Specify the outcome, not the wording

State what the viewer should understand and what they should do. Leave the phrasing to the creator. Their audience follows them for a voice, and a scripted read is detected in seconds by an audience that watches them weekly.

The practical split: you own the product facts, the claims that must not be made, the call to action and the link. The creator owns the words, the pacing and where in the video the segment sits.

The six things a brief must contain

Objective. Awareness, installs, or launch-day concentration. These lead to different formats and different creators. Write it in one sentence.

Format and length. Short, integration of 45 to 90 seconds, or dedicated video. Give a target duration, not a word count.

Three key messages, ranked. If you list eight, none of them land. Rank them so the creator knows what to cut when the segment runs long.

What must not be said. Restricted claims, competitor mentions, anything your legal team will object to after publication. This list saves more campaigns than the key messages do.

Window and deadline. The publication window, and the date you need the draft. On coordinated campaigns, the window is the whole point: five videos in four days do not perform like five videos across a month.

Tracking. One distinct code or link per creator, agreed before production rather than added afterwards.

The four clauses that prevent disputes

Usage rights. State explicitly whether you may reuse the footage in paid advertising, on your own channels, and for how long. A creator who accepted an integration fee did not accept becoming your ad creative for a year. This is the single most common dispute in the category.

Approval process. One round of review on a draft, with a 48 hour turnaround, and a defined scope: factual corrections, not stylistic rewrites. Unlimited approval rounds are how campaigns miss their window.

Payment terms. Amount, and a date counted from publication. Not on receipt of an invoice that may be delayed on your side.

Exclusivity, if any. Naming a period during which the creator will not promote a direct competitor. It has a price, and asking for it without paying for it is how partnerships end after one campaign.

What to expect once it ships

Long-form videos keep accumulating views for months, so a report written one week after publication understates the campaign. Agree in advance on when performance is measured, and on a baseline of your own traffic taken in the fifteen days before launch.

For coordinated campaigns across several creators, we run one brief, one window and one invoice. Talk to us if you are planning one.