When an Agency Books You for a Brand: Who You Contract With, Who Pays You

The email isn't from the brand. It's from someone at an agency you've never heard of, writing "on behalf of" a brand you have. They have a brief, a budget, and a contract template, and they want dates.

That's a normal way to get booked. Brands often hand creator campaigns to an outside agency that finds the creators, runs the paperwork, and reports back. It's also a deal with three parties instead of two, and that changes who you sign with, who pays you, and how long it takes.

This page is about the brand's agency: the one that hires you for a campaign. It isn't about your agency, the talent rep who takes a cut of your deals (whether you need one). Different job, different side of the table.

Who your counterparty is

Start with one question: whose name is on the contract?

When an agency books you, the agreement is usually between you and the agency. The brand hired the agency, and the agency hires you. You may never sign anything with the brand directly.

That has practical consequences:

• The agency owes you the money. If the contract is with the agency, your invoice goes to the agency and the agency is the one you chase if it's late.
• The agency's contract template governs. Its payment terms, its usage language, its cancellation terms, not the brand's.
• The brand is the audience, not the party. The brand approves the content and cares how it lands. But on paper, you answer to the agency.

Sometimes it's set up differently: the agency negotiates, but the contract is with the brand, and the agency is acting as the brand's agent. Then the brand is your counterparty, and you invoice the brand. Both setups exist, so don't assume. Read the signature block and the party names at the top of the agreement. If it isn't clear, ask:

"Quick check before I sign: is this agreement between me and [AGENCY], or between me and [BRAND] with [AGENCY] signing as its agent? And who should the invoice be addressed to?"

That one email answers most of the questions below.

Who pays you, and when

With an agency in the middle, there are two payment legs:

1. The brand pays the agency, on whatever terms they agreed.
2. The agency pays you, on whatever terms you agree.

You only control the second leg. Read it carefully, because that's where agency deals tend to slow down.

Payment terms stack

If the brand pays the agency on long terms, the agency may want to pay you on terms at least that long, so it isn't funding your fee out of its own cash. That's why an agency's template can open with longer terms than a brand would have offered you directly. Negotiate them the same way you would with a brand: before you sign, not after (net 30 vs. net 60 vs. net 90).

Watch for "pay when paid"

Some agency contracts tie your payment to the brand paying the agency. The wording varies, but it reads something like "payment will be made within [X] days of [AGENCY]'s receipt of payment from the client."

That turns your payment date into something you can't see or control. If the brand pays late, you're paid late. If the brand never pays, a strict version of that clause can mean the agency argues it doesn't owe you either.

How that plays out depends on the exact wording and where you're both based, so this isn't something to settle from a blog post. What you can do before signing:

• Ask for a fixed date instead. "Net [X] from invoice" is a date you can put on a calendar. "Within [X] days of client payment" isn't.
• If they won't drop it, ask for an outer limit. For example, "within [X] days of client payment, and in any case no later than [Y] days from invoice." That still gives the agency room, and it gives you a date.
• Ask what the brand's terms with the agency are. They may not tell you, but if they do, you know roughly when the money should land.

Which contract items change

The six things to check in any sponsorship contract still apply. With an agency in the middle, each one has a twist:

Contract item	What changes when an agency books you
Deliverables	The brief comes from the agency, but the brand often approves. Get the approval step in writing: who signs off, and how long they have.
Usage rights	Agency templates often grant rights to "the client and its affiliates and agencies." Check who gets to reuse your content, for how long, and whether paid ads are included (usage rights and exclusivity).
Exclusivity	The exclusivity should cover the brand's category, not every brand on the agency's roster. An agency may run campaigns for competing brands. That's their business, not a reason to lock you out of a whole category.
Payment terms	Two legs, as above. Fixed date, not pay-when-paid if you can avoid it.
Kill fee	If the brand cancels the campaign with the agency, does the agency still owe you? Make sure the cancellation clause names what you're owed, regardless of why the campaign was pulled (kill fees).
Proof of delivery	The agency usually has to report back to the brand before it can bill. Ask what it needs from you (VOD links, timestamps, screenshots, chat-command clicks) and send it promptly (proof of delivery).

