Influencers, creators and the disclosure rules

What you will be able to do

• Decide which type of creator collaboration fits your goal and budget
• Vet a creator and write a brief and agreement that cover deliverables, usage and disclosure
• Apply Ad Standards' disclosure guidelines and the Competition Act to gifted, paid and affiliate content

A creator with the right audience can put your work in front of thousands of people who are planning exactly what you sell. A creator with the wrong audience can cost you a free dinner for twelve and produce nothing. The difference is not luck. It is choosing well, briefing clearly and disclosing properly.

Read the transcript

Influencers, creators and the disclosure rules.

A creator with the right audience can put your work in front of thousands of people who are planning exactly what you sell.

A creator with the wrong audience can cost you a free dinner for twelve and produce nothing.

What creators can and cannot do for you.

For most event businesses, the word "influencer" conjures a lifestyle account with a big following.

That is rarely the right fit.

Five kinds of collaboration.

Every arrangement involves something of value changing hands, and every one carries a disclosure duty.

Choose the type that fits your goal, then plan the disclosure from the start.

Finding and vetting creators.

Start with people who already post about the events you serve, in the places you serve.

Search the hashtags and location tags your clients use, look at who posts from the venues you work in, and ask past clients which accounts they followed while planning.

The brief and the agreement.

A short written agreement prevents almost every creator dispute.

Email is enough for a gifted collaboration; use a signed contract for paid or ongoing work.

Worked example: Lantern and Lane books a creator.

Priya and Marco want more inquiries for intimate weddings of 40 to 80 guests.

They find a Toronto wedding creator with about 18,000 followers, most in the GTA, whose comments are full of venue questions.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What creators can and cannot do for you

For most event businesses, the word “influencer” conjures a lifestyle account with a big following. That is rarely the right fit. The creators who move bookings for event vendors are usually smaller and more specific: a local wedding content creator who posts venue tours, a Toronto food account whose followers actually go out to eat, a parenting creator in Mississauga whose audience plans birthday parties, an HR or office-culture creator on LinkedIn whose followers book team events.

A creator partnership can do three useful things. It can introduce you to an audience that already trusts the creator. It can produce content you are licensed to reuse, often better than you would shoot yourself. And it can create social proof at the moment a buyer is comparing vendors. What it cannot do is replace a clear offer, a good profile and a fast reply. If your inbox routine is weak, a creator post simply sends more people to a door nobody answers.

Five kinds of collaboration

Every arrangement involves something of value changing hands, and every one carries a disclosure duty. Choose the type that fits your goal, then plan the disclosure from the start.

Notice that vendor tagging between colleagues, such as a photographer tagging the florist on a wedding post, is different. If no one paid anyone and there is no ongoing referral arrangement, it is ordinary credit. Once a referral fee or a free service is involved, it becomes a material connection, and the rules below apply.

Finding and vetting creators

Start with people who already post about the events you serve, in the places you serve. Search the hashtags and location tags your clients use, look at who posts from the venues you work in, and ask past clients which accounts they followed while planning. Then vet each candidate with this checklist before you send a message.

• Audience location. Ask for a screenshot of their audience insights showing city or country. A Toronto caterer gains little from an audience that is mostly outside Canada.
• Audience intent. Read the comments on ten recent posts. Are people asking “where is this venue?” and “how much was this?” or only posting emojis?
• Engagement that looks real. Sudden jumps in followers, generic comments in several languages, and views far below the follower count are warning signs.
• Disclosure habits. Look at their past sponsored posts. If they never disclose, they will not start for you, and you share the responsibility.
• Fit with your brand. Would you be comfortable if your best client saw every post on their grid?
• Professionalism. Do they reply clearly, send a rate card or media kit, and agree to put terms in writing?

The brief and the agreement

A short written agreement prevents almost every creator dispute. Email is enough for a gifted collaboration; use a signed contract for paid or ongoing work. Copy this outline.

1. Parties and dates. Who, which event or service, and when the content goes live.
2. What each side provides. The service or fee you provide, and the exact deliverables: for example, one reel of at least 30 seconds, three stories and one feed post.
3. Key messages. Two or three facts the creator should mention, such as your service area and how to inquire. Let them say it in their own voice.
4. Disclosure. The label to use, where it goes, and that the platform’s paid-partnership tool will be switched on.
5. Approval. Whether you see the post before it goes live, and how quickly you will respond.
6. Usage rights. Whether you may repost, use the content on your website or run it as an ad, for how long, and with what credit.
7. Privacy and guests. No filming guests or client details without consent.
8. Payment terms and cancellation. When you pay, and what happens if the event moves.

Worked example: Lantern & Lane books a creator

Priya and Marco want more inquiries for intimate weddings of 40 to 80 guests. They find a Toronto wedding creator with about 18,000 followers, most in the GTA, whose comments are full of venue questions. The deal: a fee of $900 plus HST for one reel and four stories filmed at a styled micro-wedding table Lantern & Lane is already producing for its portfolio, with 12 months of usage rights for organic posts on Lantern & Lane’s own channels.

