Creating Effective Briefs: Guidelines for Brands

At Vamp, our mission is to uphold the highest standards for creator marketing best practices. To maintain these standards, we expect brands to follow our Codes of Conduct when creating briefs on the platform.

This article outlines key guidelines for crafting effective, compliant briefs that promote successful collaborations with creators.

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Why You’ll Love It

Following these guidelines helps you:

• Create clear, professional, and actionable briefs

• Ensure campaigns comply with advertising standards

• Enable creators to produce high-quality content efficiently

• Reduce misunderstandings and streamline the review process

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Important Guidelines

Before creating a brief:

• Review any relevant advertising codes for your brand, product, campaign, or industry.

• Ensure all brief content is professional, objective, and clear.

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General Rules

• Professional Tone: Address creators as external collaborators, not internal staff.

• Language Accuracy: Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

• Usage Rights: Do not include usage rights in the brief — these are managed separately. Learn more about usage rights.

• Objective Language: Avoid subjective or ambiguous language.

• No External References: Include all necessary information within the platform brief; avoid links to outside briefs or documents.

• Include #ad: All briefs must include #ad, across regions and channels.

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Introducing Smart Briefs

Vamp’s Smart Briefs guide brands through the briefing process using best practices. Smart Briefs are divided into four sections:

1. Overview

2. Campaign Description

3. Content Rules

4. Creator Survey

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Pro Tips for Brief Creation

• Overview Section: Introduce your brand and campaign clearly — this is the first thing creators see.

• Enhance Your Writing: Use tools like ChatGPT to polish creative briefs and encourage opt-ins.

• Category-Specific Guides: Reference Vamp’s category-specific guides to tailor briefs for your campaign type.

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Brand Profiles

Brand Profiles provide a central space to manage your brand’s key details:

• Logo, banner, description, website, socials, and up to seven category tags

• Admins and Team Owners can create/edit profiles; Team Members have view-only access

• Creator Visibility: Creators can view your Brand Profile when applying, helping them create relevant content

Recommended image sizes:

• Logo: Minimum 200x200px

• Banner/Cover Image: Minimum 1024x576px, max 5 MB

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Creating Your Brief

Overview (230 characters max)

Provide a concise snapshot of your campaign and brand reputation.

Examples:

1. "UrbanThreads is launching its Life in Winter range. We want creators to explore our brand-new catalogue blending urban style with cozy comfort."

2. "UrbanThreads wants creators to share trending deals on their app, highlighting ease and excitement."

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Campaign Details (600 characters max)

Describe objectives, content type, and key requirements:

Tips:

• Structure: Present objective, key details, requirements, expectations

• Content Direction: Include themes or trends creators should follow

• Specific Requirements: Mention any format, channel, or selection rules upfront

Examples:

• "UrbanThreads needs your help creating engaging looks for the Life in Winter range. Highlight sustainability and style."

• "Creators should follow one of these trends: Day In The Life, GRWM, or #BrandSpecific Hashtag Challenge."

• "Select 2x Spring collection outfits, all items must feature in your content."

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Dos and Don’ts

Provide clear guidance to ensure content meets expectations:

Dos

• Branding/product visible within first 3 seconds and throughout content

• Add captions or text overlay if speaking in video

• Music from Facebook Sound Collection or TikTok Commercial Library only

• Use Paid Partnership tag for posts, stories, and reels

• #ad at beginning of caption (TikTok)

• Branded content toggle on TikTok switched to public

Don’ts

• Don’t feature other logos or brands

• Don’t post content you don’t own

• No nudity, alcohol, inappropriate behavior, or political statements

• Don’t upload screen recordings or content with watermarks

• Avoid external brand references

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Surveying Creators

Use surveys to qualify creators beyond profile data:

• Limit: Max three questions to prevent application drop-offs

• Examples:

1. Creative Concept Idea:
   "Share a quick idea/concept for your content below—this will help us identify the best fit for our campaign!"

2. Concept Selection:
   "List 3-4 general concept ideas (e.g., GRWM, clothing haul, day in the life) and ask creators to choose the one they resonate with the most."

   This would be a multiple-choice question where you list concept ideas. 

3. Competitor Collaboration:
   "Have you worked with any of the following competitors in the past 3 months?" (Provide a list of competitors)

   This would be a multiple-choice question where you list concept ideas. 

The survey tool is also a valuable way to gain deeper insights into creators applying to the platform. Some examples include:

Do you have kids, and what are their ages?

Do you have any pets?

What shoe size are you? Great to manage stock levels and available colours and sizes.

Which option below would define your dietary preferences? You could then include multiple-choice answers to ensure the creators you choose align with the product/brand

Please select your foundation shade from the below: You could then include multiple-choice answers with each shade

What is your local audience breakdown? The platform surfaces this data at the next stage

Can you include usage rights in your fee? All fees include basic usage (60 days boosting), with the option for purchasing 12 months of digital usage once content later\