I ran an experiment recently that I’m still thinking about. We took one influencer brief—literally the same deck, same product story, same talking points—and sent it to creators in Russia, LATAM, and the US to see what they’d actually produce.
The results were fascinating in a slightly alarming way.
The Russian creators interpreted the brief in the most literal way possible. They hit every single talking point, created polished, professional content that looked almost identical to each other. Very on-brand. Very controlled.
The LATAM creators took the brief and made it personal. They integrated the product into their daily routines, told stories about why they were using it, brought their personalities hard. The content felt way more authentic, but sometimes it strayed from the brand voice a bit.
The US creators? They deconstructed the brief. They asked clarifying questions about the brand’s positioning, questioned some of the value propositions, and wanted to understand the competitive landscape before committing to specific language.
None of these approaches were “wrong.” But they were completely different, and if I’d expected the Russian level of compliance from the LATAM team, or the US level of customization from the Russian team, we’d have had a real problem.
What this taught me is that a brief can’t be one-size-fits-all. You need to adapt not just the talking points but how you work with creators depending on the region. In Russia, you want clear direction and quality control. In LATAM, you want to give creators space to be themselves. In the US, you want to have strategy conversations before execution.
Has anyone else had to adjust their creative direction process based on regional creator culture? How do you handle it without making the brief so flexible that it falls apart?