title: "EditorBunny × Locale — UGC Creator Program" type: "Internal Brief" author: "Alton Wells" date: "2026-04-16" status: "Draft for internal review"

EditorBunny × Locale — UGC Creator Program

Internal Brief · Prepared by Alton Wells · April 16, 2026 · Draft for internal review

1. Program Overview

This brief scopes EditorBunny's proposed UGC Creator Program for Locale, a California-based meal delivery business. The program is designed to drive efficient customer acquisition in Locale's existing service regions by paying micro-creators to produce and post content about Locale on their own channels, while EditorBunny operates the program end-to-end.

Core thesis: Locale's current CAC is ~$150. Organic/UGC-driven CAC should target ~$50 (one-third of current). A well-run UGC program that delivers attributable customers at sub-$100 CAC is a clear win for Locale and justifies a performance-tied retainer for EditorBunny.

2. Strategic Constraints

• Geographic scope: Locale operates only in California. All sourced creators must have audiences concentrated in Locale's actual service regions. Creators based in or posting to hyper-local California markets are strongly preferred over creators with globally distributed audiences.
• Attribution clarity: EditorBunny will not have direct access to Locale's analytics stack (PostHog, internal dashboards). Every creator must be issued a unique discount code and UTM link so conversions can be cleanly attributed and reported back by Ryan on a weekly or monthly cadence.
• Attribution model: Agree on attribution model with Ryan up front — last-touch is preferred, but the program's performance tiers must be keyed to whichever model Locale uses internally.
• Brand ownership: Creators must post on their own channels (not just hand over raw footage). The whole point is paying for their audience, not just their production. Locale double-posts to its own channels as a secondary lift.

3. Creator Sourcing

Three sourcing channels, in priority order:

1. Direct TikTok outreach — cold outreach to micro-creators (fitness, lifestyle, food) based in California. Target rate: $15/video, negotiable up to$25–50. Creators post on their page and grant usage rights to Locale. Hardest to close but highest ROI per creator.
2. Existing Locale customers — mine TikTok and Instagram for users already posting organic content tagging Locale. These are warmest leads — they already use and like the product. Several examples already exist on TikTok (e.g., creators with 5K–36K followers posting organic Locale content).
3. Fiverr / Upwork UGC creators — lowest-friction fallback. Produces content for Locale's owned channels only (no creator audience). Used to supplement when direct outreach is slow.

4. Program Mechanics

• Intake funnel: Build a dedicated /creator-program page on Locale's website. Outreach DMs point creators to this page, which includes a short application form (who they are, audience, location, content style, whether they want to self-edit or submit raw footage). Hosting the page on Locale's own domain adds brand legitimacy to cold outreach.
• Editing options: Creators choose at intake: (a) submit raw footage, EditorBunny edits, creator posts — pays less; or (b) self-edit and post — pays more.
• Approval flow: Ryan approves the program framework, style guide, and initial creator slate. After that, EditorBunny operates autonomously — scripts, edits, and posts do not require per-asset sign-off.
• Tracking: Every creator gets a unique discount code + UTM link. Creator code typically drives a first-order discount for their audience, which doubles as the attribution key.
• Retargeting: Flag to Ryan that UGC rarely converts on first impression. Locale should be running paid retargeting against traffic driven by creator content to close the loop. A second and third impression through paid is typically what converts.

5. Roadmap

Short-Term (Month 1 — Kickoff May 1)

Goal: prove the model works with a small initial cohort. Establish operations, attribution, and baseline performance.

• Finalize contract terms, pricing tiers, and deliverable expectations with Ryan.
• Build and launch /creator-program intake page on Locale's site.
• Source, vet, and sign first 10 creators — California-based, audience skewed local.
• Stand up unique discount codes + UTM links per creator, coordinated with Ryan.
• Define reporting cadence with Ryan (weekly or bi-weekly conversion data pull).
• Produce first round of scripts and content; begin posting.
• Target: establish baseline CAC, conversion rate per creator, and content output rhythm.

Medium-Term (Months 2–4)

Goal: scale creator volume, hit the first performance tier, and validate the program as a durable acquisition channel.

• Scale to 30–50 active creators in rotation.
• Layer in 1–2 larger/premier creators as anchor voices (see Stretch Program B).
• Launch first UGC Creator Contest (see Stretch Program A) to spike awareness and source organic creators.
• Identify top-performing creator archetypes (niche, format, region) and bias new outreach toward lookalikes.
• Target: 67+ attributable customers/month triggering Tier 1 retainer ($10K/month).
• Begin A/B testing content formats — recipe-style, day-in-the-life, unboxing, comparison vs. competitors.

