[DeLa Doll] The Anatomy of a Bad Brand Deal – Free Tips and Tools for Content Creators Pt.3

Recently, I had a very sketchy and unpleasant interaction with a brand that reached out to me via email. The exchange started off questionable at best, and quickly went downhill into “absolutely not” territory. Luckily, no damage was done, and it inspired me to continue my “Free Tips & Tools for Content Creators” series! This installment will be all about how to identify a good partnership, and how to avoid the bad ones. 

Initial Contact

Let’s begin by analyzing the initial email. One warning sign for a potentially unfavorable brand collaboration is that they won’t address you by name. This is because they’re sending out mass emails to creators who they haven’t taken an effort to vet at all, essentially casting a wide net and hoping to catch anyone without any care as to who that may be. If a brand is not even putting effort into researching who they work with, there’s a chance they don’t have a product worth promoting or attaching yourself to.

In the case of this email, they did at least address me by name, but they started off being overly familiar. I had not interacted with them at all prior to this email, but they began referring to a campaign as though I should already be familiar with it. 

Unclear & Potentially Dishonest Conditions 

Another warning sign was that it seemed as though potentially asking me to participate in a contest in exchange for payment. The issue with this is that it is dishonest; asking a creator to basically artificially increase contest participation to make it look as though there was more authentic and organic interest than there really was isn’t exactly the hallmark of honesty. Any brand that wants you to help them fake interest, participation, reviews, etc. is likely not going to be the type of brand that actually values creators. Transparency and honesty are key when it comes to collaborations and sponsorships. 

Despite my initial apprehension, I decided to send a response. I asked for clarification in terms of what they were actually looking for, thinking perhaps (and hopefully) I was mistaken in thinking they were asking for me to participate in any deceptive promotional practices. 

The response provided clarity, but I still had my reservations because there’s no real reason why they couldn’t be clear about the terms of the potential partnership in the first email. There is also the aforementioned issue of them attempting to establish some level of familiarity that didn’t actually exist since we’d never spoken before. I sent over my rates, knowing this would probably be where things took a turn. Typically, brands that are not trustworthy or otherwise looking for free labor and promotion have no intention of actually compensating creators. Compensation can come in the form of free product and exposure (in that case, it’s up to the creator to decide whether or not they consider their time and effort worth whatever the product and level of exposure may be), or in the form of actual monetary payment. 

No Apparent Familiarity With My Work

At this point, I was certain I would not be working with this brand. There was no reason for them to have contacted me if they weren’t at all familiar with my content. Asking for my social media channels this far into an interaction they initiated confirmed my suspicions.:

1. They were just blindly sending emails with no respect to quality. I always do my research, and I always put a great deal of effort into anything I do. Because of this, I only want to work with brands who want to work with me specifically because they value the quality and style of my content. Anything less than that is not worth my time and is indicative of a lack of effort and quality on their part. 
2. They were likely stalling and hoping my rates would be criminally low, or hoping that I would be naive enough to jump at the chance for a “partnership” that did not include actual compensation or any other benefit to me.

For these reasons, I was certain that this would not end well. I still sent over my social media links because I was curious about how they would go about justifying not having looked at my content prior to emailing me. I was also curious about their response because I’d already conducting research on this company to see if anyone posted about their experiences either interacting or partnering with them.

Research Did Not Point to Positive Experiences

During this time, I came across a video by YouTuber KiraTv, who actually had a contracted partnership with Gamigo, the brand in question. In his 30 minute video, published in November 2019, he details how he was contacted by the company in order to help promote the game ArcheAge, the same game they contacted me to help promote. He was promised a portion of every sale and in-game transaction generated through his affiliate link. Unfortunately, he was never actually paid what he was owed. Instead, he was given the run-around whenever it came time for the company to deliver on their end of the partnership. To summarize:

• He was promised free copies of the game to give away to his subscribers, but he never received them.
• When he contacted the company concerning how to track the sales generated through his affiliate links, he was given simply given both excuses and new affiliate links.
• When he asked his company contact how much he was owed in terms of compensation, he was repeatedly given random amounts that did not add up.
• Additionally, they tried to deceive him into accepting less than what he’d actually earned, and accused him of being rude when he was simply asking for transparency and fair compensation in accordance with his contract.
• They also tried to guilt-trip him about the fact that he did not seem to “trust” them when he made inquiries about the terms of their partnership. The full video is embedded below.

Low Social Media Engagement 

In addition to KiraTV’s video, I also looked at ArcheAge’s social media profiles to see if there were any signs of legitimate partnerships or authentic audience engagement. This is another sign that can point to potentially poor, or non-mutually beneficial partnerships. If a brand does not have active social media profiles, or if its ratio of followers to engagement is suspiciously low, it’s likely that everything not on the up and up. It’s also a good way to determine whether or not you should risk being paid solely in free product and “exposure.” If a company does not have an engaged audience interacting with their posts, there is no exposure to be had, and so it is not worth it if you aren’t being compensated otherwise. The exception would be working with a smaller brand that is just getting started, and in that case, you can use the other warning signs and criteria to determine whether or not to work with the. In the case of Arche, here is what I found:

• Twitter – 46.7k followers, but virtually no engagement. Most of their posts have less than 25 likes and 3 retweets. The ratio of followers to interaction is insanely, abysmally low.
• Instagram – 613 followers, and an average of around 28 likes and 0 comments per post.
• Facebook – 7,263 followers, most posts have less than 10 likes and comments each. 
• YouTube – 17.2k subscribers, an average of 12.6k views per video (73% of their following). Their most recent video was published 33 days ago. 

