🧙‍♂️ Was this the brand’s fault or ours?

Hey there,

Several years ago, my wife April and I secured a last-minute sponsorship with a large home fragrance brand.

They were launching a new program where you could recycle used fragrance cartridges at major retailers and get a discount on a new cartridge.

They needed the content posted that week, so we promised to produce it over the weekend and deliver the draft assets for approval on Monday morning.

Saturday turned out to be very busy, so we woke up bright and early Sunday morning, ready to shoot for the brand.

When we arrived at our local retailer, we couldn’t find the brand’s special recycling “end cap” anywhere. We asked several employees and even the store manager about it, and they had no idea what we were talking about.

Not good.

Maybe this location just didn’t have it yet?

We decided to try another location about 20 minutes away.

No luck.

Then we tried another location, even further away.

Nothing.

At this point, we’d wasted about three hours driving all over with nothing to show for it.

We had no choice but to contact our agency representative to find out what to do.

Thankfully, our contact’s cell phone number was listed in her email signature, and when we called, she picked up!

We explained the whole situation, and she was equally perplexed.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t contact the brand until the next day to determine which locations had the special display.

At this point, most creators would point their finger at the brand or agency.

“They should have known. Ugh. They completely wasted my time!”

In reality, this was our fault. Poor planning.

We should have never assumed that every retailer nationwide had the unique display (we later learned only a small fraction did).

Confirming beforehand that you have everything you need to complete your job is vital to the production process.

This means:

• If you’re picking up the item at a store, ask for the exact location, exact SKU (Stock-Keeping Unit), or exact image/URL of what you’re supposed to get or show
• If the brand is mailing the item to you, ask for expedited delivery and tracking info
• If the brand is providing you with access to a product (e.g., software, service, app, etc.), ensure you have the proper credentials, permissions, and lead time to evaluate it

With the fragrance brand sponsorship, we ultimately had to drive quite a distance to a completely different retailer several days later.

When the partnership was finally published, it was significantly past the date the brand initially requested.

Regardless of whose fault it was (or whether it was fair)…

Because we didn’t deliver the content when we said we would, we never got another sponsorship from that brand.

Sucks, right?

But we ultimately learned that such situations can be avoided by having a meticulously planned production process.

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Sponsor Magnet, which releases on January 21, 2025.

Preparing for 2025 Brand Deals It's time to make your plan for how you'll make more money with sponsorships in 2025. Ready? Get Notified

Have a great week!

✌️ -Justin