Reading a brand deal contract

Usage rights

The single most valuable clause and the one most often given away. Read it for three things: what media the content can appear in, for how long, and in what territories.

"In perpetuity, all media, worldwide" means the brand can run your face as a billboard advert forever, for the price of one Instagram post. That is not a collaboration, it is a buyout, and it should be priced as one. A defined term — three months, six months, paid social only — is normal and reasonable to ask for.

Exclusivity

Check the length and the category definition. Both are negotiable, and the category is where the damage hides: agreeing to no competitors in "beauty" rather than "liquid foundation" can quietly remove most of your potential work for a quarter.

Exclusivity that extends beyond the campaign period is common and should carry its own fee. If it is unpaid, ask for it to be cut back to the campaign window.

Approvals and revisions

An unlimited-revisions clause turns a fixed fee into an hourly job with no cap. Ask for a specific number — two rounds is standard — and a deadline for feedback, so a slow approver cannot hold your posting schedule open indefinitely.

Watch for approval rights over your other content. Some contracts quietly ask for a veto on anything you post during the campaign window.

Payment terms

Find the number of days and what starts the clock. Thirty days from invoice is workable; ninety days from campaign end is a loan you are making to a larger company.

Look for what happens if they cancel. A kill fee — a percentage payable if the campaign is pulled after you have started — is a normal ask, because the work is already done. Without one, a cancelled shoot costs you the whole production.

The clauses worth pushing back on

None of this requires a lawyer to spot, and all of it is routinely negotiated. The worst outcome of asking is that they say no.

• Perpetual, all-media usage for an organic-post fee.
• Exclusivity defined by a whole category rather than a product type.
• Unlimited revisions, or approvals with no deadline on the brand's side.
• Payment terms beyond sixty days, or terms that start on an event you cannot verify.
• A clause requiring you to remove the disclosure, or to present the post as unpaid. That one is not a negotiation — it asks you to break the CAP Code, and the ASA names the creator.