Influencer Campaign Brief

Influencer Campaign Brief

Draft the creative brief a brand hands to one already-signed creator for one specific campaign: deliverables, key messages, guardrails, disclosure, timeline, review rounds.

Creator briefing has no named, cross-vendor-adopted framework. Published guidance is a scatter of single-vendor formulations, none adopted beyond its own publisher:

• one publisher's nine-section list
• another's five-questions framing
• a third's do/don't blocks

The one structural idea corroborated across four unrelated publishers is separating non-negotiables from preferences, so this skill is built around it. Provenance labels below mark where a claim comes from:

• corroborated: three or more independent publishers
• single-vendor: one company's published formulation
• survey: one vendor-run survey with disclosed methodology
• inference: a reasoned default, not a published formulation

Never present any formulation here as an industry standard.

Interview

Ask before drafting. One question per message; offer multiple-choice answers when possible; skip anything the user already answered.

• B2B creator program or B2C brand collab? (Drives deliverable types, approval chain, proof style.)
• Campaign goal in one sentence, with the metric? (Awareness / consideration / conversion - this also sets the freedom level.)
• Who is the signed creator, and on which platform or channel type? (Short-form video, professional network, newsletter, podcast...)
• Which deliverables does the signed deal already commit to? (This is the source of truth; the brief may specify them, never change them.)
• What are the key messages - three at most - and the proof behind each? (No claim ships without proof the brand can back.)
• Which brand guardrails and no-go topics apply?
• Do any claims need legal or regulatory sign-off before the brief goes out?
• By what date must the result land, and is it a fixed campaign moment (launch, event, seasonal date)? (A near date promotes high freedom - a framework brief is enforced through review rounds the calendar may not have.)
• One-off campaign, or the first of a relationship you intend to repeat with this creator? (Repeat intent promotes high freedom; granting freedom and revoking it at validation is what loses creators.)
• What is your effort ceiling: review rounds the signed deal includes, briefing hours available, and is there an in-house reviewer? (One round or no reviewer takes low freedom off the menu entirely.)
• Will the content be run as paid media? (Decides audio licensing and, in B2B, the thought-leader-ad mechanics - must be settled now, not later.)
• What tracking mechanics will the creator use: promo code, tracked link, dedicated landing page?
• Who reviews drafts, and who signs off?

Workflow

1. Run the Interview; collect every answer before writing a word.
2. Reconcile the deliverables against the signed deal. On any contradiction: stop, flag it to the user, and never silently rewrite - the deal wins. Renegotiation belongs to the negotiation skill.
3. Enter brainstorming mode for the message angle (next section). Write no brief until the user picks an angle.
4. Set the creative-freedom level from the ranked default below - stated in the brief, never accidental.
5. Draft from references/brief-template.md, checking each section against references/brief-anatomy.md. Keep the brief to one or two pages.
6. Specify every deliverable to the precision fields in references/deliverable-specs.md. If paid amplification is possible, declare it in the brief now - the audio-licensing trap.
7. Write the disclosure section, covering required wording, placement, the platform branded-content tool, and who verifies after posting. Route the pre-publication content check itself to the compliance skill.
8. Bound the review rounds to exactly what the signed deal includes, and state that count in the brief.
9. Confirm the tracking mechanics exist and are tested before the posting window opens.
10. Validate the brief with the user section by section. Run the Quality gate. Iterate until every item passes.
11. Hand off the finished brief with a one-line reminder of who verifies disclosure post-live.
12. If your harness has persistent memory, memorize the approved angle, non-negotiables, freedom level, and (once known) revisions used and outcome - the next brief for the same brand or creator skips most of the interview. Otherwise hand the user a short recap to keep.

Message-angle brainstorming

• Ground candidate angles in the creator's actual content and audience. If you can browse the web, review their two or three most recent pieces; otherwise ask the user for representative posts. Never derive an angle from generic brand copy.
• Propose 2-3 candidate angles, each stated as: hook, key message, proof point, the deliverable it fits best, and its trade-off. Recommend one and say why.
• Ask brainstorming questions one at a time. Draft nothing until the user explicitly picks an angle - the angle decides what gets locked and what stays free.

Non-negotiables vs preferences - the central mechanism

• Sort every brief item into exactly two buckets: non-negotiable (locked, verbatim where required) or preference (inspiration; the creator's call). Corroborated across four unrelated publishers under four different names - the single most corroborated idea in creator briefing.
• Lock the facts, leave the voice (single-vendor phrasing, clearest articulation found). Never lock the voice.
• Facts: claims, prices, dates, specs, regulated statements, disclosure.
• Voice: framing, hook, pacing, setting, delivery.

How much freedom to hand over - ranked

State a freedom level in the brief (single-vendor mapping: high for awareness, medium for consideration, low for conversion). The three levels are not equal-cost alternatives to pick by taste - rank them by campaign result returned per unit of briefing effort:

• efficiency (result per briefing hour): high > medium > low
• value (result bought): high > medium > low on awareness and consideration; low > medium > high on conversion, where the offer, code and CTA only land if the brief locks them
• effort (briefing hours, approval rounds, coordination): low > medium > high - low costs about a week of coordination plus the rounds it spends enforcing its framework, high costs about an hour and one round
• compliance cost (sign-off owed before the brief goes out): low > medium == high - medium and high send the same claim set to legal, and only low adds scripted framework wording that must itself be approved

• Default to high, and say so.
• Demote to medium on a first collaboration, or a creator new to the category.
• Demote to low only when the campaign metric is a redemption or signup count and the offer mechanics must land verbatim.

Delete low from the menu outright when the signed deal includes one revision round or fewer, and tell the user why: a framework brief is enforced through rounds that do not exist here. Never park it at the bottom of the list instead - a ruled-out level reappears as scope at validation.

What this order starves: low freedom is high-value and high-effort, so it loses every round and an efficiency-first habit under-briefs exactly the conversion campaigns paid to move a number. Promote it anyway when the metric is a redemption count, or when a regulated category forces script approval.

The ranking is a default, not a law - it shifts with the goal and with who executes it. Re-rank against what you already know about this user:

• a regulated category that forces script approval promotes low, whatever the goal
• a creator who has worked with this brand before promotes high one rung, because the guardrails are already internalized
• no in-house reviewer promotes high, because nobody is free to run the rounds the lower rungs consume