Influencer, Sponsorship and Brand Agreements

Written by Richard O'Shea, Solicitor TEP · Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981 · Last reviewed 21 August 2026

For creators: the clauses that cost you

• Usage rights — the quiet land-grab: "brand may use all content in perpetuity across all media" converts a two-post deal into a lifetime licence, including paid advertising with your face. Licence scope, channels and duration are the deal — price them
• Exclusivity — category exclusivity ("no other beverage brands") is a restraint on your trade: keep the category narrow, the term short, and the fee reflecting what you're forgoing
• Approval loops — unlimited revision rounds make the fee an hourly rate you never agreed; cap revisions and define approval by silence after a set period
• Payment — deposits or milestone payments for larger campaigns, late-payment interest, and kill fees if the campaign is cancelled after work begins
• Morality clauses both ways — brands demand termination for your "conduct"; ask what happens when the brand's scandal makes the association toxic for you

For brands: the risks worth papering

Deliverables described with dates, formats and boosting rights; content warranties (original work, cleared music, no misleading claims); compliance with advertising standards written in as an obligation; approval rights before posting for regulated categories; and an exit for non-performance that actually functions when posts don't appear. Agencies in the chain need back-to-back terms, or the brand pays twice for one failure.

Disclosure is law, not etiquette

Commercial content must be identifiable as such: the ASAI Code requires clear disclosure of commercial relationships (#ad and its equivalents, prominently, not buried), and consumer protection law prohibits misleading commercial practices — with the CCPC and ASAI both active on influencer marketing. The agreement should allocate this: who drafts disclosures, who bears the consequences of getting them wrong, and indemnities scoped accordingly. "Everyone just posts #gifted" is not a compliance strategy.

The agency and management layer

Creator management agreements deserve their own read: commission on what exactly ("all income" including deals you sourced yourself?), term and sunset clauses paying commission after exit, and who owns the channel and its audience. The management contract routinely outweighs any single brand deal in financial consequence — review it with matching seriousness.