Running a campaign
Timing, keys & launch
Most of the work is front-loaded. Once a campaign is live it needs attention, not management.
Dates and embargoes
| Date | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Start | When creators can discover and join the campaign. |
| Embargo | Optional. Creators can join, get access and prepare, but cannot publish until it lifts. Leave it blank if they can post immediately. |
| End | When the campaign stops accepting new submissions. |
Moving an embargo late is costly. Creators schedule posts in advance around it. If a date has to shift, give as much notice as you can — a last-minute change can push a video live at the wrong moment, which is worse for you than for them.
Builds and keys
Campaigns can offer the full game, a demo, a beta build, or no build at all when the campaign is footage-only. If creators need access, upload keys ahead of launch so distribution is automatic; otherwise they arrive as requests you handle by hand.
Running out of keys mid-campaign stalls creators who were ready to work, so it is worth over-supplying rather than topping up under pressure.
Resources
What you provide shapes what gets made. A campaign with clean vertical clips, a press kit and a clear positioning line produces noticeably better content than one that gives creators a store link and good luck.
Footage matters most, because it removes the biggest blocker: a creator who cannot capture usable gameplay can still make an excellent edit from yours.
Changing a live campaign
Before the start date, nearly everything is still editable. Once creators can join, some settings can only move in the direction that favours them — the rate, the per-creator cap and the submission limit can go up but not down. People decided to participate based on the terms they saw, and those terms should not get worse underneath them.
Copy, resources and talking points can be updated at any time. If a change is something creators need to act on, send an announcement — updating a field quietly does not tell anyone.
Announcements
Announcements go to everyone who joined. Use them for things that change what a creator does next: a build fix, new footage, a date moving, a milestone worth sharing. Do not use them to introduce a new rule — that is a guideline change, and it needs to be in the guidelines to be enforceable.