The Brand Partnership Guide

A brand deal is a licence, not a favour. Most creators price the content and give the licence away for nothing. That is where the money leaks.

For six years my job was this: a brand sends a brief, I find the creators, I write the pitch, I argue about the fee, I paper the contract, and I chase the invoice until somebody pays. So when I tell you what is in the contract they just sent you, it is because I have written a version of it.

Five parts, twenty sections

• Before anybody emails you. What a deal actually is, whether to take the free stuff, and a media kit written for the person who has to justify booking you
• Getting in front of them. Stop emailing the giants. What is happening on their side while you wait, and the two emails that decide the money
• The money. Putting a number on both halves, what the licence is worth, whitelisting and exclusivity and now AI, then a real negotiation walked through line by line. Plus agreeing a fee is not the same as being paid
• The contract. The eight clauses that cause almost every argument, termination and kill fees, and how to push back without losing the deal
• Saying it is an ad. The word most creators use is the wrong one. The UK and US rules, where they differ, and what actually happens if you get it wrong

What makes this one different

Every figure has a source, and where that source is a company selling the thing it measures, I say so on the page. Where there is no data, it says so and tells you what I saw instead.

Get it if

• A brand has asked your rate and the question made you panic
• You have a contract in front of you and do not know what to push on
• You have ever agreed a fee and then waited months for it

Two files: one flat to print, one you can type into. Eight email templates written out in full, twelve tables, and 46 tick items across nine checkpoints.

Rates in here are what the market supports, based on published bands and my own campaign records. They are not a guarantee of what any brand will pay you.

Building an influencer rate card, what a usage rights influencer clause actually costs a brand, whitelisting rates and an exclusivity fee for an influencer, and how to negotiate with brands without losing them. Then the brand deal contract itself, the influencer contract clauses worth reading twice, and the ad disclosure rules.

Every guide now ends with a direct line to me. If a section does not land, message @ceo.rocks and I will explain it properly.