We sit between brands and creators on hundreds of briefs a year, which means we see both failure modes weekly: the three-word DM brief that produces content the brand can't use, and the nine-page deck that produces content nobody wants to watch. The fix for both is the same one-page structure.
Open with the objective, not the brand history
One sentence: what this campaign exists to do, for whom. Awareness, trial, launch, retargeting fodder — each implies different content. Creators consistently deliver better work when they know what "good" means for you; they can't reverse-engineer it from a brand deck.
One message, three mandatories, explicit don'ts
Pick the single thing a viewer should remember and say it plainly. Then cap your mandatories at three — every requirement past that squeezes the life out of the delivery. The don'ts matter just as much: legal landmines, banned claims, competitor rules. Creators would rather know the walls than repaint after the fact.
Brief the outcome, let them own the voice
You chose this creator because their audience trusts how they talk. A script deletes that asset. Share reference content you liked — theirs, ideally — and describe the feeling you're after. Then get out of the way. In our experience the content brands are happiest with six months later is almost never the content they controlled most tightly on day one.
Put the commercial terms where creators can see them
Deliverables, deadlines, revision rounds (one consolidated round is the professional norm), and — critically — usage and exclusivity, stated upfront. If you plan to run the content as ads or whitelist it, say so in the brief and budget for it. Rights bought after the content wins cost more, every time.
The approval process is part of the brief
Name one point of contact and one consolidated feedback round. Five stakeholders replying on five days is how deadlines die and how your brand ends up on a creator's quiet blocklist. Internally, gather your notes; externally, send them once.
The test
Hand your brief to someone outside the campaign. If they can say what the content should achieve, what must appear, and what must never appear — in under two minutes — it's a good brief. If you're running that brief across twenty creators instead of one, that's the program-management layer we build for brand partners, mandatories and all.
Frequently asked questions
- Should you give influencers a script?
- Almost never. A script produces content that sounds like every other ad and wastes the reason you hired the creator — their fluency with their own audience. Give the message, the mandatories, and the don'ts; let the creator write the words. Exception: regulated categories where exact claims language is legally required.
- What are 'mandatories' in an influencer brief?
- The non-negotiable elements that must appear: a product name pronounced correctly, one key claim, a required disclosure, a link or code. Keep them to three or fewer — every mandatory past that point measurably flattens the content toward an ad read.
- How many revisions should a brief allow?
- One consolidated round is the professional standard, two at most — with all stakeholder feedback gathered into a single set of notes. Serial feedback from multiple reviewers is the fastest way to blow deadlines and burn creator relationships.
- Should usage rights be in the brief?
- Yes — state upfront whether you want paid usage, whitelisting, or organic-only, and for how long. Rights negotiated after content exists cost more and start the relationship with a renegotiation. Budget the rights when you budget the content.
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