Aside from Youtube, their social media was not looking too good. In comparison, my rate of engagement on Twitter at 9,000+ followers is much higher. Similarly, my followings and rates of engagement on both Instagram and Facebook (although I seldom use that page or platform anymore at this point, which is a story for another post) are much higher. While my YouTube following is more modest, at 560 subscribers, my rates of engagement are very good compared to similar accounts, and the quality of my videos is solid. I also focus on cosplay makeup videos which would be perfect for promoting a cosplay makeup contest. I point out these comparisons to highlight the absurdity of the company’s response.

Unprofessional Response 

A company that had reviewed my social media accounts and contents before contacting me, or one that was actually interested in fair compensation, would never respond in this manner. I’m certain that if I’d interpreted their email as simply asking for contest participation, or agreed to work for free, they’d have been happy to have me. I already had no interest in working with them after watching KiraTV’s video. reviewing their social media, and seeing that there was hardly any participation in their cosplay makeup contest. However, I was not prepared to be insulted and played for an absolute fool. As previously stated, all of my social media channels are doing much better than theirs in terms of actual engagement. My Youtube channel is smaller, but with a higher rate of growth and a comparable ratio of views to subscribers.

Further invalidating their excuse for “canceling their request” is the fact that, when looking into the very small handful of creators who appear to have taken them up on their offer, the majority of them having much smaller YouTuber channels and fewer views per average than I do (I opted not to include them because I don’t want to bring potentially negative attention to fellow creators who have done nothing wrong). I can take rejection in stride, and had no desire to work with Gamigo/ArcheAge anyway, but I’m not particularly fond of anyone attempting to take advantage of me, and especially not fond of them essentially spitting in my face when it turns out I am not foolish enough to fall for it. I’m also concerned for other creators who may end up being taken advantage of, and so felt it was necessary to share my experience. 

Positive Experiences With Other Brands

I have worked with a variety of other brands including contact lens companies, 3D printer manufacturers, and clothing brands. With each company, there are common traits that led me to work with them and deem them both trustworthy and worthy of my time:

• They showed they were familiar with my work prior to contacting me. They took the time to review my social media and my style of content before contacting me, meaning that they put effort into selecting potential partners and considering whether or not we’d be a good match. Gamigo/ArcheAge either did not care to do this.
• There is clear communication with my company contact. I am able to reach out directly to a liaison or contact in order to ask questions and otherwise communicate. There are also clear terms and standards for each content and deliverables (things the creator presents to the brands).
• There is clear and fair compensation. This compensation varies a bit between companies but comes in the form of monetary payment, product, social media promotion, or some combination of the three.
  • In all cases, I have an affiliate link where I can track sales and clicks generated from my links, and I am paid an agreed-upon percentage of each sale without issue. In some cases, I am also paid directly per post or video in addition to making a percentage of sales via my affiliate link. In others, I am compensated via product and “exposure” in exchange for promotion on my channels. I don’t necessarily believe in working for free; however, I have experienced significant growth after being featured on certain channels, and I have accepted the product as compensation when it is an item I was already in need of and would be able to get further use with (such as in the case of my Phrozen 3D printer). It is up to you to determine what your time and efforts are worth in terms of compensation! 
• Each brand has active social media accounts. All of the brands I have worked with thus far have dedicated and active social media profiles with proportionate rates of engagement. They also feature a variety of creators, which is important to me as someone who is big on diversity and inclusion. The common thread is that they care about the quality of the content their creators produce as opposed to just focusing on their followings. 
• Transparency. The companies I’ve worked with are all very good at keeping partners and affiliates in the loop with regular emails, updates, and newsletters. What is expected of their partners and those they sponsor is clear, and what they are offering in exchange is clear. 

In the case of my ill-fated exchange with Gamigo/ArcheAge, none of these things were present. I know my rates are fair, and even if they had agreed to actually pay me, I would not have accepted a partnership due to the fact that they failed to meet all of the other criteria for a trustworthy, mutually beneficial collaboration. Remember that your content and time have value! Don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of, and don’t be afraid to ask for what you’re worth, and walk away from anything less. 

If you’re interested in checking out parts 1 & 2 of my “Free Tips & Tools for Content Creators” series, here they are:

Part 1 – Recognizing Your Strengths & Social Media Analytics 

Part 2 – Setting & Tracking Goals

Otherwise, that’s all for this post! Thanks so much for reading, and feel free to check me out all over social media if you’re into artsy nerd sh!t like cosplay, 3D printing, makeup, and uh…other things!

~DeLa Doll

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DeLaDoll

DeLa Doll is a culture writer, cosplayer, and artist based in Florida. She has been writing professionally since 2016, with some of her work being featured on sites like HuffPo and /Film. She is an advocate for meaningful diversity and representation in media, a gamer, a mom, and an avid user of DIY hair dye.