Recess, creator engine

Ten creators, one number to protect

A first roster of ten creators for Recess hemp sparkling water: 7 videos each a week, judged on cost per 1,000 views.

creators live by week six: 10
creator videos a month at the full roster: 303
weeks from the first creator to the full roster: 5

Peach ginger on the desk, no big claims

A creator cracks a can of Recess balancing hemp + adaptogen drink at her desk, names the flavor and says the line "Calm Cool Collected". She talks about taste and the moment, nothing about effects.

Illustrative post

Summary

Creator engine summary
Roster	10 creators, two added a week	Live by week: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. Six weeks of ramp, with weak creators swapped before the next pair joins.
Who	Mocktail, coffee and desk-ritual creators	People who already film drinks at home: Zero Proof pours, Mood cans, powder sticks. No health coaches.
Production	7 videos per creator per week	303 creator videos a month at 10 creators, spread across five formats, each tested one variable at a time.
Pay	Base plus cap, three bands	Starter $300 base, $600 cap. Standard $500 base, $1,000 cap. Premium $800 base, $1,500 cap. All Proposed.
Bonus	$50 flat past 100,000 views	One bonus per creator per month. Most a creator can earn above base: Starter $300, Standard $500, Premium $700.
Compliance	Claims sheet and partnership tag	Creators quote Recess's own lines only. A video that breaks the sheet earns no bonus.
Category rule	Taste and ritual, never outcomes	Hemp and adaptogens: creators describe flavor and moment, never what a can does to a body.
Goal	$1 per 1,000 views target	The simulator baseline reads $5.74 at $10,050 for 1.8M views. Target is Proposed; the view inputs are Assumptions.
Report	One table every Monday	Creator, format, views, cost per 1,000 views against $1, claims check. Winners and cuts named.
Decision	Day ninety: keep, cut or scale	Judged on cost per 1,000 views against $1. Anything above gets cut or reshot, anything below gets more cans.

Part 1 of 15, continued

The program in numbers

Creators live at full roster: 10; Proposed
Videos per creator per week: 7; Proposed
Creator videos a month: 303; Calculated
Base pay per creator: $1,000; Proposed
Bonus past 100,000 views: $50; Proposed
Bonus at the top cap of the highest band: $700; Calculated
Program cost a month, bonuses included: $10,050; Calculated
Views a month at the assumptions: 1.8M; Calculated
Cost per 1,000 views: $5.74; Calculated
Target cost per 1,000 views: $1; Proposed

Part 2 of 15

History

Former COO of Tabs. I built its creator program to 100M monthly social impressions, and the paid ad engine alongside it. The numbers below come from videos that program produced.

At Tabs I built the creator program to 100M monthly social impressions and the paid ad engine beside it. This is the same playbook for hemp sparkling water: many experiments, losers killed early, one number to protect. I have not run this category, so Recess's own wording leads wherever I don't know the ground.

monthly social impressions at Tabs: 100M+
views on one reel: 17.7M
views on one video: 8M
views on one video: 6.5M

Part 3 of 15

Why now

41
Priced products in the public catalog
Mood drinks, Zero Proof mocktails, hemp cans and powders. A roster has plenty to shoot without repeating the same can.
Published
5
Flavors in the hemp line
Recess describes its hemp and adaptogen sparkling water in all five flavors. Five flavors give a taste-test format a built-in structure.
Published
$3.33
A per-can price a creator can point to
The site shows a per-can price of $3.33 on a bundle. A low per-can number gives a creator an easy line in a caption.
Published
$10
A "give $10, get $10" line on the site
The line reads "give $10, get $10". I'd confirm how it works before any creator mentions it.
Published

Part 4 of 15

Principles

One number to protect
Cost per 1,000 views, target $1 (Proposed). The simulator baseline is $5.74 at $10,050 for 1.8M views, so the gap is the work.
One variable per test
Same can, same hook, one change: the opener, the flavor or the setting. At 7 videos per creator per week there are enough reps to read.
Losers killed early
Two creators join each week until 10 are live. A creator sitting below the median is replaced before the next pair starts.
Claims sheet before the can
Every creator gets the sheet first. Three lines are copied from Recess's own wording; anything else gets asked in the channel.

