What is Gifting?
Gifting is the practice of sending free products to creators with no guaranteed payment, in exchange for organic content or review posts at the creator's discretion.
Gifting campaigns are common for product launches and awareness plays. The brand sends product; the creator is under no obligation to post. When they do post, it is typically more authentic than paid content because there is no contracted brief to follow.
In many countries including the US and UK, gifted products that result in posts must still be disclosed as gifted or AD. The FTC and ASA treat gifted posts as advertising if there is a material relationship, even without direct payment.
Gifting works best for creators who genuinely love the product niche. Sending irrelevant products wastes budget and rarely generates quality content. Brands should target creators whose existing content already fits the product category.
Related terms
- Product seeding
- Product seeding is a brand strategy of sending free products to a large volume of creators or potential customers to generate organic social buzz, reviews, and word-of-mouth at scale.
- FTC disclosure
- FTC disclosure is the legal requirement in the United States that creators clearly and conspicuously disclose any material connection to a brand, including payment, gifting, or free products, when publishing content about that brand.
- UGC (user generated content)
- UGC, or user generated content, is photo and video content created by everyday creators or customers that a brand uses in its own marketing, such as ads, social posts, and product pages.
- Sponsored post
- A sponsored post is a piece of content a creator publishes in exchange for payment from a brand, which must be disclosed as advertising under FTC and platform guidelines.
- Brand deal
- A brand deal is a paid agreement between a creator and a brand where the creator produces and publishes content featuring the brand's product or service in exchange for money, product, or both.
More in Influencer marketing
Gifting sits in the influencer marketing part of the glossary. These terms come up in the same conversations and are worth reading alongside it.