Deliverables: content, brand approval and publishing

Each deliverable on a deal shows where it stands, in one line under its title: Script → Content → Brand review → Published. A green check is done, an amber mark needs your attention (changes requested, a cloud file to copy in, a failed publication), and the rest is still to do. Hover a step to read its detail.

Add the content

On the deliverable's row menu choose Add the content, then where it is:

• This device: the file goes straight into Pointerly's private storage. Videos and photos can be up to 1 GB.
• Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive: Pointerly keeps a link to the file and its name, type and size. It doesn't make a copy.

Adding a newer cut later replaces the content: the newest file is the one that counts. Every file stays in the deal's Files tab.

Copy a cloud file into Pointerly

To show a Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive file to the brand, it has to be in Pointerly first. Choose Copy into Pointerly on the deliverable's menu. Pointerly reads the file through its share link and never uses your cloud account. If the file isn't shared with "anyone with the link", you'll be told how to fix it, or you can upload it from your device instead. You can copy files up to 500 MB this way.

Let the brand approve it

Choose Send the content for brand review on the deliverable's menu. It works like the script review: the brand gets a private link, with no account needed. They watch the video (or see the photo), comment, and can point at a moment with Comment at this moment. Then they ask for changes or approve it.

• The video plays from a link that expires after a few minutes and is renewed each time the page opens. The brand never sees a public file address, and never your drive.
• When you add a new cut, the Review tab offers Share version 2. The brand sees it on the same link, and an approval of the old cut no longer counts.
• Approval belongs to the exact file the brand approved.

Publish it

With Content Studio

Choose Publish with Content Studio… and pick:

1. Platform: Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. It's preselected from the deliverable's platform.
2. Publish as: Reel or Story, Short or video, depending on the platform.
3. Account: one of your connected accounts.
4. Caption: if the deliverable has a filmed script for that platform, the caption (and the YouTube title and tags) come from the script's publish kit. Otherwise, write it here, including the disclosure the brand asked for.
5. Paid partnership: a brand deal is sponsored content, so this is always required. On TikTok, the branded-content setting goes out with the video. Instagram and YouTube can't set it through their API, so you confirm that you'll turn it on in the app right after it publishes.
6. Set up DM automation (Instagram only, optional): people who comment a keyword on the post get the product's link by DM. If the deliverable has a script with a "comment KEYWORD" call to action, its keyword and product link are used. Otherwise the brief product's tracked link is used, and you type the keyword. Only one automation can answer the comments on a post. If another one is already set for your next post, you choose whether to pause it. If the automation can't be set up, the post still goes out and you're told why.
7. When: now, or at a scheduled time.

When it goes live, the post's link comes back to the deliverable. The deliverable becomes Published, and the deal's timeline says "Published on Instagram". Scheduled posts update the deliverable when they go out; open the deal to refresh it. If a platform refuses the post, the deliverable shows why, and you can fix it in Content Studio.

Publishing uses Content Studio, so its plan, permissions, platform rules and daily quotas apply. YouTube uploads share a daily quota, so a publication can wait until the next day.

Mark as published

Already posted it yourself? Choose Mark as published…, paste the post's link and pick where it went. Pointerly doesn't post anything; the deliverable, timeline and history update the same way.

The checks before anything goes out

• Contract: publishing is deliverable work. Without a contract signed by both parties, you're asked to confirm continuing without one, and that's recorded in the deal's History.
• Brand approval: if the brand hasn't approved this content, you're warned and can publish anyway. The deliverable and the history record that it went out without approval.
• Settings → Collaborations → Deliverables → Ask for the brand's approval before publishing: with this on, agents never publish content the brand hasn't approved.

When everything is published

Once every deliverable of a deal that's In production is published, Pointerly suggests Move to Delivered. It never moves the deal for you.

Agents

An agent with the Read the deliverables tool can tell you where each deliverable stands. With Publish a deliverable turned on (it's off by default), the agent can propose publishing one. The proposal always waits for your approval; it's never automatic. Approving it also confirms you'll turn on the paid-partnership label. Agents are refused without a contract signed by both parties, and without the brand's approval when your settings ask for it.