Part 4 of 15, continued

One channel for everything

#briefs

Briefs, drafts, reviews and the weekly numbers

Illustrative

MayaMon 8:30 AM
This week: Peach Ginger and the Happy Hour Sampler. 7 videos each. Hook library is pinned. One variable per test: change only the opener.
TheoMon 9:15 AM
Can I say the Mood can helps me relax after work?
No. Say what the can says: "sparkling water infused with a calming blend of hemp & adaptogens in all 5 flavors". Taste and ritual are yours.
Report botAppMon 8:00 AM
Weekly report posted: cost per 1,000 views by creator and by format, claims check, creators below the median flagged for a swap.
MayaTue 11:00 AM
Draft back: the opener promises an effect. Re-shoot the first line with the flavor instead and keep the Cosmo can in frame.
Report botAppThu 4:45 PM
Priya's Pomegranate Hibiscus video passed 100,000 views, organic only. $50 flat logged. One bonus per creator per month.
MayaFri 10:20 AM
Check before posting: partnership tag on, can in frame, claims only from the sheet. Reply "clear" when done.
Clear. Posting at noon.

The messages illustrate the working channel, with invented people: briefs go out on Monday, claims questions get an answer the same day, and nothing posts without the check.

Part 5 of 15

Formats

Brief 01
Flavor taste test
“I ranked every Recess hemp flavor so you don't have to.”
One take at the kitchen counter. Pour, sip, one word per flavor. Keep the can label readable in the first second.
Brief 02
Mocktail swap
“Cosmo night, zero proof, still a real glass.”
Pour into a real glass with ice and garnish, then one close cut to the can. Call it an alcohol-free moment, nothing about effects.
Brief 03
Happy hour table
“Happy hour at my place: one sampler, no bar.”
Put the Happy Hour Sampler on the table with friends in frame. Open cans on camera, handheld, evening light, no claims.
Brief 04
Evening ritual
“Blackberry chai is my evening can now.”
Film at home after work: lamp on, can cracked, one sip, one line about flavor. Nothing about how it makes you feel.
Brief 05
Desk reset
“Pomegranate hibiscus on my desk, every afternoon.”
Over-the-shoulder shot, can beside the laptop, one sip, say the flavor and where you drink it. No claims at all.

Every product line in a video comes off the claims sheet word for word, for example “sparkling water infused with a calming blend of hemp & adaptogens in all 5 flavors”, “3-in-1 powder blend with magnesium, adaptogens & electrolytes, so you can add some calm to whatever you’re drinking”, “drinks and powders to help you feel calm cool collected despite the stressful world around you”. Product names are said as printed.

Part 6 of 15

Recruiting

Four sources in

Mocktail and zero-proof creators
Creators already posting alcohol-free drinks. The Zero Proof line gives them Cosmo, Paloma, Mojito and Spritz mocktails to pour on camera.
Everyday-ritual creators
Desk setups, coffee-shop mornings, evening routines. Mood drinks and powder sticks sit inside routines they already film.
People already posting the cans
Search tags and mentions for people who already show Recess on camera, then ask the brand which buyers to message first.
Affiliate or ambassador page
I did not find an affiliate or ambassador page on the site. Applications would run through direct outreach and a short form I'd build with your team.

Five filters, fewer each step

1Audience fit
Mostly adults who buy drinks online; no audience aimed mainly at minors.
2Real drinkers
Past posts show them drinking sparkling water or mocktails, not only holding cans.
3Clean claims record
No history of health-outcome promises in earlier sponsored posts.
4Hook range
Can open on taste, setting or a recipe, not one trick repeated.
5Output
Shows they can ship 7 videos per week without repeating the same shot.

