Casual Sponsorship Policy V2
A.K.A: The ‘Fire and Forget’ Policy
Updated 17/03/2024
➡️ Introduction
This policy document will outline the process for obtaining a casual sponsorship, as well as what rights this does (or does not) come with.
A sponsorship is where a client (you) can pay to have your messaging put in a piece of content that will be shown to a wider audience (such as on my YouTube channel).
The purpose of a sponsorship is usually to draw attention to a product or service.
🤔 How is this different?
Most sponsorships between corporations and creators involve a bespoke contract where the messaging terms, payment and legal protections are outlined. In theory, this is a perfectly fine way to perform business, but sometimes uncomfortable situations occur where, despite the presence of a contract, client corporations will bend the terms by employing an agreed right to review (a part of the contract stating that all sponsored segments need to be reviewed for potential changes prior to the release of the content). This means a corporation can get a creator to repeatedly re-create the sponsorship for no additional pay (as most contracts do not establish compensation pay for time prior to negotiation), each time asking the creator to make slight adjustments to the messaging terms. By agreeing to make changes, the creator may be implicitly agreeing to the inclusion of new messaging terms, without any adjustment to payment. In the end, the output from the collaboration may look different to the requirements described in the original contract. This is a form of deceptive ‘arm-bending’ between corporations and an independent creator, to get more work for less pay.
A large corporation knows that a smaller creator will not complain about the abuse of the terms, as they agreed to the contract that contained the right to review, and would not be able to match the legal fees.
This process also wastes a lot of time, including time taken away from other areas of both business and personal life. Consider that for a creator with multiple clients, any delay from an unnecessary review also delays the fulfillment of other clients. Who is compensating either the original creator, or the other clients, for that lost time? Additionally, a creator may have other avenues of income which also suffer from a review process. For myself in particular, this would include the development of products and updates, which drive a significant amount of my income.
Casual Sponsorships are different in the way that they do not involve a traditional contract, and the rights provided to the client are much more limited.
You tell the creator what you want to be shared.
You agree to give the creator as much freedom as possible.
If the creator accepts, you pay them for a sponsor segment.
You will not be able to set a deadline, and will need to wait for your turn in the sponsor queue.
You trust the creator will appropriately perform the act of sharing your messaging during the segment.
You understand that there will be no opportunity to review the output prior to release.
You understand that there will not be an opportunity to receive a refund if you are disappointed with the output.
You understand that despite payment, your position on the queue is no more or less important than anyone else in the queue.
You understand that despite payment, the fulfillment of your segment is no more or less important than any other area of the business, or the creator’s personal life. You trust that it will be fulfilled whenever the creator sees fit. You also trust that the creator will do their best, within reason, to fulfill their sponsorships in a chronological order (with exceptions where some messaging may be appropriate for certain types of content).
Compared to traditional sponsorships, these terms are biased towards giving the creator as much freedom and flexibility as possible, while minimizing time pressure.
To make this more appealing, the creator should also endeavor to be more flexible when offering pricing for sponsorships, particularly for independent creatives, who would benefit from receiving a fairer pricing quote than an international corporation.
💖 A Personal Touch
For me in particular, I am more flexible with independent clients in the Blender community. If there is an artist who wants to share their portfolio (provided it complies to advertisement rules), then I will be as willing to fulfil their segment as a corporation who was quoted for a higher amount. Remember: no one is more of less important than anyone else once they are on the queue.
⭐ How to Request a Sponsored Segment
Submit a proposal using the appropriate form.
If I accept, you will be given a sponsor segment ID, a price, and a link to purchase the sponsorship (along with any password to access the product / purchase page).
Once you have paid, you will immediately be added to the sponsor queue. No more contact is necessary past this point, as you would have provided all of the necessary information in the original form submission, and no more changes can be made to the messaging (with exceptions for special circumstances, such as if your product is no longer accessible, which would cause a misleading segment). In such cases, you should endeavor to let the creator immediately know about any significant impacts to the validity of the messaging prior to the fulfilment of the sponsorship.
In the event that you wish to cancel your sponsored segment, you can request to be removed from the queue, but no refund will be provided. Work may have already been done in preparing your segment that could have been invested in other clients, or other areas of the business. Your original payment will be considered as compensation for this time.
You can request an update about your position in the sponsor queue at any time, but you will have to wait until I am ready to respond.
