✓ You've read this lesson
2.2What to run
Every programme has two sides. Advocacy makes the content and earns the belief. Performance takes that content further: more reach, more sales, more distribution. Then the data flows back and tells advocacy what to make more of.
Advocacy: gifting and experiential seeding, paid sponsored partnerships, always-on ambassadors, UGC and content for licensing, challenges, hashtags and contests.
Performance: whitelisting and creator paid media, affiliate and performance deals, clipping.
How to use the loop
- Decide which side of the loop is the primary focus, and name it in the brief (3.1).
- If it's mostly advocacy, protect the creator's voice.Go lighter on branding, and only fact-check gifted content (3.6).
- If it's mostly performance, apply the full ad rules.
- Plan the handover.Decide upfront which advocacy content should move to the performance side (boosting, whitelisting, clipping), and pick it by resonance, not by gut feel (3.7).
Most programmes use both sides. For example, gifting to find the content that resonates, then whitelisting to scale the best of it.
The eight archetypes, at a glance
Pick the archetype that fits the job. Use this table to check what each one involves, what the creator gets, and who leads the creative.
| Archetype | The play | The creator gets | Creative control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid sponsored partnership | A paid placement inside the creator’s world: their channel, their voice. | A fee, plus room to make it theirs | Shared. One or two feedback rounds. |
| Always-on ambassador | A long-term relationship with a few creators who use and talk about the brand for months. | A retainer, early access | Shared, built up over time. |
| Gifting and experiential seeding | Product or an experience for many creators, with no obligation beyond honesty. | The product or experience | Theirs. Fact-check only. |
| UGC and content for licensing | Content commissioned from creators who aren’t well known, for the brand to own and run. Usually a buyout: one fee for indefinite commercial use. | A one-off fee per asset, including the buyout | The brand’s. Scripted. |
| Challenge, hashtag or contest | A mechanic that gets creators and their audiences making content. Always launch it with a few paid creators, so people have something to copy. | Launch creators: a fee. Everyone else: prizes for the best entries. | The mechanic is ours. Entries are theirs. |
| Whitelisting / creator paid media | Running creator posts as ads from the creator’s own handle. | Usage and ad permission fees | Uses content already approved. |
| Affiliate / performance | Paying on results through codes and links. | Commission, plus bonuses | Theirs. |
| Clipping | Individual clippers cut long-form content into short clips and post them on their own accounts. | Payment per verified view | The clippers’. We set guardrails. |
Advocacy: rows 1 to 5. Performance: rows 6 to 8.