Part 7 of 15

Who

Mocktail home bartender
Posts weekly drink builds with ice and garnish close-ups; the apple 'tini suits a glass-and-ice shot.
Likely product: Recess Zero Proof Apple 'Tini
Coffee-ritual creator
Films the morning coffee ritual; the espresso 'tini speaks to the same crowd after dinner.
Likely product: Recess Zero Proof Espresso 'Tini
Party host
Hosts friends and films the table; the sampler lets guests pick a flavor on camera.
Likely product: Recess Zero Proof Happy Hour Sampler
Sampler unboxer
Opens boxes and ranks flavors; one sampler gives a full ranking video in a single take.
Likely product: The Sampler
Desk-ritual creator
Films the desk and the afternoon routine; a peach ginger Mood can sits beside the laptop.
Likely product: Recess Mood Peach Ginger
Travel-bag creator
Films packing and carrying; stick packs go in a bag and into whatever they're drinking.
Likely product: Recess Mood Powder - Lemon Citrus Stick Pack - 10pk Box

Left off, every time

Always out: anyone who promises health results, anyone aimed mainly at minors, anyone who won't tag the partnership, and anyone who shows Zero Proof as a reason to skip real help. Hemp rule: taste and ritual only, never outcomes.

Part 8 of 15

Twenty

Home mocktail bartender who films ice, garnish and the pour
Dry-month creator who already posts alcohol-free nights
Iced-coffee creator looking for an afternoon swap
Desk-setup creator who films the workday can
Sampler unboxer who ranks flavors on camera
Party host who films the table, not the bar
Evening-routine creator with lamp light and a quiet kitchen
Travel creator who films the carry bag and powder sticks
Gym-bag creator whose bag always holds a drink and a powder stick
Recipe creator who builds spritz and mule drinks at home
Taste-review creator who scores flavors on a plain scale
Apartment-life creator who films small-space hosting
Gift-giver creator who films unboxing and the digital note
Reading-night creator with a can on the side table
Home-and-plants creator with bright, tidy kitchen shots
Weekend brunch creator who puts a spritz on the table
Remote-work creator who films the home-office reset
Comedy creator whose bits can hold a can in frame
Cooking creator who pairs the cans with dinner
Subscription-box creator who films the delivery and first pour

Part 9 of 15

Claims

Approved, word for word

Quoted exactly as the brand publishes it.

“sparkling water infused with a calming blend of hemp & adaptogens in all 5 flavors”
Opening line or caption on any hemp-can video
“3-in-1 powder blend with magnesium, adaptogens & electrolytes, so you can add some calm to whatever you’re drinking”
Powder videos, as voiceover or caption
“Recess balancing hemp + adaptogen drink”
Naming the hemp can on screen
“drinks and powders to help you feel calm cool collected despite the stressful world around you”
Said as Recess's own line, attributed to the brand
“a 3-in-1 powder blend with magnesium, adaptogens & electrolytes to calm the mind & brighten the day. 10 sticks per box”
Stick-pack box videos, attributed to Recess's own copy
“in the unlikely event you are not satisfied with Recess, please email us at hello@takearecess.com within 14 days of receiving your package and we will refund your purchase.”
Closing line in a caption near the shop link

Never said

Each one with the reason it stays out.

Never say it takes your stress away
A health outcome promise. Recess's own wording is about a feeling, not a result.
Never say it replaces medication or therapy
A medical promise. Creators are not in a position to make one.
Never say it works better than alcohol
A comparison the site does not make, and it frames the Zero Proof line as a lecture.
Never say it makes you sleep
A health outcome promise the site's wording does not support.
Never say it is safe for any drug test
A legal and testing promise nobody on the roster can back.
Never say it is approved by doctors
An endorsement claim with no source in Recess's wording.
Never say how many cans are right for you
Dosage advice. A creator describes a moment, not an amount.

To confirm with the brand

Held until someone on the brand side signs off.

free shipping, all the time
The shipping page names states that are excluded, so I'd confirm the exact caption before creators use it.
give $10, get $10
I don't yet know the terms, so no creator mentions it until Recess confirms how it works.

