Strategy
Part of Planning a creator media kit as a claim register rather than a sales collage
Creator media kits ninety day plan: five phases to a checked kit
A creator media kits ninety day plan in five phases: define the kit, source every claim, test delivery formats, rehearse corrections, then sign it off.
This creator media kits ninety day plan splits the work of getting one kit ready into five phases, each ending in a gate: a condition that must hold before the next phase starts. It is written for a creator in England, or the representative who prepares the kit, and it keeps the kit out of circulation until the last gate is passed. The day ranges are a working rhythm, not an industry-standard delivery time; a creator with tidy records will move faster.
For this plan, a media kit means the pack a creator sends to a buyer to support a sponsorship, licensing or collaboration enquiry, covering claims, assets, permissions, audience figures, rates and contact routes.
What to take away
- Each phase ends in a gate, and the kit stays unsent until all five are passed.
- Every figure, testimonial and image in the kit gets a written source, owner and end date in the first half of the plan.
- A register result does not prove representation, so obtain separate evidence of service and authority.
- Faults are found on a practice copy with deliberate errors before the real kit is touched.
- The output is a kit you can defend, correct and withdraw, and a decision to send it, not a forecast of enquiries or income.
Days 1 to 20: define the kit and who it is for
Write down the one job the kit has to do: the kind of buyer it goes to and the decision it should help that buyer make. Then list the sections the kit will carry. Most kits need the same core: who the creator is and what they make, audience figures with their source and date, past work and collaborations, testimonials if any, what the creator offers and how rates are given or requested, and a contact route. Define the service boundary so that generic hosting, design software, agencies, UGC marketplaces and campaign work do not slip into scope.
| Phase row | Task | Decision | Evidence | Counter-evidence | Owner example | Gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 20 | Record one permissioned creator or buyer problem | Whether the pack is in scope | Permissioned source note | Note of excluded agency brief | Creator or buyer commissioning editor | Problem recorded and authority clear |
Days 1-20: Define and Admit
- Record one permissioned problem
- Name task, decision, evidence, owner
- Define service boundary exclusions
- Map creator, buyer, publisher, reviewers
- Check company facts via GOV.UK
- Gate: stop if authority unclear
Map everyone who touches the kit: the creator, any representative or agency, the buyers it goes to, suppliers, rights holders and reviewers. For any company counterparty, use the GOV.UK company-information route, which searches the Companies House register, for narrow filed facts, then obtain separate evidence of service and authority. A register result does not prove representation.
Example owner role: the creator or the buyer's commissioning editor.
Gate: stop if the kit's job is not written down, the audience in England is undefined or anyone's authority to speak for the creator is unclear.
Days 21 to 45: source every claim and asset
Build four registers. The claim register lists every figure and statement in the kit; the rights register lists every image, clip and logo with its permission; the authority register records who may approve and send the kit; the version register records which copy is current.
Before filling them for the real kit, test the registers on an unbranded practice copy with planted faults: a claim with a missing denominator, an asset with a deliberately expired permission, an ambiguous commercial relationship and an inaccessible document element. If the registers do not catch all four, fix the registers first.
| Claim register row | Claim | Source | Denominator | Limitation | Term | Withdrawal | Owner example | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example only | Host recommendations drive most listener purchases | Creator's listener survey | Listeners who heard at least one host recommendation | Self-reported behaviour, not sales data | Survey field date plus agreed review period | Remove if survey is withdrawn or creator requests | Creator's research lead | Pass |
For audience figures, the source is normally the platform's own analytics export, recorded with the date it was taken and the period it covers. CAP Code section 3 provides the UK non-broadcast reference for objective claim substantiation and qualification: it says marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective before distributing a marketing communication, and must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial is genuine, with contact details for the person who gives it. The Advertising Standards Authority applies the code. GOV.UK's copyright licensing guidance explains that permissions can be limited. Advertising, consumer and IP specialists decide what evidence a particular kit needs; the registers are a working record, not legal clearance.
Example owner role: the rights or research lead.
Gate: do not proceed while an admitted claim or asset lacks a traceable owner, source, limitation, term or withdrawal route.
Days 46 to 65: test the delivery formats
Render the same approved kit as controlled HTML, an accessible download and a permissioned direct-delivery package. Check version identity, reading and keyboard order, recipient access, correction propagation, link behaviour and export. Use test recipients rather than real buyers.
The current GOV.UK accessible communication formats guidance favours planning alternatives and involving disabled people. Apply it as a government design reference, then run a moderated accessibility test with disabled participants covering keyboard-only order, screen reader reading order and 200 per cent zoom.
Example owner role: the accessibility or front-end lead.
Gate: hold every route that loses the version, cannot support an agreed access task or creates an untracked copy.
Days 66 to 80: rehearse corrections and withdrawals
Remove a test collaborator, restore an approved version, correct a claim, withdraw an asset and export the evidence pack. Test account recovery and record what cannot be deleted from a recipient or cache. NCSC guidance on using online services safely covers admin access, backups and recovery but does not certify a chosen host.
Review the enquiry route separately. If it may carry marketing, a privacy and PECR specialist should check the actual recipient and purpose against current ICO guidance, including any page marked under review after DUAA changes.
Example owner role: the security or operations lead.
Gate: stop if access cannot be revoked, an incident owner is absent, correction cannot reach the current route or export is incomplete.
Days 81 to 90: sign off, or hold
Convene named advertising, consumer, privacy, PECR, IP, safeguarding, accessibility, security, contract, tax and finance reviewers, as far as the kit needs each lane. Each records pass, fail or hold with evidence, expiry and remediation. A pass in one lane cannot offset an unresolved decision elsewhere.
| Lane | Decision | Evidence | Expiry | Remediation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising | Pass | Claim register row with source, denominator and limitation | Next claim review | None |
| Accessibility | Fail | Keyboard-only test loses focus in download route | Next release check | Fix focus order and retest |
| IP | Hold | Licence term for one image is unclear | Licence term end | Obtain written term from rights holder |
The authorised owner chooses among retaining the existing process, revising the kit and repeating the failed phase, permitting a limited real-pack test, or ending the work. A limited test needs new permission and a separate release record naming the version sent and to whom. Because every claim and asset has an end date and a withdrawal route, each step can be reversed. The plan supplies no forecast of enquiries, commissions or commercial return.
Example owner role: the authorised decision owner.
Before you act
The gate bullets in each phase are the checklist. Record the named owner and the evidence for each.
Common questions
What stops the work at each gate?
Stop if the kit's job is not written down, the audience in England is undefined or anyone's authority is unclear. Do not proceed while an admitted claim or asset lacks a traceable owner, source, limitation, term or withdrawal route. Hold any route that loses the version or creates an untracked copy, and stop if access cannot be revoked.
How should the fictional pack be tested across channels?
Use the practice copy with planted faults to test the registers first. Then render the same approved kit as controlled HTML, an accessible download and a permissioned direct-delivery package. Check version identity, reading and keyboard order, recipient access, correction propagation, link behaviour and export with test recipients, then run a moderated accessibility test with disabled participants.
What does the authorised owner decide at the end?
The authorised owner chooses among retaining the existing process, revising the kit, permitting a limited real-pack test, or ending the work. A limited test needs new permission and a separate release record. Named reviewers each record pass, fail or hold with evidence, expiry and remediation, and one pass cannot offset an unresolved decision elsewhere.
