Expertise:
Creative Strategy, User-Generated Content Production, Performance Testing, Creative Diversity
“The results were clear: User-generated content drove significantly stronger performance, including a 65% lower cost per registration."
Philippe Rozier, Global Paid Social Lead, N26
N26, a pioneering mobile bank headquartered in Berlin, sought to enhance the efficiency of its paid campaigns across Meta platforms with an objective to increase awareness, boost app installs and increase sales. Although their standard product-focused ads had previously delivered results, performance had begun to plateau.
Creative Milkshake partnered with N26 to attract new customers through a full-funnel strategy centered on diversified user-generated content (UGC). Moving away from polished branded content, the team embraced an authentic, lo-fi aesthetic designed to resonate more deeply with Meta audiences. The collaboration involved:
Creative Diversification: Replacing traditional branded visuals with UGC featuring real people sharing their experiences using N26.
Rigorous A/B Testing: Running multi-cell Brand Lift and Conversion Lift studies to compare the performance of branded content vs. UGC directly.
Automated Optimization: Leveraging Meta’s Advantage+ placements, campaign budget, and audience targeting to amplify cost efficiency and reach.
The creative featured everyday users speaking directly to the camera, highlighting personal benefits of N26. Each video included a clear CTA, linking directly to app stores for immediate installs.
The ads were served to a wide audience in Spain (ages 18–50), with Meta’s AI identifying and prioritizing the audiences most likely to convert.
Philippe Rozier
N26
40%
19%
65%
The campaign proved the power of creative variation and audience alignment. N26 saw major improvements in cost-efficiency across every measured metric, with a 65% drop in acquisition cost marking the most dramatic success.
Creative Milkshake’s approach showed how shifting away from polished perfection and toward real, relatable storytelling can unlock scalable growth. By using UGC and Meta’s automation tools strategically, N26 reached new levels of performance, proving once again that great creative strategy is as vital as media spend.
