The Flat Fee Fix: How to Build Creator Partnerships That Last Beyond One Campaign

Ask most brands why their creator programme isn’t moving to performance pay and you’ll hear the same answer: the creators won’t go for it. Every time commission comes up, the best ones say no and ask for their usual flat fee.

At PI LIVE Europe in London, we ran a Workroom called The Flat Fee Fix to unpack that problem. The session looked at why creators push back, and how brands can build a deal they’ll actually say yes to.

Our answer: creators aren’t saying no to performance. They’re saying no to a one-off deal that asks them to take on all of the risk.

Most creator partnerships still start and end with one campaign

For all the talk of long-term creator relationships, most partnerships still follow the same pattern: one brief, one flat fee, one post, then back to square one. The next campaign starts from scratch, with a new negotiation and a new onboarding.

That model makes it hard to introduce performance pay. When a brand floats commission on a single campaign, the creator hears one thing: you take the risk, we keep the upside.

Why creators say no to performance pay

In the room, four reasons came up again and again:

• Guaranteed income disappears. Variable pay replaces a rate creators can plan their month around.
• There’s nothing long-term in return. A single campaign gives them no reason to share the risk.
• They can’t see the numbers. Tracking and sales data usually sit on the brand’s side of the table.
• The brief keeps moving. Shifting scope with pay tied to results feels like a trap.

None of these are about the maths. The numbers often work. What doesn’t work is the risk sitting on one side.

From campaigns to tenancy

The fix is to stop treating creators as a line item in a campaign and start giving the best ones a permanent seat in the programme. In affiliate marketing, that’s called tenancy.

The anatomy of a hybrid partnership

A hybrid deal that creators say yes to has three parts:

• The base: security. A guaranteed rate that covers the work, so the creator never starts from zero.
• The upside: shared growth. Uncapped commission on what they drive, tracked in a way they can see.
• The commitment: a future. A term, a renewal path, perks and a real say in the content.

Most brands only offer the second part and wonder why creators say no. The base gets the yes. The upside keeps the effort. The commitment keeps the creator.

Trust is what closes the deal

Even a well-structured offer falls flat without trust. We think of it as a simple equation: clarity, consistency and commitment.

• Clarity: pay, scope and data access agreed up front.
• Consistency: paid on time, every time, with briefs that don’t move.
• Commitment: a term, not a trial.

If any of the three is missing, a hybrid offer reads as a cost-cutting exercise.

What we’ve seen in our own work

Two campaigns from our work show both halves of the model.

Measuring what creators actually drive. For HelloFresh, we measured every creator on cost per sign-up, tracked through personal codes, rather than on reach. That showed us exactly which creators were driving results, and acquisition costs fell as we re-engaged the best performers. The tracking was already there. The natural next step is paying those creators like partners.

Turning a creator into an advocate. For Bumble, we first worked with creator Katie on ad hoc campaigns, where her creativity and reliability stood out. We recommended her for a long-term partnership, which became a full-year campaign. Katie met her partner on Bumble, and her story went on to OOH and an invitation to a Vogue × Bumble dinner. Commitment turned a creator into a genuine brand advocate.

What this means for brands

• Start with the creator, not the commission. Find out what they value most, whether it’s stable income, creative freedom or growth, and build the offer around it.
• Lead with security. A base rate that covers their time is what gets a flat-fee creator to consider performance pay at all.
• Make the upside real and visible. Uncapped commission only works if creators can see the data behind it. Share dashboards and report regularly.
• Offer a term, not a trial. A renewal path and a real say in the content give creators a reason to share the risk.
• Pressure-test the deal before you send it. Ask the questions a sceptical creator will ask: what happens if sales are slow, who owns the data, and how do I get out if it isn’t working?

Key takeaways

• Most creator partnerships still start and end with a single campaign, which makes performance pay a hard sell.
• Creators don’t reject performance pay. They reject taking on all the risk in a one-off deal.
• A hybrid partnership has three parts: a base for security, uncapped upside for shared growth, and a commitment that gives creators a future.
• Trust closes the deal: clarity, consistency and commitment.
• Measuring what each creator drives shows you who deserves a long-term deal.

FAQ

What is a hybrid creator partnership? A deal that combines a guaranteed base fee with performance-based pay, such as commission on sales or sign-ups, usually over a longer term than a single campaign.

Why do creators turn down performance-based pay? Mostly because it shifts the risk onto them. Without a base rate, visibility of the data or a longer-term commitment, variable pay looks like a pay cut.

What is tenancy in influencer marketing? A term borrowed from affiliate marketing. It means giving a creator an ongoing place in a brand’s programme, rather than booking them for one campaign at a time.

How do you move a creator from a flat fee to a hybrid model? Start with what the creator values, offer a base rate that covers their time, add uncapped and transparent commission, and commit to a term with a clear renewal path.

How should brands measure creator performance? Look beyond reach. Track the actions each creator drives, such as sign-ups or sales through personal codes and links, and share that data with them.

Download the playbook

Couldn’t make it to PI LIVE Europe? We’ve turned the workshop into a free playbook, including the hybrid partnership canvas you can fill in for one of your own creators.

Download The Flat Fee Fix playbook

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