What this costs
A shortlist is free. Running a campaign costs twenty per cent of what you spend on creators, with a four hundred dollar minimum. Ongoing work starts at nine hundred dollars a month with no minimum term. Creator fees are paid to creators at the rate they set, and we take nothing out of them.
You send a brief, we send creators who fit it.
- Creators matched on category, platform, audience location and your actual budget
- Each one with the rate they set themselves, not a marked-up number
- Recent work, follower counts and the engagement rate we measured, with the date we measured it
- Any concern the review turned up, written down rather than quietly dropped
- An honest answer about whether your budget is enough, including when it is not
There is no catch and no card. A shortlist costs us a few hours and it is how you find out whether we are any good.
Send a briefWe run it end to end. You pay the creators their rate, and us for the work around it.
- Everything in the shortlist
- Contracts: deliverables, dates, usage rights, exclusivity, revision limits, payment terms
- Briefing each creator and handling the back and forth
- Approval rounds, including checking disclosure meets Canadian and US rules
- Chasing delivery, and replacing a creator who misses without a good reason
- A report at the end: what ran, what it cost, what it did, who to re-book
On a $2,000 creator spend that is $400. On a $10,000 spend it is $2,000. Creator fees go to the creator at the rate they agreed, and we take nothing out of them.
Send a briefFor brands running creators continuously rather than in bursts.
- Everything in a campaign, running every month
- A standing roster shortlist for your category, refreshed as creators join
- A monthly content pipeline for your ad account
- Usage-rights and whitelisting management on the pieces that perform
- One monthly report and one person who knows your account
No twelve-month contract, no auto-renew you have to fight, no notice period beyond the month you are in. If it is not working, stop.
Talk it throughAll figures in Canadian dollars, before tax. Creator fees are separate and are paid to the creator at their own rate. We are not a marketplace and we do not sit in the middle of the money.
What we do not charge for
A price list only means something alongside the things that are not on it.
- Creators pay nothing.
No application fee, no listing fee, no subscription, and we take no percentage of what a creator is paid. Our fee comes from the brand only. A platform charging both sides is taking around a quarter of the money out of the middle, and the creator usually cannot see it happening.
- No markup on creator rates.
You see the rate the creator set. We do not add a quiet margin and present it as their price. If we did, you would eventually find out, and the creators would find out faster.
- No software subscription.
You are not paying a monthly licence for a search tool. If you want a search tool, several good ones exist and cost less than we do.
- No minimum term.
Nothing here locks you in for a year. The most common complaint about creator platforms is a twelve-month contract with automatic billing that is difficult to stop, so we do not have one.
A worked example
A skincare brand with $2,500 to spend wants content it can run as ads, and two or three creators posting to their own audiences.
| Line | What it buys | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Creator fees | Six UGC videos at $250, plus two micro creators posting at $350 | $2,200 |
| Product and shipping | Eight units out to creators | Your cost |
| Four Cents Media | Twenty per cent of creator spend: sourcing, contracts, briefs, approvals, reporting | $440 |
| Total to us | Our fee only. Creator fees go to creators. | $440 |
| Total campaign | Everything except product cost | $2,640 |
What that produces: eight pieces of content, six of which you own and can run as ads, two posts on real audiences in your category, and a report telling you which hook worked. What it does not produce: a guaranteed sales number, a mid-tier creator, or category exclusivity.
How this compares
For context rather than as a pitch. Self-serve creator marketplaces typically charge the brand around ten to fifteen per cent and often deduct a further percentage from the creator's payout, which can take roughly a quarter of the money out of the middle without either side seeing the full picture. Creator software runs from about $70 a month for a search tool to $200 to $500 a month for a platform, and several of the larger ones sell only on twelve-month contracts. Managed agency service usually starts at $1,500 a month or a $10,000 campaign minimum.
The gap that leaves is managed service for a brand spending one to five thousand dollars, which is most first campaigns. That is the gap we are in, and it is the whole reason the pricing looks like this.
Asked about the money
How much does a first creator campaign cost in total?
For most small brands the realistic total is between $1,400 and $3,000. That is creator fees of roughly $1,000 to $2,500, which buys six to ten UGC videos or four to six micro creators posting, plus our fee of $400 or twenty per cent of the creator spend, whichever is larger. Below about $1,000 of creator spend the honest answer is usually to buy content for your own ad account rather than sponsored posts.
Why a percentage rather than a flat fee?
Because the work scales with the campaign. Sourcing, contracting, briefing and chasing four creators is roughly half the work of doing it for eight. A flat fee would either overcharge the smallest campaigns or make them impossible to take. The $400 minimum exists because there is a floor below which the work does not pay for itself, and pretending otherwise would mean doing it badly.
Do you mark up the creator fees?
No. The creator sets their rate, you see that rate, and it is what they are paid. Our fee is separate and visible on the same page. This is the single most common hidden cost in this industry and we would rather not have the argument.
What if the campaign does not work?
We do not offer a results guarantee, and you should be careful with anyone who does, because nobody can honestly promise a creator campaign will perform. What we can promise is the process: creators who match the brief, rates agreed in writing, contracts with deliverables and dates, compliant disclosure, and a report showing what actually happened. If a creator fails to deliver we replace them and they come off the roster.
Is there a contract?
For a campaign, yes: a scope of work naming deliverables, dates and the fee, which ends when the campaign ends. For ongoing work it is month to month with no minimum term and no notice period beyond the month you are in.
Can we just buy the shortlist and run it ourselves?
Yes, and some people do. The shortlist is free and there is nothing stopping you taking the names and contracting the creators directly. We would rather you did that than pay us for work you can do yourself. Most people come back when they hit the contracting and chasing, because that is where the hours actually go.
Do you work with brands outside Canada?
Yes, mostly United States brands wanting Canadian creators or Canadian brands selling into the US. Fees are the same. Where a campaign reaches US audiences the FTC endorsement guides apply in addition to Canadian rules, and that is handled as part of the campaign rather than charged separately.
The first step costs nothing.
Send a brief and get a shortlist with names, rates and an honest read on your budget. Decide afterwards.