Part 10 of 15

Pay

Starter
$300–600
a month, by band
For creators with a small but real audience; two formats tested before more cans ship.
Bonus at the cap: $300
Standard
$500–1,000
a month, by band
For creators already near the median; the full seven-a-week rhythm across all five formats.
Bonus at the cap: $500
Premium
$800–1,500
a month, by band
For creators whose breakouts repeat; first call on new flavors and the sampler tests.
Bonus at the cap: $700

Under 100,000 views
$0
The base pay covers the work.
100,000 views
+$50 flat
Whatever the band.
1,000,000 views
Top-up to your cap
Bonus = band cap − base pay.

One bonus per creator per month: $50 flat, even if several videos pass 100,000 views.
The bonus is paid per video: the single video that passes 100,000 views, not the creator's average.
Organic views only: boosted or paid views never count toward the 100,000.
No bonus on a video that broke the claims sheet or the category rule, even above 100,000 views.

Starter: $600 cap − $300 fee = $300 bonus; Standard: $1,000 cap − $500 fee = $500 bonus; Premium: $1,500 cap − $800 fee = $700 bonus.

The bonus pays for reach after the work is done, never instead of it. One bonus per creator per calendar month keeps it an incentive and keeps the program cost predictable.

Part 11 of 15

Simulator

Baseline: $10,050 for 1.8M views is $5.74 per 1,000 against a $1 target. It takes 4.2% of videos going viral, or a median of 21,711 views.

Program facts

Recess creator engine, per month

Monthly cost: $10,050
Base pay: $10,000
Est. bonuses: $50
Videos / month: 303
Est. views / month: 1.8M
Cost per 1,000 views: $5.74

Above the $1 target at these inputs.

To hit $1, the roster needs about 10.1M views a month. That means about 4.2% of videos going viral, or a median near 22K views per video. That is why the day-90 gate exists: keep the accounts that clear it, replace the rest.

Proposed, not measured. Views = videos × median, breakouts at 10× the median, viral at 750K. Bonus: +$50 for a viral video, one per creator per month.

Part 11 of 15, continued

What moves the result

Cost per 1,000 views by median views per video
If the median is	Views / month	Monthly cost	Cost / 1K	Hits target
750	1.4M	$10,050	$6.96	No
1,500	1.8M	$10,050	$5.74	No
3,000	2.4M	$10,050	$4.24	No

Cost per 1,000 views by share of viral videos
If the viral share is	Views / month	Monthly cost	Cost / 1K	Hits target
0.3%	1.2M	$10,000	$8.44	No
0.5%	1.8M	$10,050	$5.74	No
1%	2.9M	$10,150	$3.52	No

The math. Videos a month = 10 creators × 7 a week × 52 ÷ 12 = 303. Views per video = (1 − 4% − 0.5%) × 1,500 + 4% × 10 × 1,500 + 0.5% × 750,000 = 5,782.5; 303 videos × 5,782.5 = 1.8M views a month. Cost = 10 × $1,000 = $10,000 base + 1 bonus × $50 = $10,050. Cost per 1,000 views = $10,050 ÷ 1.8M × 1,000 = $5.74 against a $1.00 target. To hit the target, either 4.2% of videos go viral or the median video reaches 21,711 views, other inputs held.

Move the sliders and the label recalculates. The result is only as good as the guesses behind it, so the median views, the share of breakouts and the share of viral videos are marked as Assumptions until the first month of posts replaces them.

Part 12 of 15

Phases

Creators live by week (proposed): 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10

0Wk 1
2Wk 2
4Wk 3
6Wk 4
8Wk 5
10Wk 6

Creator ramp by week
Item	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6
Creators live	0	2	4	6	8	10
Videos a week	0	14	28	42	56	70
Base pay a month	$0	$2,000	$4,000	$6,000	$8,000	$10,000

Warm-up
Sheet, hooks, tracking
Claims sheet, hook library and tracking links built. Creators live: 0. The first two get briefs once the sheet is clear.
Month one
Ramp to ten
Two creators a week up to 10, over six weeks. Each posts 7 videos a week; weak creators are swapped before the next pair joins.
Month two
Full roster, one variable
All 10 live, 303 creator videos a month. The hook library is pruned to what worked, one variable per test.
Month three
Winners to the shelf
Winning hooks move onto the Zero Proof and Mood lines they fit. The $50 viral bonus shows up in the simulator.
Day ninety
Keep, cut or scale
Judged on cost per 1,000 views against the $1 target. The simulator baseline reads $5.74, so the first review is honest.
Ceiling
Monthly cap on the roster
All 10 creators at the top cap, bonuses excluded, comes to $15,000 (Proposed). Nothing above it without a new decision.