✒️ Filling out the Form
Here I will give you some advice for filling out the form. Please read this carefully, as completing the form correctly will greatly increase your chances of receiving a response. This is where the vast majority of people do not pay attention.
Field: What do you want to be highlighted in your segment?
In this field, I would like you to explain to me what you want to be highlighted in your sponsored segment, but do not write an essay, and do not ask for advice. If you are unsure about whether to request a sponsorship, then instead of filling out the form, consider contacting me on social media, through the Discord server, or the regular contact form and ask for my opinion. This field gives me your final messaging. If accepted, whatever you write in this field will be added to a document which I will read prior to recording the video your sponsorship will be placed on. If you wish to give me free reign (something I do recommend), then you can indicate that here. Try to keep your messaging in five or fewer lines.
To help you, here is an example of what a product develop might say to me:I want you to show my product page on screen: { link }
I would like you to maybe highlight some of the key features.
I want you to have the freedom to explain the product in a way you think your audience will respond to.
Mention my social accounts if you think it fits with the segment.
Ultimately I want people to purchase the product.
Field: Provide any important resource links
In this field, I would like you to provide any links that you think will be important for your segment. Most importantly, this would most likely be store page links. Additionally, you can provide a Dropbox or Google Drive folder link containing promotional imagery and videos. If your segment is about a product, you do not have to provide a copy of the product, but if you want to, a purchase link with a 100% discount is more appropriate than a direct download. All links are checked and may be avoided for security reasons. Do not expect every link to be clicked on.Field: How should I refer to you?
Some people like to be referred by their real name, while others prefer to use a username, or a business name. Please make it clear to me how you want to be referred. I will do my best to stick to what you write, but please keep in mind that I will not say things correctly all of the time. I have a particular accent, and certain names are difficult to pronounce. Also note that if the rest of your form entries are perfect, but the provided name is, offensive, hateful, or incompatible with advertising guidelines, then you will be unlikely to receive a response.What not to do:
I have received requests in the past where the product being shared is perfectly fine (such as a workflow addon), but the branding surrounding the product is heavily focused on something incompatible with advertising guidelines, such as recreational drugs. I’m obviously not going to share a product and say ‘head on over to Blaze Weed-4-Life’ for more information. Please exercise some degree of common sense when establishing your brand.
📚 Agreement
When submitting a proposal, you will likely be asked to agree to the terms already outlined in the policy above. Here are some additional terms to cover extra bases.
After the creator has given you a price and a payment link, only the purchase of the segment via the link provided will be valid, meaning if you attempt to make the purchase through someone else’s link, particularly for a different price, the purchase will not be valid, and instead considered as a donation.
You are not guaranteed any specific amount of viewership. Some content performs well, and some does not. We, as creators, are very limited in predicting how the audience will react to any specific piece of content. Your sponsored segment may appear on a piece of content that goes viral, likewise it may appear on a piece of content that ‘flops’. But if you are disappointed with the performance, you can always purchase another segment.
Bespoke demonstrations of tools will not be performed in the video. A casual sponsored segment is for messaging, not demonstrations. For example, if you want to share a product, then the product store page will be shown, but there will not be a live demonstration of the tool. Demonstrations take more time to prepare and do not fall under the umbrella of a casual sponsorship. If you do want to request a demonstration, then get in contact and I will consider a bespoke quote if I think it is appropriate.
I reserve the right to remove you from the sponsor queue without warning or refund, for any reason. I will give a couple of examples of why this might happen, and why reserving this right is important:
In the event that the messaging you have provided becomes invalid (for example, if the product or service that needs to be shared is no longer available, or you pass away). I require this right to prevent incorrect and misleading information from being shared with the audience, which would cause me to violate national advertising guidelines, especially if I am unable to reach you once the messaging becomes invalid. Note that I may not attempt to reach you, and may instead cancel the sponsorship outright without further communication.
In the event that you, as the client, become highly controversial, or harmful to share with the community. For example, if you are pressed with criminal charges, or are found to be spreading violent or extremist messaging that my audience can encounter, then by agreeing to this policy, you give me the right to cancel your sponsor segment at my own discretion, without warning or refund. If you do receive a warning that your sponsor segment has been cancelled, you agree that I do not have to provide a reason, and you will not contest the cancellation. This extends past personal disagreements. In extreme events, for clear legal reasons, I cannot be complicit in directing people to a harmful ideology.
Please read up on the UK Marketing and Advertising Law to learn more.
You may also consider the UK Government’s campaign page on Hate Crime.