Glossary/Product seeding
What is product seeding?
Short answer
Product seeding is sending a product to creators with no agreement and no commitment that they will publish anything. The brand counts on them liking the item enough for it to appear of their own accord. There are fewer hits than with barter, but the ones that do land look the most natural.
What exactly is product seeding?
Spreading a product among people who talk about the category anyway. There is no task and no deadline — there is a parcel, and the creator’s decision, which is what counts in this model. That is why seeding is priced like the cost of the product and the shipping, not like a campaign: some parcels will never turn into material.
How do you run seeding so that it makes sense?
Four things that separate seeding from throwing product away:
Choose people who already talk about your category — do not send face cream to someone who reviews hardware.
Add a short note on what the product is and how to use it, without a list of requirements.
State clearly that publishing is not compulsory — otherwise this is barter without an agreement.
Count the effect across the whole send-out, not on a single parcel.
Why do brands do this?
Because material that was made without being ordered sounds different from material that was — and it can be the best proof that the product holds up on its own. It is also a cheap way to check who the product reaches before you build a paid campaign around it.
Where to order it or find tasks
Related terms
Words that come up in the same conversations. Each has its own definition in the glossary.
- Barter
- Settlement in a product or a service instead of money: a dinner, a treatment, an order from the shop. For smaller companies it is often the first way into a collaboration. Read more
- Unboxing
- A recording of a parcel being opened: the packaging, the first impression, the contents. The format shows the product at a natural moment and works well for launches. Read more
- Paid collaboration
- The creator is paid in money for producing and publishing the material. The terms — scope, deadline and amount — are settled before the start, not after delivery. Read more
- Brand ambassador
- A creator who works with one brand over a long time and regularly, rather than on a single campaign. The audience starts to associate the brand with a particular person, which works more strongly than a one-off mention. Read more
Frequently asked questions
Does a creator have to publish after receiving a parcel?
No. That is exactly the difference from barter: with seeding there is no commitment, and the brand accepts that up front.
Does material from seeding have to be labelled?
Yes, if the product was received from the brand free of charge. The audience has the right to know that the item was not bought.
How many parcels do you have to send for it to work?
It is usually counted in dozens, not in single items. Seeding is a model built on scale — with five send-outs the result is a matter of chance.
