In short
- Hold the kickoff after the brief and creator plan are approved and before contracts go out. Invite the person who approves, the person who ships and the person who pays.
- Prepare seven things beforehand: the brief, the budget in writing, the claims sheet, brand assets, store and code access, ad-account permissions and a payment route.
- Leave with ten decisions on paper, including the approver and deputy, feedback hours, label wording, rights, dates and who is called if something goes wrong.
- Send a one-page kickoff note within a day, with an owner and a date against every action.
An influencer campaign kickoff is a 60-minute meeting held after the brief and creator plan are approved and before contracts go out. It settles the things only your team can decide: who approves content and how fast, what claims are allowed, who ships product, how sales are tracked and what happens if something goes wrong. You leave with ten decisions and a one-page note that gives every action an owner and a date.
This checklist is for a brand team running a campaign in-house or with an agency. It follows the brief (how to brief an influencer marketing agency and our brief template) and comes before the contracts and creator briefs described in how we work. For the wider picture, see the complete guide to influencer marketing in India. If you are a first-time buyer, read what to expect in the first 30 days alongside it.
Why kickoffs matter
Most brands skip it. The brief is approved, the plan looks good and everyone wants to start. Then, in week two, the questions arrive: who can approve a claim, where do we create the discount code, who packs 60 boxes, does the ad account have partnership-ad permissions? Each one stalls a creator for a day or two.
In a 2026 vendor survey, only 13.3 percent of brands tied influencer work to formal revenue targets, and 46.4 percent judged performance campaign by campaign. A kickoff is where the target gets written down, and where someone is made responsible for it.
Who attends
| Person | Why they are there | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing owner (approver) | Final yes on content, claims and budget | Yes |
| Deputy approver | Covers absences; knows the rules | Yes |
| Operations or warehouse lead | Stock, packing, dispatch | Yes, if product ships |
| E-commerce or CRM owner | Discount codes, landing page, tracking | Yes, if sales are tracked |
| Finance | Payment route, invoice checks, TDS | Yes |
| Legal or compliance | Claims, label, contract templates | Yes for regulated categories; otherwise a prior review |
| Performance marketer | Partnership ads, ad permissions, budget | If creator ads are planned |
| Strategist and coordinator (agency or in-house) | Run the plan and the tracker | Yes |
Keep the room small enough to make decisions. Everyone else gets the note.
Before the meeting: seven things to have ready
| # | Item | Owner | Done when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approved brief and creator plan | Marketing owner | Signed off in writing |
| 2 | Budget in writing: creator fees, whether GST is extra, agency fee, ad budget | Marketing owner and finance | One number and what it includes |
| 3 | Claims sheet: allowed claims with evidence, banned claims | Marketing owner and legal | Reviewed by legal or the founder |
| 4 | Brand assets: logo, product shots, brand colours, do-not-use list | Brand team | In one shared folder |
| 5 | Store access: permission to create codes, rules for them, landing page ready | E-commerce owner | Test code works on a real cart |
| 6 | Ad permissions: access to the ad account and partnership-ad setup | Performance marketer | See partnership ads setup |
| 7 | Payment route: vendor onboarding, PAN collection, invoice checks | Finance | Process written and tested |
Item 5 is the one most teams forget. A discount code that cannot be created, capped or tracked turns the first week into a scramble. See tracking influencer sales with discount codes for the code rules, and UTM links for influencer campaigns for links.
The 60-minute agenda
| Minutes | Topic | Decision to leave with |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 | Goal and number | One primary metric, its target and its date |
| 5 to 15 | Buyer and message read-back | Someone other than the author restates the goal, buyer and message; fix any gap |
| 15 to 25 | Creators and mix | Tiers, languages, cities, competitor exclusions, bench size |
| 25 to 35 | Rules: claims, label, rights | Allowed and banned claims, label wording, usage rights, exclusivity |
| 35 to 45 | Approvals | Approver, deputy, feedback hours, revision rounds, what silence means |
| 45 to 52 | Logistics and tracking | Who ships, what is kept or returned, code and link rules |
| 52 to 58 | Dates and waves | Go-live, waves, hard stops, festival or sale clashes |
| 58 to 60 | Risks and next steps | Escalation contact; owners for each action in the first five days |
The read-back at minute five is not a formality. It is the cheapest way to catch a brief that was understood differently by two people, and it is much cheaper than discovering that after 40 creators have been briefed.
The ten decisions
Do not end the meeting until each of these has an answer written in the note.
- Goal. The primary metric, target and date.
- Approver and deputy. Named people, with their contact details.
- Feedback hours. Concept 24, draft 24 to 48, final cut 24. See the content approval workflow.
- Claims. Where the claims sheet lives, and who may change it.
- Label. The wording ASCI allows, such as Ad, Sponsored, Collaboration, Partnership or Free gift, and where it sits. See the ASCI guidelines.
- Rights and exclusivity. Media, duration, whether partnership ads are allowed, and any competitor list.
- Product. Kept or returned, who ships, from which stock. See influencer product seeding logistics.
- Tracking. Code convention, link convention, who reports sales and how often.
- Dates. Go-live, waves and hard stops, using the timeline template.
- Escalation. Who is called if a post draws a complaint, a creator disappears or a claim is questioned. See influencer crisis management.
Risks to name at the kickoff
A short risk table keeps the conversation concrete. Add one line per risk, with a trigger and a named owner.
| Risk | Trigger | First response | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| A creator drops out | No contract or concept by the hard stop | Replace from the bench | Coordinator |
| Product arrives late | No delivery by hard stop | Reship by express or move to a later wave | Operations |
| A claim is challenged | Brand, regulator or audience queries a line | Pause the post; check the claims sheet; edit or remove | Marketing owner |
| A code is leaked | Redemptions with no matching link click | Cap or end the code; check for coupon sites | E-commerce owner |
| Negative comments | A spike of complaints in the first hour | Reply with facts; escalate if a safety or legal point is raised | Coordinator |
| Budget overrun | Extra rounds, rush fees or rights changes | Approver signs any change in writing | Marketing owner |
Pre-agree these responses and nobody has to improvise at 9 pm on a Saturday.
