How to Capture Branded UGC at Events (No App Required)

Here’s the thing about events: they end. The decorations come down, the venue clears out, and within a week most people have moved on. But the photos and videos guests took? Those stick around. They get shared, reposted, saved. They show up in feeds months later. That’s the power of user generated content. It extends your event’s life way beyond the actual day.

UGC is one of the best ways to capture organic media that actually looks like your brand. Real people, real moments, but curated to match your aesthetic and products. The trick is making it easy enough that people actually do it.

Why Branded UGC Matters

When guests take photos at your event and share them, that’s marketing you didn’t have to pay for. It’s authentic in a way that staged content never quite manages. Someone holding your product at a festival, wearing your merch at a conference, interacting with your activation at a trade show. That stuff resonates because it’s real.

The problem is collecting it. Guests take great photos all the time. They just don’t send them to you. Life gets busy, the moment passes, and those shots stay buried in camera rolls forever.

So you need tools that remove the friction. Make sharing so easy that people actually follow through.

The Simple Approach: No App, No Signup

If you want photo sharing to actually happen, you have to meet people where they are. That means their phone, their camera, their browser. Not some app they have to download. Not an account they have to create.

Gather Shot is built for exactly this. Guests scan a QR code, their camera opens, they take a photo and upload it. Done. No app store, no login screen, no “create an account to continue.” Just scan and share.

You can put QR codes anywhere. Table tents, signage, the bar, the entrance, the product display. Every touchpoint becomes a photo opportunity. And because there’s zero friction, people actually use it.

The photos flow into a central gallery you control. You can moderate what appears, organize by prompt or category, and download everything in bulk when you need it.

Using Scavenger Hunts to Get Specific Content

Here’s where it gets interesting. Random UGC is fine, but what if you could guide people toward the exact shots you need?

That’s what scavenger hunts are for. Instead of hoping guests photograph your product, you prompt them to. “Snap a photo with our logo in the background.” “Show us your favorite item from the demo table.” “Capture your team trying the new flavor.”

Each prompt is basically a mini creative brief. You’re telling guests what would make a great photo, and they’re motivated to find it because the game format makes it fun.

You can create up to 15 prompts, so you can cover all the angles your sponsors or marketing team actually need. Product shots, logo visibility, interaction moments, candid reactions. When the event’s over, you have organized folders of on-brand content ready to use.

For more ideas on setting up photo challenges, check out our guide on guest photo games and scavenger hunts.

Keep Your Brand Front and Center

The other piece is making sure all this content actually looks like yours. When guests scan your QR code, they should land on a page that feels like your brand, not some generic upload form.

Branded event pages let you customize colors, logos, and messaging so every touchpoint stays on-brand. When someone shares a link from your gallery, the social preview pulls in your branding too. It looks intentional, not accidental.

For sponsors, this is huge. They want to know their brand is visible and controlled. With moderation tools and branded pages, you can promise that and actually deliver.

The Bottom Line

UGC extends your event’s impact long after the last guest leaves. It’s organic, authentic, and aligned with your brand when you set it up right.

The key is removing friction. No app downloads, no account creation, no chasing people afterward. Just QR codes, a branded upload page, and optional scavenger hunts to guide the content you collect.

If you’re running brand activations, conferences, product launches, or any event where you want guests capturing content, this is the approach that actually works.