Every hospitality brand running paid social hits the same wall eventually: polished brand video stops converting, and there’s never enough authentic content to replace it. Clays, the competitive-socialising brand behind indoor clay-shooting bars in Bank, Canary Wharf, Birmingham and a new Soho flagship, solved that by building UGC directly into its paid media strategy, using Joli’s Ad Studio to turn creator content into ad-ready creative without a separate production step.
Ad Studio, alongside the usage rights bundled into every piece of creator content, is what pulled Clays towards Joli in the first place. The team sets the brief upfront, then works through edit rounds directly with creators inside the platform, so UGC stays authentic and creator-led while still meeting Clays’ brand and paid media requirements before it goes anywhere near the ad account.
As a business that places a strong emphasis on paid media, having the ability to turn high-performing UGC into paid creative is a huge benefit.
UGC now consistently outperforms other formats in Clays’ paid rotation. Adding it into the mix has lifted traffic to site and booking conversions, and given the team a much wider range of creative to test, rather than relying solely on traditional brand-led advertising. Regular creator visits keep that supply constant, and the Events feature scales it further: Clays paired an influencer event around the launch of a new summer game and menu with its ongoing programme, generating strong post-event coverage and a big batch of fresh UGC in one go.
As a business that places a strong emphasis on paid media, having the ability to turn high-performing UGC into paid creative is a huge benefit. The Joli team have also been incredibly responsive, friendly and helpful throughout our time working together.
Amy McMillan, Social Media Manager
