature, every detail, every brand guideline. They're creating content that makes sense to them — polished, scripted, hitting every message point.

But that's not what goes viral.

Viral content often feels "wrong" to the brand team. It's raw. It's messy. It doesn't check every brand box. But it resonates with real people.

Their team was making content that satisfied them internally. We made content that satisfied the algorithm.

The actual difference:

They were doing: "here's our game and here's why it's fun."

We did: Family-style content, real raw moments playing the game, genuine reactions and laughter. "Watch what happens when we play this."

Why this matters for you

If you've tried UGC before and it "didn't work," here's what probably actually happened:

Not enough volume. Testing 50-100 videos and concluding "UGC doesn't work for us" is like testing 3 Facebook ads and giving up on paid acquisition. You need 100+ posts to find patterns.

Wrong creator selection. Hiring based on follower count or portfolio doesn't predict viral success. Content style match matters more than past performance.

Too close to the product. Like Incoherent, your team knows too much. They create content that makes sense internally but doesn't hit externally.

No iteration loop. Posting once, checking numbers, feeling disappointed, stopping. Winners emerge from iteration, not from single attempts.

"Point is — sometimes you just need fresh eyes on it. Their team was too close to the product."

The lesson

"UGC didn't work" usually means "our approach to UGC didn't work."

The methodology matters. The volume matters. The outside perspective matters.

Incoherent had talented people working hard. They just needed someone who wasn't so close to the product to see what was actually going to hit.

Is this you?

This story is probably relevant if:

You've tried UGC before and it didn't work. You have an in-house team hitting a ceiling. Your content is "good" but not viral. You're wondering if the problem is the approach, not the channel.

Sometimes you just need someone with different eyes to look at it.