How Paid Ads + UGC Boosted Visibility and Footfall for Papa Jones BBQ & Grill

Challenge

Papa Jones BBQ & Grill is a well-loved Western eatery known for hearty meals like ribeye steaks and braised lamb shanks. Despite having a loyal customer base, the brand needed help boosting visibility among new diners in Singapore. Their goal was to attract a younger audience, build brand awareness and drive footfall especially on weekends.

Papa Jone was working with a limited ad budget and wanted a campaign that could maximize ROI through performance-driven creative on Meta and TikTok.

Papa Jones Wanted to Drive Visibility Through Creative Paid Ads

They needed:

1. High-performing UGC that didn’t feel scripted or overly polished
2. A cost-efficient paid ads strategy to amplify their content to foodies aged 15–50 in Singapore
3. A mix of authentic creator content and professional photography to build brand trust

To solve these challenges, they turned to Social Tellers.

“We were looking for a way to reach new foodies through creative content and a team who could guide us through the process."”

Solution

We built a hybrid campaign that blended influencer storytelling with data-backed paid targeting on Meta and TikTok.

Here’s how we approached it:

• 4 creators were selected to create short-form videos for Instagram and TikTok
• We then identified the best-performing UGC video and ran it as a paid ad
• We targeted audiences who were most likely to engage with and resonate with Papa Jones' content and offerings.
• Custom and lookalike audiences were also layered to widen reach
• Lifestyle food photography was captured to build a bank of brand assets for the client

Benefit #1: Small Budget, Big Impact

With a low ad budget, we focused on boosting the top-performing creator content — one that naturally resonated with the audience. Because the video felt native to TikTok and Instagram, it didn’t come across as an ad. Instead, viewers watched, saved and shared it widely.

The result? Strong engagement and wide reach, proving that great content amplified strategically can outperform even big-budget campaigns.

Benefit #2: Paid Ads That Feel Organic

Instead of running polished, brand-first ads, we boosted influencer content that felt relatable and real. This allowed the campaign to scale without additional production costs or time-intensive planning

“We didn’t have to produce new visuals for ads — the creators’ content was strong enough to stand on its own and drive results.”

Results

Papa Jones gained visibility and traction-fast.

Take a look at the results:

• • 497K+ boosted views on Meta and TikTok
  • Strong engagement through shares and saves
  • Increase in Google reviews
  • Increase in social media followers
  • Higher footfall and more customer inquiries
  
  

“The paid ad results surprised us in a good way. We were getting more orders and a noticeable bump in reviews almost immediately after the campaign went live.”