Approvals take longer with three parties

A brief that passes through an agency gets read twice: once by the agency, once by the brand. Script approvals, overlay sign-off, and "can you change this line" requests make the round trip each time.

Two habits keep that from eating your schedule:

• Get a named approver and a turnaround in the contract. "Approval within [X] business days of submission; if no response, the submission is approved" is a reasonable line to ask for. It keeps a slow brand-side review from pushing your stream date.
• Lock the go-live date to the approval, not the other way around. If approval comes late, the stream moves, and that isn't a missed deliverable on your side.

If the brief itself is vague, ask the agency for the brand's actual talking points and the must-say lines before you write anything. It's easier to get them up front than through two rounds of edits.

Invoicing the agency

Address the invoice to whoever the contract says is paying, which is usually the agency. Then include whatever it needs to match your invoice to the campaign:

• The agency's PO or job number, if it issued one. Agencies often run many campaigns at once, and an invoice with no reference can sit unmatched.
• The brand and campaign name, so the person in accounts payable knows which client it belongs to.
• The deliverables and dates, matched to the contract.

The invoice template covers the rest. Agencies run vendor onboarding just like brands do, so expect a tax form and banking details before the first payment. The vendor setup checklist applies to an agency as much as to a brand. If you're outside the US and the agency is US-based, the W-9 vs. W-8BEN question comes up here too.

If the agency pays late

Chase the party you contracted with. If that's the agency, your chase emails go to the agency's contact and its accounts-payable address, not to the brand.

Going around the agency to the brand is tempting, and occasionally it's the only thing that works. But the brand may reasonably say it has no contract with you, and it can sour your relationship with an agency that might book you again. Treat it as a last step, after the agency has stopped responding. Keep the message factual: what you delivered, when, and that the invoice to the agency is unpaid.

If the deal had a pay-when-paid clause, ask the agency directly whether the client has paid yet. That's a fair question under that clause, and the answer tells you who's actually holding things up (what to do when a sponsor pays late).

Questions to ask before you sign

Send these in one email, early, and keep the replies:

• Is the agreement with [AGENCY] or with [BRAND]? Who should I invoice?
• What are the payment terms, and is payment tied to [BRAND] paying you?
• Who approves the content, and how long does approval take?
• Who gets to reuse the content, for how long, and is paid amplification included?
• Does exclusivity cover [BRAND]'s category only?
• If [BRAND] cancels, what am I owed?
• Do you issue PO or job numbers, and what does your vendor setup need from me?

None of these are hostile. An agency that runs creator campaigns hears them all the time, and asking them reads as someone who's done this before.

FAQ

When a brand's agency books me, who am I contracting with?
Usually the agency. The brand hires the agency, and the agency hires you, so your contract, invoice, and payment are all with the agency. Sometimes the agency signs as the brand's agent and the contract is with the brand instead. Check the party names and signature block, and ask if it isn't clear.

Who pays me in an agency-booked sponsorship?
Whoever the contract says. In most agency deals that's the agency, after the brand pays the agency on its own terms. Address your invoice to the paying party and include the agency's PO or job number if it issued one.

What is a pay-when-paid clause?
A clause that ties your payment to the agency getting paid by its client, for example, payment due a set number of days after the agency receives payment from the client. It moves your payment date out of your control. Ask for a fixed date from invoice instead, or at least an outer limit. How these clauses are enforced varies by location, so have one reviewed if it matters.

Should I contact the brand if the agency doesn't pay?
Chase the agency first, since that's who you contracted with. Contacting the brand is a last resort after the agency stops responding, and the brand may say it has no contract with you. Keep it factual: what you delivered, when, and that the agency's invoice is unpaid.

Is a brand's agency the same as a talent agency?
No. A brand's agency works for the brand and hires creators for its campaigns. A talent agency works for you, finds or negotiates deals on your behalf, and usually takes a cut. This page is about the first kind.

Does Sponsee™ work with agencies or book deals?
No. Sponsee™ isn't an agency and doesn't source deals or handle payments. It keeps each deal on one pipeline, including which agency booked it, the payment terms, and when the invoice is due, so you can see what you're owed and when.