They give the creator a tracked link to a dedicated landing page and add “saw you on a creator’s post” to the inquiry form’s how-did-you-hear menu. In the following 60 days they log 14 inquiries from the campaign, quote 6 and book 2 at an average of $5,200. The cost per inquiry is $900 divided by 14, about $64. The cost per booking is $450. Against $10,400 in bookings, the campaign paid for itself many times over, and they still own a year of reusable video. These numbers are an example. A campaign can just as easily produce two inquiries, which is why you set up tracking before the post goes live.

Measure it like any other channel

Ask the creator for a screenshot of the post’s insights seven days after it goes live: views, reach, shares, saves and link taps. Compare those with the inquiries you logged. Then decide whether to repeat, renegotiate or move on. One partnership is an experiment. Three with the same type of creator tell you whether the channel works for your business.

In Canada and the GTA

Disclosure in Canada is governed by two layers. The first is law: the Competition Act makes it reviewable conduct to make a representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material respect. The Competition Bureau has said that an undisclosed material connection between a reviewer and the advertiser, financial or otherwise, is a problem, and that these material connections are relevant even if the person provides an honest and unbiased review. A creator praising your service without saying you paid or hosted them is the kind of impression the Bureau is concerned about.

The second layer is industry practice, set by Ad Standards. Its Canadian Code of Advertising Standards says no advertisement shall be presented in a format or style that conceals the fact that it is an advertisement, and that testimonials must reflect the genuine, reasonably current opinion of the person giving them. Its Influencer Marketing Disclosure Guidelines, updated in fall 2025, spell out how to disclose. Read the full guidelines before your first campaign. The main points:

• What counts. A material connection includes money, free products with or without conditions, discounts, gifts, contest entries, employment, and personal or family relationships. Affiliate and refer-a-friend programs count when the person earns compensation or benefits.
• Which labels work. #ad is described as the gold standard. #sponsored, #[Brand]Partner, #[Brand]Ambassador, #Gifted, #GiftedProduct and #InvitedGuest are recognized, as are #affiliate, #AffiliateLink and #CommissionEarned for affiliate content.
• Which labels do not. #Ambassador, #Partner, #Spon, #PR, #Promo and #Collab on their own; a brand tag alone; “Thank [Company]” alone; “c/o” without explanation; and a blanket disclosure in the bio.
• Where it goes. Upfront in the main caption, before any link and close to the endorsement, not buried among other hashtags. A disclosure only in the comments is not enough. Each post needs its own disclosure, and a series of stories needs one at the start.
• Video. Disclose at the beginning, within the first 30 seconds, in both audio and on-screen text, and repeat it in longer videos. A caption alone does not cover the video itself.
• Platform tools. Use the paid-partnership label where available, but it is enough only if it is prominent and visible on all devices. Instagram’s own help centre says its branded content policies require the paid partnership label to tag the brand. See Instagram’s branded content help.
• Shared responsibility. Brands, agencies and creators share responsibility for compliance. Brands should encourage disclosure of gifted products and experiences even when no money changes hands.
• AI. Virtual or AI influencers still need to disclose material connections, and AI-generated or heavily altered images that show a product’s benefits should be disclosed. The guidelines say a disclaimer cannot correct a misleading impression.

Rights, alcohol and the local market

Who owns the content. Under the Copyright Act, the author of a work is the first owner of its copyright, and an assignment or licence of copyright is valid only in writing signed by the owner. A creator owns the reel they make for you unless your agreement says otherwise. If you want to run it as an ad or put it on your website, get that permission in writing.

Alcohol. If a bar, venue or licensed caterer hosts a creator, the resulting posts are liquor promotion under the AGCO’s Registrar’s guidelines. Content must not promote excessive consumption or appeal to people under the legal drinking age, and you may not advertise the availability of complimentary liquor except in limited situations. A reel built around free shots for the creator’s friends is the wrong brief.

Penalties. Under the Competition Act’s civil deceptive marketing provisions, the maximum administrative monetary penalty for a corporation is the greater of $10,000,000 ($15,000,000 for a subsequent order) or three times the benefit derived. Small businesses are rarely the target, but the principle is clear. This is general information; ask a lawyer about your own arrangements.

The GTA creator market. Toronto has a deep pool of food, wedding, family and nightlife creators, and many smaller creators in Peel, York, Durham and Halton serve neighbourhood audiences that convert well for local vendors. Fees vary widely, so ask for a rate card. Book wedding creators for January to March, when couples are planning and the wedding show season is running, and corporate or office-culture creators for September and October, ahead of holiday party bookings. If you serve francophone clients in Ottawa or eastern Ontario, a bilingual creator can reach an audience English-only accounts miss.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet and complete it for your own business, using Lantern & Lane as the model where it helps. Keep it with your marketing plan. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)