A brief is the brand’s half of the deal. Without one, the creator guesses, the brand rejects, and both sides lose a week. A good brief fits on a page and answers eight questions:
- Who is the viewer and what problem brings them to the product.
- The hook options, two or three opening lines the brand has seen work.
- What to show: the product in use, the result, the packaging, the price if relevant.
- What to say and not say, as a short claims list.
- Format: length, orientation, captions, music or none, raw or edited.
- What the brand gets, and by when: how many videos, in which file form, by which date.
- Rights and posting: whether the creator posts it, for how long the brand may use it, and where.
- Pay: the base, the share, how results are counted, and when money moves.
Example. A brief for a sleep tea: viewer is a 30-something who scrolls at midnight; three hooks; show the pour and the cup on the nightstand; say “I drink it before bed”, do not say “it treats insomnia”; 20 to 30 seconds vertical, raw file plus captioned cut; two videos in seven days; 90 days paid usage on Meta; $80 per approved video plus 15 % of sales through a code. Example terms.
When brands use it. The pain this answers: “Reviewing 200 videos one by one kills a week.” A brief that says what to film is what makes the batch reviewable. Every deal, and especially commission deals, because the claims list is the brand’s protection. The FTC’s health guidance makes the advertiser responsible for what endorsers claim (FTC), so the brief is where a brand says what the product may be said to do.
The creator’s view. A brief that says how pay is counted is worth more than one that lists ten hooks. Creators should read the claims list as a legal boundary, and the brief should tell them how to disclose: on screen and in audio, in plain words like “ad” or “paid partnership” (FTC).
On HourlyUGC. Brands brief once per campaign and review by creator rather than video by video.