Deal Seeding

What it is

A seed is a deal Zooly proposes before either side has asked for one. Zooly picks a brand and a talent that look right for each other, writes the shape of a small deal, suggests a price, and asks both sides one at a time.

Nobody is introduced until both have said yes. The talent is always asked first, because it is their face or voice on the line.

What the proposal contains

Every seed says the same five things:

• The two sides — the brand and the talent.
• What the talent does — one line, such as "Makes and posts one short video with the product".
• The mechanic — how it is paid and how long it runs, such as "Flat fee per video, paid on delivery".
• A suggested price.
• Why it fits — up to three short reasons from matching.

The deal comes in one of six shapes:

• A podcast sponsorship — a 60-second sponsor read in one episode. Flat fee, paid on delivery.
• A photo post — one photo featuring the product, posted by the talent. Flat fee, paid on delivery.
• A photo license — the brand uses one photo of the talent in its ads. Flat fee, three months, organic and paid social.
• A video post — one short video with the product, posted by the talent. Flat fee, paid on delivery.
• A video license — the brand uses one short video of the talent in its ads. Flat fee, three months, organic and paid social.
• A voice ad — a 30-second audio ad in the talent's own voice. Flat fee, three months of use.

The suggested price is the brief's budget when the brand gave one, otherwise the talent's own minimum. When neither exists, the seed has no price and a team member sets one before anyone is asked.

How a seed is chosen

Seeds come from matching. Given a brief, Zooly asks for more candidates than it needs, then keeps the ones that pass:

• No hard rule broken — an exclusive, a competitor conflict, or a red line.
• Not already in an open deal.
• Not declined in the last 90 days — by either side or by the team, on a deal or on an earlier seed.
• No seed already being worked for the same pair. A pair can only have one live seed at a time, even when two batches are made at once.
• Not snoozed — someone said "not now" and the 30 days are not up.
• A match of at least 40 out of 100.

The ones that pass keep matching's order. Five are proposed by default, and the team can ask for up to 25. Without a brief, the brand's own category stands in, so a brand with nothing live can still get seeds.

The order: talent first, brand second

A seed moves through a short, fixed order:

1. Proposed. Zooly has written it; nobody has been asked.
2. Approved. A team member approves it, or automation does on a brand set up to run that way.
3. Talent asked.
4. Talent said yes. Only now is the brand asked.
5. Brand said yes.
6. Introduced. Zooly opens the deal.

A no from either side ends the seed there. "Not now" leaves the pair alone for 30 days.

How the ask arrives

An ask goes out by email, and by SMS when there is a phone that agreed to SMS. It goes to the account and to whoever manages it, such as the talent's agent or agency. Both carry a private link to one page. The SMS also carries a short reply code.

A brand or talent nobody has claimed yet can be seeded too, including one a God View simulation added. The ask is not sent to them. It waits on the Outreach page for an admin, who can approve one message with a link to claim the account and reply, or skip it.

The page says "A deal idea from Zooly", names both sides, and shows what the talent would do, the mechanic, the suggested price, and up to three reasons why it fits. Then three choices, Yes, No and Not now, and a Send my answer button. The email's Yes, No and Not now links open the same page with that choice already picked.

The talent's page says plainly that nothing happens without their yes, that the brand is asked only after it, and that they are introduced only if the brand says yes too.

The SMS is shorter: the idea, one reason, the suggested price, and the reply words — YES, NO, or LATER, each with the code, plus the link. It ends with the usual line for stopping SMS texts.

Opening the link records nothing. The answer is saved only when Send my answer is pressed, so a mail scanner cannot answer for someone.

Yes, no, not now

• Yes, from the talent. The brand is asked next: straight away on semi and automatic, or after a team member taps Ask brand on manual.
• Yes, from the brand. Zooly introduces the two sides and opens the deal, at every level.
• No. A short reason list appears, with room for a note. The reason is saved as a category the team can count, and the seed closes. In an SMS, words after the code are read into a category too ("NO ... too low" becomes a price reason).
• Not now. The seed closes and the pair is left alone for 30 days.

