Reforma is practically a national sport in Brazil. Families repaint a room before Christmas, swap the kitchen porcelanato after a bonus lands, or turn a rented apartment into something livable on a tight budget. That behavior is a gift for brands that sell building materials, tools, tiles, and paint, because the buying decision is visual, practical, and full of doubt. User generated content answers exactly the questions a shopper asks at the shelf or inside the app: will this hold, how hard is it to install, and what does it actually look like on a real wall.
Why reforma content converts for building-materials brands
Brazilian shoppers research reforma obsessively before spending. A bag of argamassa, a box of porcelanato, or a can of tinta is a considered purchase, and returns are painful when the product is heavy or already opened. UGC lowers that risk. When a real person in a real apartment shows the tile going down, the grout drying, and the finish under normal light, the viewer stops imagining and starts trusting. For home centers in the Leroy Merlin style, plus Telhanorte, C&C, Obramax, and the regional chains, this content also does something a studio ad cannot: it shows the product surviving a Brazilian jobsite, with a pedreiro, dust, and a tight condomínio schedule.
The formats that perform
Three formats carry most of the results, and each maps to a different moment in the buyer journey.
- Before and after reforma: the single strongest format. A tired banheiro or a dark sala, then the reveal after new porcelanato, paint, or better lighting. It sells the outcome and the emotion in under thirty seconds.
- Install how-to: the creator walks through spreading argamassa, setting tile spacers, rolling the second coat of paint, or mounting a shelf. This content wins the shopper who is deciding whether to hire a pedreiro or do it themselves.
- On-site product test: durability and honesty. Scratch the countertop, pour water on the piso, compare the coverage of two paint brands on the same wall. This is the format that kills doubt on higher ticket items.
The best creators mix them: a before and after that pauses to show one install step, then a quick test of the finish. That structure keeps watch time high while covering desire, instruction, and proof.
How creators shoot practical demos
Reforma UGC is filmed on active jobsites, so the craft is different from beauty or food content. Creators shoot vertical, keep the phone on a small tripod or a clamp, and film in stages across the days of the work, because a reforma is never one take. Natural light through a window is usually enough, but a cheap LED panel saves the dark banheiro shots. Sound matters more than people expect: drilling and condomínio noise ruin a voiceover, so most creators record the narration afterward, calmly explaining each step in plain Brazilian Portuguese.
Practical detail sells trust. Showing the dust, the masking tape, the level, and the real hands makes the demo credible. Creators also respect the constraints their audience lives with: rented apartments where you cannot break walls, condomínio rules that ban noise on Sundays, and budgets counted in parcelas. A demo that acknowledges those realities feels made for the viewer, not for an ad agency.
Where it runs and how to distribute it
Distribution decides the return. Instagram Reels and TikTok drive discovery and the before and after emotion. YouTube, and especially the longer tutorials, is where Brazilians go when they are mid reforma and need the full how-to, so brands should keep a longer cut for that intent. Pinterest still works for reforma inspiration, and those saves resurface for months. Beyond organic, the same clips become paid social creative, and they belong on the product pages and app of the home center, where a short install video next to the buy button lifts confidence at the exact moment of purchase. One shoot, cut for the feed, for ads, and for the marketplace listing, is the efficient play.
Licensing, usage rights, and briefing
Because these clips run as paid ads and on retail product pages, licensing has to be explicit, not assumed. Agree in writing on where the content runs, for how long, and whether the brand can boost it as an ad. In Brazil, buy usage rights for a defined window, commonly six or twelve months, and be clear about whether the creator also appears on the physical store screens. Brief for outcomes, not scripts: give the creator the product, the key claim to prove, and the constraints to respect, then let them shoot in their own voice. Ask for the raw before footage on day one, since no one can recreate the ugly starting point once the reforma is done.
If you are planning a first campaign with materials or home improvement creators, start with our UGC guide for brands and adapt the formats above to your catalog.