Long-Term (Months 5–12)

Goal: make UGC Locale's most efficient acquisition channel, and expand the program's surface area to support Locale's eventual geographic expansion.

• 100+ active creators across California regions; coverage in every service area.
• Hit Tier 2 performance ($15K/month retainer) and work toward Tier 3 ($20K/month).
• Launch Premium Creator Program (see Stretch Program B) with 2–3 creators in the 100K+ follower range on annual contracts.
• Build a creator CRM / ongoing relationship program — residuals, loyalty tiers, first access to new Locale products.
• Position UGC program to scale with Locale's next-region expansion — sourcing pipeline ready to activate in new markets the day Locale turns them on.
• Establish UGC as feeding a meaningful share of total new customers, with CAC <$50 on the program-driven cohort.

6. Performance-Tied Retainer Structure

Proposed contract structure ties EditorBunny's monthly retainer to attributable customers delivered. This aligns incentives with Locale's growth mode and gives Ryan clear ROI math.

Pitch framing: At 200 customers/month and a $20K retainer, Locale pays$100/customer for acquisition — a full $50 below their current CAC — while EditorBunny takes on all program risk and operations. Ryan is in growth mode; this is a structure he can justify.

7. Stretch Programs

A. UGC Creator Contest

A time-boxed creative marketing contest that opens submissions to anyone (customers, micro-creators, prospects). Contestants submit original Locale content; top entries win cash prizes, free meal plans, and/or induction into the paid Creator Program.

• Why it works: generates a burst of organic content at a fraction of the per-asset cost, surfaces natural creators we wouldn't find through outreach, and produces a library of usage-rights content for Locale's owned channels.
• When to run: Month 2–3, once the core program is stable and we have a clear style guide to share with entrants.
• Budget envelope: $5K–$10K total prize pool, one-time, separate from monthly retainer.
• Success metric: 50+ qualifying submissions, 5+ inductees into the paid program, measurable spike in tagged Locale content on TikTok/Instagram during contest window.

B. Premium Creator Program (100K+ followers)

A separate tier for 1–3 anchor creators with 100K+ follower audiences. These aren't pay-per-video micros — they're sponsored partners on quarterly or annual deals who lend significant brand lift and serve as social proof for smaller creators joining the main program.

• Rationale: Comfort, a reference case in this category, built its scale by going deep on UGC. Anchor creators accelerate that flywheel and give the program credibility when recruiting new micros.
• Deal structure: flat quarterly sponsorship + performance bonus tied to code redemption. Content slate pre-agreed (e.g., 4–6 pieces/quarter across formats).
• Sourcing: California-based fitness, food, or lifestyle creators with demonstrated audience engagement in Locale's regions. Avoid creators whose audience is globally distributed.
• Launch window: Month 4+, after baseline program performance is proven and budget case is clear to Ryan.

C. Customer-to-Creator Pipeline

A standing process that identifies Locale customers who are already posting organic content about the product and fast-tracks them into the paid program. These are the highest-converting creators in the pipeline because they are already authentic users.

• Mechanism: monthly social listening sweep (TikTok + Instagram mentions, tags, geotags in CA) surfaces customer-creators. EditorBunny reaches out with a streamlined onboarding offer.
• Edge: zero cold-outreach friction, built-in authenticity, content tends to outperform paid-sourced creators per dollar spent.

D. Regional Ambassador Program

A future-state program tied to Locale's geographic expansion. Each time Locale opens a new California region, pre-sign 3–5 hyper-local ambassadors in that region as a launch wedge — content goes live the week of expansion and accelerates early adoption.

• Why it matters: Locale's biggest strategic constraint is expanding distribution. A creator pipeline that activates in lockstep with expansion turns UGC into a go-to-market weapon, not just a CAC channel.

8. Open Items & Decisions Needed

• Confirm Locale's exact service regions to scope geographic targeting (shop.locale site doesn't publish this clearly — need list from Ryan).
• Confirm attribution model Ryan will use to score performance tiers (first-touch vs. last-touch vs. multi-touch).
• Agreement on who owns the /creator-program page — hosted on Locale's domain (preferred) or standalone.
• Meal budget allocation for creator seeding — number of comped meals/month available for Creator Program use.
• Approval on performance tier structure and contract kickoff date (target: May 1).
• Reporting cadence and format for conversion data from Ryan.

Next Step

Package the Month 1 scope, performance tier structure, and proposed kickoff date into a one-page proposal for Ryan. Target delivery: end of this week. Kickoff: May 1.