A link that was already answered says so, and a second click changes nothing. Only an SMS with a reply word and the code of a waiting ask, sent from the phone that was asked, is treated as an answer; anything else carries on to the normal chat.

Should we use a chat or yes / no deterministic answer when approaching a user with a deal option

The ask above only reaches an account that already exists, and it only collects Yes, No, or Not now.

• Someone who is not on Zooly can still be approached. That part is settled. An account is created for them first, with no owner, already holding what is known about them. A seed can include that account; the ask waits for an admin, who approves one message with a link to claim it. See Prospect pipeline.
• They may not know Zooly. The approach has to answer plain questions: who are you, what do you want, what is this, and how does it work.
• What they say is worth more than yes or no. A conversation shows their doubts and their conditions. "Not under $10,000" is their minimum, and once they claim the account that fact belongs on it.
• A page with three links is not how Zooly works. The rest of the product is an agent a person can talk to. A fixed page cannot explain itself or keep what the person said.
• Chat or yes / no is still open. Whether this ask becomes that conversation still needs a confirmation. The reason to expect a chat is the three points above. Claiming an account already opens a conversation with the agent, and so does the deal room after both sides say yes.

Introducing opens the deal

When the brand says yes, Zooly opens the deal for the pair. The match score goes onto the deal record. A seed opens one deal only: pressing Introduce twice does not open a second one, and if the deal cannot be opened the seed goes back to waiting for Introduce. When sending is on, both sides also get a short email saying they both said yes and that the team will set up the deal room next.

From there the deal follows the normal path: an offer, approval, payment, delivery. See Deal record.

Sending is off by default

Approving a seed records the approval, but no email or SMS leaves until sending is switched on for the feature. The page says so at the top while it is off, and a seed that could not be sent stays where it was, with a note saying why.

A team member approves each seed by default. A brand, or the whole workspace, can be set to let automation approve strong seeds within a daily cap (ten a day by default). Strong means a match at or above the automatic bar (70 by default), confidence of at least 50, a price set, and not an exploration pick. A seed a simulated reader says to drop is never sent automatically, however high its score; a seed the readers did not score can still be approved automatically. See Automation and Outside judge.

What the team sees on the Seeds page

The Seeds page lists seeds most recently changed first, with filters for every state and a count on each. Each number and tag carries a ? that explains what it means. Each row shows:

• Both sides — the talent and the brand, and what the talent would do.
• The state — a colored tag, from proposed through introduced, plus the closing states.
• The numbers — match, brand wants, talent wants, confidence.
• The price and where it came from: the brief's budget, the talent's minimum, the pricing engine, or the team.
• The shape and origin — the deal shape and whether the pair came from a brief or the brand's own category, plus a mark when it is a stretch try that is never approved automatically.
• The reasons, with any note to check a fact in amber.
• The outside readers — the two simulated readers' scores, verdicts, reasons, and fixes.
• The no, when there is one — who said no and their words.
• The opened deal, when there is one — the deal that started after both sides said yes.
• The timeline — every step with the time, who did it, and the note left with it.

From the row the team can approve, reject (with a reason if there is one), edit the price (only before anyone is asked), ask the talent, ask the brand, introduce, or close. A box at the top makes a new batch for a brand: its account, an optional brief, the deal type, a budget, and how many seeds.

Stale seeds close in one action: an ask nobody answered for 7 days, or a seed nobody touched for 14 days. An unanswered ask counts as "no response".

What it does not do

• It does not negotiate. The suggested price is a starting point; the deal's own offer does the haggling.
• It does not promise a deal. Both yeses open the deal; they do not sign or pay for anything.
• It does not chase. A seed is asked once. Nothing is resent; a seed nobody answers is closed instead.
• It does not use protected traits. Matching never scores on them, and a seed only repeats matching's reasons.

What comes next

• The suggested price coming from the pricing engine, so a seed starts closer to the number the offer will use.

Related Documentation

• Deal seed table — every field a seed record holds, with its type and meaning
• Brief discovery — how the talent on a seed were found
• Outside judge — the two simulated readers that check a seed
• Automation — the manual, semi, and automatic levels
• Decline reasons — the categories a no is saved under
• Deal record — the story of each deal after both sides say yes