How you will talk to each other
Decide the channel and the response time at the kickoff, not after the first missed message.
| Question | Suggested answer |
|---|---|
| Day-to-day channel | One WhatsApp group for the brand and agency teams, with named members only |
| Creator communication | One-to-one threads or a broadcast list, never one group where creators see each other's fees |
| Response times | We reply within 2 working hours; the brand approver answers on the feedback hours above |
| Weekly rhythm | A 20-minute check-in; more often around launches |
| Escalation | A named senior person on each side, with a phone number |
| Records | Approvals and decisions in the tracker and the approval log, not in chat |
Putting fees in a shared group is a mistake that costs trust. Creators compare numbers, and a mid-tier creator seeing a micro creator's fee can reopen a negotiation you thought was closed.
The first five days after kickoff
| Day | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Send the one-page kickoff note; contracts and creator briefs out; address requests sent | Strategist |
| 2 | Set up the tracker and the calendar; create the codes and links; build the claims folder | Coordinator and e-commerce owner |
| 3 | Chase contracts; check PAN and bank details are received; reserve product stock | Coordinator and operations |
| 4 | First contracts signed; dispatch begins for those creators; bench names confirmed | Strategist and operations |
| 5 | First weekly check-in; read the tracker flags; confirm the dates against the timeline | Everyone |
Use the tracking sheet template to build the tracker on day 2, and the campaign calendar template for the posting days.
The kickoff note
Send it within a day. It should fit on a page and hold:
- The goal, with its number and date.
- The approver, deputy and feedback hours.
- The claims and label summary, with links to the full documents.
- The creator mix and the bench size.
- Rights, exclusivity and product terms.
- The tracking conventions.
- Key dates and hard stops.
- Open questions, each with an owner and a date.
- The escalation contacts.
If a decision was made in the room and is not in the note, treat it as undecided.
If you are running in-house versus with an agency
| Item | In-house | With an agency |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the meeting | Your campaign manager | The agency's strategist |
| Who writes the creator brief | You | The agency drafts it for your approval |
| Who holds the tracker | A coordinator on your team | The agency's coordinator, shared with you |
| Who pays creators | You, with TDS handled by your finance team | The agency, after deliverables are verified, with TDS handled |
| Where the risk sits | Entirely with you | Shared, but the brand still owns claims and approvals |
In our process, creator payments go out after deliverables are verified, and the brand pays one invoice. Even then, your team keeps three things: approvals, claims and access.
Mistakes at kickoff
- Inviting twelve people. Decisions slow down as the room grows.
- No deputy. An approver on leave stops the campaign.
- Skipping the read-back. The brief means different things to different people.
- Leaving codes for later. A code that does not work on day one is a refund queue on day three.
- Dates without hard stops. A date with no consequence for missing it is a suggestion.
- Decisions in chat. A decision that is only in a thread is a decision that will be forgotten.
Checklist for the day
- The seven readiness items are done
- The right people are in the room, and the deputy is named
- The goal is stated as a number and a date, and a read-back was done
- All ten decisions have a written answer
- The risk table has an owner against every line
- The channels, response times and escalation contacts are set
- The kickoff note goes out within a day, with owners and dates
- Day-one actions have started
Our strategist can run this meeting with you and send the note afterwards. To start with a plan, send us a brief and we will return a creator plan within 48 hours. Our influencer marketing strategy service can also audit an existing programme before you set a new kickoff. To plan the volume, see how to manage 50 influencers at once.
Sources
- Influencer marketing research report, survey page, Influencer platform report page (vendor survey) (undated, accessed 31 Oct 2026)
- ASCI Guidelines for influencer advertising in digital media, ASCI (accessed 31 Oct 2026 (Addendum II dated 6 Mar 2025))
Frequently asked questions
What is an influencer campaign kickoff meeting?
It is the first working session after the brief and creator plan are approved, where the brand team and the agency or in-house team agree goals, rules, roles, dates and decisions before creators are contracted. It runs about 60 minutes and ends with a written note listing owners, deadlines and open questions.
Who should attend an influencer kickoff?
The marketing owner who approves content, a deputy approver, whoever ships product, whoever runs the store, codes and analytics, finance for payments, and legal or compliance for regulated categories. On the other side, the strategist and coordinator. Keep the meeting small enough to decide things, and share the note with everyone else.
How long before launch should we hold the kickoff?
At the start of the plan, about three weeks before go-live for a typical micro-influencer campaign, which is when contracts go out and product is arranged. For celebrity or large rights deals, hold it earlier. Our timeline template shows where the kickoff sits among the other dates.
What should be decided at the kickoff?
The goal and its number, the single approver and deputy, feedback hours, claims and label wording, usage rights and exclusivity, product terms, how sales are tracked, the posting waves and dates, the escalation contact and how often you will check in. If any of these is left open, the first delay will arrive within a week.
Do we still need a kickoff if we use an agency?
Yes. The agency can run the campaign, but only your team can decide approvals, access, claims and stock. The kickoff is where those decisions are made. Our strategist can run the meeting with you. See how we work for the stages and what we need from you at each.
What happens after the kickoff?
Contracts and briefs go out, addresses and payment details are collected, product ships once contracts are signed, and the tracker and calendar are built. The note you send after the meeting is the plan for the first five days. Our tracking sheet template shows how to set up the tracker.