Hey everyone. We’re testing something new and I think there are other people in this community who’ve been thinking about the same thing.
We’ve been running influencer campaigns successfully for three years, mostly in the Russian/CIS market. Now we’re at this point where US brands are asking us about UGC, but they also want best-in-class influencer coordination—which requires understanding both markets simultaneously.
So we’re piloting a cross-border product: US agencies handle influencer coordination + UGC brief standardization for their DTC brands. We handle creator sourcing, cultural localization, and on-ground execution in Russian markets (and increasingly, Central/Eastern Europe). We co-deliver, we split the margin, clients get a unified service that doesn’t feel disjointed.
Right now, we’re looking for 2-3 partner agencies (ideally US-based, mid-market, doing $2-5M ARR) who want to co-deliver this and validate whether the market actually wants it.
Here’s the honest pitch: this is a pilot. We’re not sure if it’s going to be a massive service line or a niche offering. But we’ve got solid client relationships on our side, we understand the complexity of cross-border execution, and we’re tired of saying “no” to US brands.
If you’re interested in exploring this—especially if you’ve had clients ask about Russian/Eastern European expansion or influencer work in those markets—I’d genuinely love to talk through what this could look like.
A few specifics:
- We handle 100% of creator coordination and campaign management in local markets
- You handle client relationship, influencer brief coordination, UGC direction
- You propose 50/50 margin split on pilot projects (we can adjust once we validate model)
- Minimum commitment: 4-6 projects over 3 months to actually test the concept
Not looking for investors or tire-kickers—actual agencies who want to test a new revenue stream.
Who’s in?
This actually interests me.
We’ve had maybe 5-6 clients in the past year ask about Russian expansion—mostly DTC beauty and tech. We’ve had to refer them out because we didn’t have the local infrastructure. So from our side, there’s definitely demand.
A few questions before I’d commit to the pilot:
-
Creator quality: How do you vet creators? We have standards on engagement authenticity, brand safety, etc. I’d need to see your process.
-
Turnaround time: If a client briefs on Tuesday, how fast can you source creators and kicks off?
-
Reporting: What does reporting look like to our clients? Do they see individual creator performance, aggregate metrics, both?
-
Margin: I’m actually okay with 50/50 on pilot projects, but I’d want to see how the margin breaks down once we hit volume. Like, at what project volume does the margin shift?
-
Client vetting: I’d want to be selective about which clients we test this with. Not every DTC brand is a good fit for cross-border UGC pilots.
But yeah, I’m genuinely interested. This could solve a real problem on the demand side. Let’s schedule a call and dig into the operational specifics.
Interesting concept, but I have a different set of concerns.
The co-delivery model only works if there’s actual strategic alignment between how you approach campaigns and how we approach them. From my DTC experience, I know that US and Russian creators have completely different benchmarks for what “good content” looks like.
So before I’d commit to 4-6 projects, I’d need clarity on:
-
Creative direction: How do you handle when our brief says “premium, lifestyle-focused” and Russian creators are interpreting that as something totally different? Who breaks ties?
-
Performance metrics: Do you guarantee engagement rates? Conversion rates? Or is this purely a “best effort” engagement?
-
Conflict resolution: What happens if a client feels like the Russian execution didn’t match the US brand guidelines? How is that handled financially?
-
Data sharing: I’d need complete transparency into creator sourcing, performance data, audience demographics. No black box.
I like the idea in theory, but the execution complexity here is significant. The 50/50 margin assumes both of us are equally invested in success, but if things go sideways on execution, I’m the one who has to manage the client relationship and the fallout.
Let’s prototype on one project first—not four. If that works, we can think about scaling.
What’s your process for handling execution misses?
This is exactly what we need on our side, actually. We’ve been trying to enter European markets but we’ve lacked US partnerships that understand both sides. So hearing this from a Russian agency is refreshing.
I’m genuinely interested, but I want to be honest about my constraints: we’re pre-Series A, so our bandwidth is limited. I can’t assign a full person to manage this partnership—it’d have to be something that’s relatively hands-off on our side once the operational framework is set.
So questions for you:
-
Operational burden: How much ongoing management time does a 50/50 partnership actually require on our side?
