What should I ask a provider about ownership, feedback, and permission to show prospective employers marketing work created for live clients?
Ask who owns the copyright and other intellectual-property rights in work produced for live clients, and whether you may reuse it in a portfolio, showreel, website, interviews, or applications. Clarify what feedback you will receive, who gives it, how work is assessed, whether client approval or confidentiality rules apply, and whether permission continues after the course ends.
Key points
- Ask whether ownership belongs to you, the provider, the client, or is shared, and whether you can use the work commercially or non-commercially.
- Check whether client names, logos, data, campaign results, and unpublished materials may be shown, or must be removed or anonymised.
- Ask how consent is recorded, whether a non-disclosure agreement applies, and whether you can retain editable files and finished outputs.
- Clarify whether feedback is formative, assessed, written or verbal, and whether clients as well as tutors contribute to it.
Things to check
- Policies can differ by provider, course, client contract, and country, so request the relevant written policy or agreement before participating.
- Client confidentiality and third-party rights may restrict portfolio use even where you contributed to the work.