# Make a UGC ad with AI in 10 minutes — a walkthrough of Ads mode > Make a UGC-style ad in eroq Ads mode — add your product as an Element, pick a template and a platform format, render a few takes and export the winner. Published 2026-09-10 · eroq.ai — canonical: https://eroq.ai/blog/make-a-ugc-ad-with-ai-in-10-minutes UGC-style ads work because they look like a person, not a brand. That is also why they are expensive to make the traditional way: you need a person, a kitchen, a phone, an afternoon and a second afternoon when the first one did not land. Ads mode in the eroq [Video tool](/studio/video) compresses that into a template, a product and a paragraph. Ten minutes is the budget for your part — writing and picking — not a promise about render queues. Here is the walkthrough. ## Minute 0 to 2 — make the product an Element Ads mode does not want your product described in the prompt. It wants it as an **Element**: a reusable reference with a name, a description and photos, kept on the Elements page of the studio alongside places and styles (up to 50). Once it exists, it is @mentionable in any prompt, and its photos ride along as references so the bottle in the clip is your bottle, not a generic one. Give it a clean name you will happily type — `@GlowSerum`, not `@glow_serum_v2_final`. Two or three photos on a plain background, label readable, one straight-on and one at an angle. Write the description like packaging copy: what it is, the color, the material, the one visual detail that has to survive ("gold cap, frosted glass"). ## Minute 2 to 4 — pick a template and a format Open the Ads tab. The templates are ad recipes — "UGC testimonial" is the one this walkthrough uses — and each is a ready-made prompt you adapt rather than a blank page. The [AI ad generator page](/tools/ai-ad-generator) lists them. The format is set by platform: - **TikTok / Reels** — 9:16 vertical. - **Feed** — 1:1 square. - **YouTube / Web** — 16:9 wide. Pick the one you will actually post. A 9:16 render cropped to 1:1 loses the top of the head and the bottom of the bottle; render the [aspect ratio](/glossary/aspect-ratio) you need. On the Director's rack, the UGC look is roughly: Film type Commercial, Camera gear Smartphone, Lighting Window light, Tempo Dynamic, and Handheld as the camera move. Clean sharp lens. Skip the anamorphic — nobody's phone has one. ## Minute 4 to 6 — write the ad in one paragraph One flowing paragraph: the person, what they do with the product, the camera, the light, the mood. Thirty to eighty words. Adults only, and fictional — you are not putting a real creator's face on an endorsement they did not give, and the studio will not render real, identifiable people without consent. A complete UGC testimonial prompt: > A woman in her thirties films herself in a bright kitchen holding @GlowSerum up to the camera, turns it to show the label, dabs two drops on the back of her hand and grins at the lens; handheld smartphone framing at arm's length, soft window light from the side, warm film palette, dynamic and casual, like a friend recommending something she actually uses. If the words are not coming, write "kitchen, @GlowSerum, two drops, friend energy" and press Enhance — the free prompt rewrite hands back something close to the paragraph above. Surprise me works too when you want an angle you would not have picked. ## Minute 6 to 9 — render takes, pick one Set takes to 2, 3 or 4. Each take is a separate render of the same prompt, and with UGC the differences between takes — a better grin, a cleaner label turn — are the whole game. Costs are per render: - [Motion One](/models/eroq-motion-one), open to every account: 100 credits for 5 s, 180 for 10 s. A $10 Starter pack is ten 5-second takes. - Seedance 1.0 Lite on Hobby and up: 60 credits for 5 s. - Kling 2.5 Turbo, known for fluid motion and faces, on Creator and up: 120 credits for 5 s at 1080p. - [Veo 3 Fast](/models/veo-3-fast) on Creator and up: a fixed 8 s clip for 256 credits, and the only engine that renders native sound — ambience, effects and dialogue with the picture. A 5-second clip is enough for a hook. Failed renders refund themselves, so a bad take costs you nothing but the wait. Pick the winner. If none wins, edit the prompt — usually one adjective — and run two more takes rather than four identical retries. ## Minute 9 to 10 — export and ship Every render is already saved to your Library with its full recipe, so the "export" is a download. Two things worth adding before you post: - **A voice-over.** Write the testimonial line, render it in [the Voice tool](/studio/voice) with Aria or Orion or your own cloned voice — Voice Turbo at 2 credits per 100 characters is plenty for ad copy — and lay the MP3 under the clip in your editor. - **Variants.** Remix reloads the recipe; change the kitchen to a bathroom shelf, the grin to a raised eyebrow, and you have a second creative for the same product in another two takes. One Element, many ads. The [UGC ads use case](/use-cases/ugc-ads) has more prompt scaffolds by product category, and the product videos use case covers the non-testimonial formats. ## FAQ ### Do I need a product photo, or can I describe the product? Add the product as an Element with photos. A described product is a generic product; a referenced one is yours, label and all. ### Which format should I render first? The one you will post first. 9:16 for TikTok and Reels, 1:1 for feed placements, 16:9 for YouTube and web. Re-render for a second platform rather than cropping. ### Can the ad have sound? Veo 3 Fast (Creator plan and up) renders native sound with the clip. On every other engine, generate the voice-over in the Voice tool and combine the two in your editor. Set a timer. [Open Ads mode](/studio/video) — 50 free credits on a new account.