Selection checklist for beauty creator partnerships, by situation

What to take away

Which situation are you in before you pick a route?

Read the situation before you reach for a template. No two partnerships carry the same risk, so the decision is rarely a straight yes or no. Match the route to the situation in the table, then write your reasoning into the partnership file.

A staged trial costs less than an exclusivity clause you never use. Record the route you took and the date, so a later reviewer can see the reasoning. Showing a creator which criterion they missed is fairer than silence, and it leaves the door open for a later brief.

What does a first post with a new creator need?

A paid trial with a 30 day usage window, and nothing more. Exclusivity before the audience audit is the pitfall, because you would be paying for a promise you cannot yet check. Audit first, then decide whether a longer deal is worth proposing.

Audience quality means recent evidence: comment threads, saves and repeat viewers. Ask for two campaigns from the past six months and read the replies yourself. The audit decides whether the trial can grow into a longer brief.

Two buyers can watch the same creator and reach opposite conclusions because neither wrote the brief down. Agreeing criteria before you open a follower count removes that argument, and it gives you a defensible reason to decline when the audit comes back weak.

How do you handle a thin disclosure record or unclear rights?

Brief with a label check and a review date when audience fit is clear but the disclosure record is thin. A clean feed is not proof of clean disclosure. A written disclosure policy gives the review date something to measure against.

A creator who hides a partnership once is likely to do it again, so read how earlier paid work was labelled before you brief. In the UK, the ASA publishes a non-compliant online advertisers list covering brands and agencies that have ignored its rulings.

Check both directions: the paying brand and any agency in the chain belong on that check too. A creator with a clean feed can still be briefed badly by a brand that hides the commercial relationship. The CMA also looks at hidden advertising as a consumer-protection matter.

Beauty content carries a claim risk of its own. The CAP Code, which the ASA enforces, requires ads not to mislead. A before-and-after image, filter or retouching that exaggerates what a skincare, make-up or hair product can do is a problem for the brand as well as the creator.

Ask to see the original image beside the posted one, and keep both in the partnership file. Agree before filming which results the creator may show, and which words describe them.

When production is strong but rights are unclear, pay a fixed fee for named assets with a 12 month licence rather than buying perpetual rights by default. Commercial terms cover fee, usage window, territory and exclusivity, and you should write down who owns the footage and for how long.

What changes when you collect data or spend heavily?

Settle consent wording and a one line lawful basis under UK GDPR before a campaign collects data through surveys or giveaways. If nobody can explain the lawful basis in one line, do not collect the data. Data handling covers consent for audience lists, surveys and giveaway entries.

High spend or a regulated claim means legal review before contract. The checklist is not a contract: it decides who reaches the contract stage and records why. Terms, liability and rights still belong in a written agreement, signed by both sides.

Public enforcement records explain why written evidence beats assurances. In 2016 the FTC announced that Warner Bros. settled charges that it failed to adequately disclose it paid online influencers to post. Deceptive influencer marketing is pursued, so keep evidence of what was labelled and when.

What goes in the partnership file?

Keep the tool short enough to use: ten fields that get completed beat forty that get skimmed. The file covers five blocks, and each block needs one line of dated evidence beside it, not a paragraph.

Score each block out of five and note the route it triggers. The review methodology weights the five blocks equally at 20 per cent each, so the maximum weighted total is 100. The example below is not a real creator.

Weighted total: 64 out of 100. Date every piece of evidence, and re-run the checklist at renewal, after a change of ownership at either business, and whenever audience evidence looks stale.

Common questions

How many creators should a shortlist hold?

Enough to compare properly, few enough to check. Three to five scored candidates usually gives a real choice. To rank two that look equally strong, use the evidence line as in the comparison methods guide.

What evidence should sit in the partnership file?

The scored checklist, disclosure examples, agreed rights, consent records and payment terms. If a dispute arises, this file is your account of what was agreed.

What if a candidate fails the audience audit?

A failed audience audit is not a permanent rejection. Tell the creator which criterion was missed and revisit with a later brief.

Does the checklist replace a contract?

No. It decides who reaches the contract stage and records why. Terms, liability and rights still belong in a written agreement.