$15,000 Monthly ceiling, all 10 creators at the top cap, bonuses excluded Proposed

The roster grows by two creators a week, so hook performance can be read week over week instead of by anecdote.

Part 13 of 15

Report

Every Monday you get one table: each creator, their format, views, cost per 1,000 views against $1, and a claims check. Winners named, cuts named.

Creator engine, last 4 weeks

Target $1 per 1,000 organic views Illustrative

Creators reporting: 5
Posts last week: 32
Avg cost per 1,000 views: $8.94
Bonuses owed: $0
Keep / Watch / Replace: 1 / 1 / 3

Per-creator results, last four weeks, sorted by cost per 1,000 views
Creator	Band	Format	Posts	Median	Best	Cost / 1K	Bonus	Flags	Call
Creator A	Starter	Flavor taste test	7	2.1K	25K	$3.37	$0	None	Keep
Creator B	Standard	Mocktail swap	7	1.4K	8.4K	$9.83	$0	Claim check	Replace
Creator C	Premium	Happy hour table	6	1.8K	54K	$7.94	$0	None	Watch
Creator D	Starter	Evening ritual	5	900	3.6K	$12.99	$0	Over cap?	Replace
Creator E	Standard	Desk reset	7	1.2K	11K	$10.59	$0	Release missing	Replace
All creators	not applicable	not applicable	32	1.5K	54K	$8.94	$0	not applicable	not applicable

Illustrative rows with invented creators, coherent with the pay bands above. Keep means the cost per 1,000 views is at or under the program average, Watch is up to half again over it, and Replace is anything higher.

Part 14 of 15

Exit

From organic to paid

Post organic first
Every video goes live on the creator's own account with the partnership tag and the claims sheet applied.
Read the number
A video that beats $1 per 1,000 views, or passes 100,000, goes on the shortlist. Everything else stays organic.
Clear the winner
Ask the creator and check the claims sheet again. A video that broke the category rule never moves up.
Run it as paid
The shortlist is tested as paid against the same hook with one variable changed. Losers are killed early.

From the video to the checkout

Send hemp-can videos to the shop page, with The Sampler at $29.99 as the first click.
Send Zero Proof videos to the Zero Proof Sampler at $26.99, or the Happy Hour Sampler at $26.99.
Use free shipping to most continental US addresses, with the excluded states kept in the caption.
Point repeat buyers to subscribe & save, with delivery every 2 weeks, 4 weeks or 8 weeks.
Point shops and cafés to the wholesale portal, which offers free shipping on new orders.

Part 15 of 15

Want to see the first briefs?

Grab a time here

Priced products in the public catalog

Flavors in the hemp line

A per-can price a creator can point to

A "give $10, get $10" line on the site

One number to protect

One variable per test

Losers killed early

Claims sheet before the can

Flavor taste test

Mocktail swap

Happy hour table

Evening ritual

Desk reset

Four sources in

Five filters, fewer each step

Mocktail home bartender

Coffee-ritual creator

Party host

Sampler unboxer

Desk-ritual creator

Travel-bag creator

Left off, every time

Approved, word for word

Never said

To confirm with the brand

Starter

Standard

Premium

Sheet, hooks, tracking

Ramp to ten

Full roster, one variable

Winners to the shelf

Keep, cut or scale

Monthly cap on the roster

From organic to paid

From the video to the checkout

Hemp, adaptogens and Zero Proof

Describe taste, not outcomes

Quote the sheet or say nothing

Tag the partnership

Zero Proof stays alcohol-free

No audience aimed at minors

Check platform rules before paid

Want to see the first briefs?