-
Scale: You mentioned 4-6 projects. Do you have the infrastructure to handle 15+ projects/month down the line, or is this genuinely a pilot before hiring?
-
Integration: Can your reporting and creator management systems plug into our backend, or is this manual back-and-forth?
-
Client sourcing: Do we bring clients to you, or do you have clients asking for US coordination?
I think the model makes sense. But I want to make sure this isn’t going to require 20 hours/week of my time to manage.
Also—what’s your actual experience with DTC brands? I ask because DTC clients have very specific expectations around metrics, attribution, and speed. If you haven’t worked with that profile, this could be rough.
I love this idea from a pure partnership perspective.
Honestly, the cross-border creator thing is a natural gap in the market. Most US agencies know influencer marketing but don’t know local markets. Most Russian agencies know local markets but don’t understand US brand positioning. Bridging that is valuable.
I have some initial thoughts on how to make this work better:
-
Lead with your strongest differentiator: Are you good at finding authentic creators? Cost-efficient sourcing? Speed? Lead with that in your pitch to partners. Don’t position it as “Russian agency + US agency” position it as “market access + execution speed.”
-
Joint pitch deck: If I were a US agency considering this, I’d want one unified story. Not two partner decks. You and your partner should have a single narrative about what makes this work.
-
Client success stories: Start with case studies where this cross-border approach actually matmattered. Like, “Client launched in Russia because we coordinated across both markets and saved them 3 months of hiring.” Concrete wins.
-
Partnership operations guide: Before you sign anyone, I’d honestly recommend mapping out the playbook—how briefs flow, when decisions happen, what escalation looks like. Most co-delivery partnerships fail because operations are assumed, not documented.
I think this is a solid idea. And if you need help thinking through the partnership structure or co-marketing this to agencies, genuinely happy to brainstorm.
Okay so as someone who produces content and works with both US agencies and Russian brands, I can tell you where this actually helps me and creators like me:
Right now, when a US agency wants Russian creators, they either:
- Hire Russian freelancers and hope for the best
- Subcontract to a Russian studio they’ve never worked with
- Give up and do a US-only campaign
Having one partner who understands both sides means better briefs, faster turnarounds, and less “call it back and re-do it” cycles.
So here’s my question for you as a creator: if you do find US co-delivery partners, how are you going to ensure creator quality stays consistent? Like, are you pre-vetting creators? Do you have a pool already? Because the worst thing that happens is you get US partnerships that assume all Russian creators are the same, and then quality is all over the place.
Also—turnaround time. DTC brands move fast. If a creator is available but the brief takes a week to coordinate across both agencies, that creator misses the window. You need a system where briefs move in 24-48 hours.
My advice: focus hard on your operational playbook before you start pitching. Agencies care more about “how will this actually work day-to-day” than about the vision.
I’m not a partner you’re looking for, but I’m super interested in how this evolves because if you pull it off, it genuinely makes creator work better.
Good luck with this.
From a data/metrics perspective, here’s what would make me commit to this as a US agency contact (hypothetically):
Pre-pilot clarity needed:
-
Conversion benchmarks: What’s the average conversion rate from Russian UGC your creators produce? How does that compare to US-produced UGC? I’d need actual data, not assumptions.
-
Creator performance data: Do you track engagement authenticity (real vs. purchased followers)? Audience demographic alignment? This matters a lot for DTC brands.
-
Reporting standards: What metrics do you track? UTMs? Promo codes? Swipe links? I’d want alignment with our existing tracking framework.
-
Pilot structure: I’d propose: Pilot project 1 (4 creators, $10K spend), measure everything, debrief, then decide if projects 2-6 happen. Not a blind commitment to 6 projects.
On the model itself:
I don’t have a problem with 50/50 margins on pilots. But help me understand: at what scale does your margin shift? Because if your cost to source and coordinate a creator is $100, and you’re getting 50% of a $5K project revenue, the math Works for you but not for me if I’m managing the client relationship and deal with the fallout.
Let me know if you have benchmarks on conversion rate and creator authenticity. That’s what would actually move me to a “yes.”