Influencer Collaboration Agreement Template

About the Influencer Collaboration Agreement Template

A collaboration between a brand and a creator works best when both sides have the deal in writing before anything is posted. This template builds that agreement from your answers: the deliverables with their platforms, formats and dates; drafts and approval rounds; how long posts stay up; the duty to disclose that each post is an ad, in the words the FTC (US), ASCI (India) and the ASA and CMA (UK) expect; who owns the content, or the licence the brand gets (reposts, paid ads, for how long and where); exclusivity; the fee, the advance, late payment and gifted products; a cancellation fee; termination; and the governing law, with the copyright and contract rules of India and the US built in.

A checklist of points to negotiate sits beside the form and flags what your choices give away or leave open, and it can go at the end of the document as a page to remove before signing. This is a generic template, not legal advice: have a lawyer review it, especially for large campaigns or long usage rights. Nothing you type is uploaded. Without a pass the agreement shows as a free preview; a Premium pass unlocks the Word, PDF and Markdown files, the text and printing.

Common uses

• Creators sending their own terms to a brand before a paid post or a gifted collaboration.
• Brands and agencies putting a campaign with several creators on the same written footing.
• Checking a contract a brand sent you: usage rights, exclusivity and the cancellation fee are the usual sticking points.
• UGC creators licensing videos for a brand’s ads for a set number of months.

Disclosure: what the regulators expect

• United States. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides require a connection between a brand and an endorser that the audience would not expect, such as a payment or products given at no cost, to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously (§255.5): hard to miss, easy to understand, and in social media unavoidable (§255.0(f)). Endorsements must reflect honest opinions, and a creator who says they use a product must have used it (§255.1). The FTC’s advice for influencers puts the disclosure with the endorsement, not behind “more” or among hashtags, in the video itself and repeated during live streams, and gives “advertisement”, “ad” and “sponsored” as clear words; “sp”, “spon” and “collab” are vague.
• India. The ASCI Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media require a label upfront on every advertisement, for any material connection including products given unasked; on a picture or video post without text (such as a story) the label goes over the picture, and it stays at least 3 seconds in videos of 15 seconds or less, a third of the length in videos shorter than 2 minutes, and the whole section about the brand in longer ones. Accepted labels include Advertisement, Ad, Sponsored, Collaboration and Partnership, or the platform’s own tool. Influencers who advise on health or on money must hold and state the matching qualifications.
• United Kingdom. The ASA and the CMA (Influencers’ guide) expect “Ad”, “Advert” or “Advertisement” upfront and advise against “Sponsored”, “In partnership with”, “Gifted”, “Collab” and a brand tag alone.

The label “Ad” at the start of the caption meets all three, which is why the template starts with it.

Who owns the content

• India. For a photograph or a film made for payment at someone else’s request, that person is the first owner unless the parties agree otherwise (Copyright Act 1957, s.17(b)): so an agreement where the creator keeps the content must say so, and this one does. An assignment or a licence must be in writing and name the rights, the duration and the territory (s.18, s.19, s.30, s.30A); without them it is deemed to be for five years and India only (s.19(5)–(6)), and rights not used within a year lapse unless the agreement says otherwise (s.19(4)). The author keeps moral rights (s.57).
• United States. Commissioned work is a “work made for hire” only in nine categories, among them part of an audiovisual work, and only with a written agreement signed by both (17 U.S.C. §101); any other transfer, an exclusive licence included, needs a writing signed by the owner (§204(a)).

The template starts with the usual creator deal: the creator owns the content and the brand gets a licence for a set number of months, with paid ads only when you tick them and price them.

Exclusivity, payment and capacity (India)

An agreement that restrains anyone from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business is void to that extent (Contract Act 1872, s.27), so the template keeps exclusivity to a named category for a short period while the agreement is in force. A sum named for a breach is limited to reasonable compensation, and increased interest from the date of default may be treated as a penalty (s.74). A person is competent to contract at the age of majority (s.11), which is eighteen (Majority Act 1875, s.3): the Checks stop a creator under 18. A Udyam-registered micro or small creator gets the MSMED Act terms: payment within the agreed period of at most 45 days, and compound interest at three times the bank rate on late payment (ss.15–16).

Sources

• 16 C.F.R. Part 255 — FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, §§255.0, 255.1, 255.5
• FTC: advice for social media influencers
• ASCI Code and Guidelines — Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media, with Addendum II
• ASA and CMA: Influencers’ guide to making clear that ads are ads
• Copyright Act 1957 — ss.17, 18, 19, 30, 30A, 57
• Indian Contract Act 1872 — ss.10, 11, 27, 74; Majority Act 1875 — s.3
• MSMED Act 2006 — ss.2(b), 15, 16, 18
• 17 U.S.C. §101 and §204

Limitations

• A generic template, not legal advice. Long or exclusive usage rights, campaigns with minors, large fees, agency contracts and talent management agreements need a lawyer.
• The disclosure clause follows the FTC, ASCI and the UK ASA and CMA. Other countries have their own rules: check them for each audience you reach.
• Platforms have their own rules for branded content and for running ads from a creator’s account; they are not reproduced here.
• Taxes on fees and on products given at no cost depend on your country and status, and are not worked out.
• Indian stamp duty on the agreement is set by State law and is not calculated.
• The free preview and the first DOCX or PDF download need a connection once, to load the document engine.

Privacy

On this device; its files download once

Everything happens in your browser. Names, fees and campaign details are not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot. If you tick Keep a draft in this browser, the form is saved in this browser’s local storage until you untick it; leave it off on a shared computer.