Photo: Jenny Ueberberg
When working with influencers who will market your products and who through marketing will use the company’s brand, it is recommended that a written agreement get established between the influencer and the company that sets the framework for cooperation, and which states what the influencer may or may not do. The fact that the agreement must be in writing is to prevent the parties from ending up in a word-for-word situation at a later time.
Since influencers often also have assignments for other companies, and since the company that wants to use influencers rarely wants the collaboration to lead to an employment relationship arising between the influencer and the company, it is important that this is regulated in the written agreement. Ie. that it is an assignment agreement and that the influencer is to be regarded as an independent contractor. Furthermore, it can be good to think about whether the influencer should be exclusive to one’s own company or even have the right to perform assignments for other companies. The latter is preferable when it comes to avoiding the risk that the collaboration may be considered to constitute an employment relationship.
Another important aspect that can be good to regulate in the written agreement is who has the ownership of the intellectual property rights that are created within the framework of the cooperation. How long and to what extent should the company have the right to, during and after, the collaboration use the material influencers created and posted on different platforms?
Compensation to the influencer is another issue that, of course, should also be regulated in the agreement in order to avoid later discussion about this. The form of compensation can, for example, be anything from lump sums, commissions on products sold, to compensation per published content.
In addition to what has already been mentioned, provisions on the validity of the cooperation, conditions for termination of the agreement, dispute resolution, and any choice of law should also be regulated. In addition, it is not wrong to also include a description of the assignment and what requirements the company sets for the execution of the assignment. For example. how many posts per week/month/year should the influencer create? Should all posts be approved in advance by the company? In what contexts may, or should, the company’s brand be visible or not visible?
Finally, it can be good to also deal with competition issues in the agreement. Should the influencer have the right to hold assignments for other competing companies at the same time? It can also be good to regulate in what way the influencer should relate to the company’s from time to time different general policies, profiling, and strategies. Rules regarding possible liability for damages can also be considered if it is important to include in the agreement.
The purpose of agreements is to avoid disputes at a later stage. For questions about agreements with influencers or if you need to establish one, you are warmly welcomed to contact anneli.lonnborg@fylgia.se.
This article is written by lawyer Anneli Lönnborg and assistant lawyer Maximiliane Keller working at the law firm Fylgia, www.fylgia.se.