Confidential talent management: the commitments and the NDA
MVP (Mega Volume Production, 十方众声) treats confidentiality as a basic term of every engagement, set in a mutual NDA that binds MVP first: clients’ identities, their work with MVP and their data are protected. The NDA is signed before the first meeting and stays in force after the work ends; internal controls separate files, limit access and bind staff, including after they leave.
Why doesn’t MVP publish a client list?
MVP doesn’t publish a client list because, for a public figure, who they work with is sensitive information in itself.
What kind of team someone is looking for, when they change partners and which deals they are negotiating can, if it gets out early, weaken their hand in a negotiation, draw unwanted attention to them and their family, or be blown up in public debate. With confidentiality in place, you can describe your real situation from the first meeting.
The principle binds MVP too. Many talent and influencer agencies publish a roster to show their reach; MVP gives up that kind of marketing and shows what it can do through its method, its process and company facts you can check. Confidentiality covers the people MVP manages, develops or operates, and their business with MVP; the brand clients of its cross-border brand marketing are not named either, with no brand names, case studies or screenshots. MVP also promotes concerts, under the MVPSHOW brand; concerts are public by nature, and information about them is published by the organizers in line with industry practice. Privacy risks you meet elsewhere, such as leaked personal data or accounts that impersonate you, are handled under Reputation & risk.
What should a confidential talent management agreement include?
MVP’s NDA includes the five commitments below; whether you are choosing a confidential talent agency or a private influencer manager, you can use them to check any firm’s confidentiality terms.
Client names stay private
MVP does not mention clients on its website, in press releases, job postings, social media or proposals to third parties, and never markets itself with “we worked with…”, during the work or after it.
Information is separated
Each client’s files are stored separately and served by a separate group; where two clients compete directly in the same niche, MVP tells you in advance, and no files or commercial information pass between the two.
Access is need-to-know
Only the people directly serving you can see your files. When information has to go to an outside party such as a brand or a law firm, MVP gets your consent first and requires the recipient to keep it confidential.
Staff are bound
MVP employees sign a confidentiality agreement when they join, and the obligation continues after they leave.
Data is secured and deleted
Your files are kept in systems with access controls. When the work ends, or when an application does not lead to working together, files are deleted or returned as agreed.
How can you vet a talent management firm that won’t name its clients?
You can vet MVP in three steps without seeing a single client name; what matters is that the company itself is open even when its clients are not named.
Check the company facts
Compare the two companies, headquarters address and official channels published on About MVP with the registries, to confirm the company exists and the details match: 北京十方众声传媒有限公司 by name in China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System,1 and Mega Volume Production Inc. in the federal registry, Corporations Canada.2
Meet under an NDA
Once the NDA is signed, MVP explains, without names, the kinds of problems it has handled, its methods and how its teams are put together, and gives a first view of your situation.
Start with one piece of work
Work with MVP on one service first, such as brand strategy or reputation protection, judge its method and team on real work, then decide whether to work together long term.
Notes
- 国家企业信用信息公示系统 (National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System)
- Federal corporation information - 1646126-3
What do Chinese and Canadian law say about personal information that crosses the border?
In one sentence: both countries allow personal information to leave the country, but each sets conditions so that someone stays responsible for it abroad. Why the contact form asks you to agree to a transfer outside mainland China is explained on Contact; the rules in each country are set out below.
China: the Personal Information Protection Law allows personal information to be provided abroad only if one of several legal conditions is met, such as a security assessment, a certification or a standard contract, and only after the individual is told who receives it and why and gives separate consent.3 A transfer genuinely needed to conclude or perform a contract to which the individual is a party is exempt from the assessment, the standard contract and the certification.4
Canada: PIPEDA does not prohibit sending personal information to an organization in another country for processing,5 but the organization that sends it stays responsible for it and uses contracts or other means to give it a comparable level of protection.6
Notes
- 《中华人民共和国个人信息保护法》 (Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China)
- 《促进和规范数据跨境流动规定》 (Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-Border Data Flows)
- Guidelines for Processing Personal Data Across Borders
- Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
How MVP works
Your files are kept in systems with access controls and are deleted or returned as agreed when the work ends or an application does not lead to working together; whether Chinese or Canadian privacy law applies to your personal information depends on which MVP company signs.
Frequently asked questions
Will MVP sign an NDA before we meet?
Yes. MVP signs an NDA with you before the first meeting, or earlier if you ask, when neither side has any obligation to work together. Even if you decide not to go ahead, the NDA still covers everything shared in that meeting.
Is MVP’s NDA one-way or mutual?
Mutual. Each side keeps confidential the information the other provides, and the agreement’s main purpose is to bind MVP: MVP keeps your identity, your files and what you do together confidential.
Does confidentiality end when the work ends?
No. After the work ends, MVP stays bound to keep confidential what it learned about you and deletes or returns the related files as agreed; staff remain bound after they leave, too.
When would MVP disclose that it works with someone?
Only in two cases: with your written consent, or when laws, regulations, courts or regulators lawfully require it. In the second case, MVP tells you in advance where the law allows, and provides only what is required.
Start the conversation under an NDA
The NDA is signed before the first meeting, or earlier if you ask; once it is signed, you can talk through your situation and how to work together with MVP in full.