Featured on SuperbCrew Editorial:

Below is our recent interview with Bruno Gralpois, the co-founder of Agency Mania Solutions, a premier service and technology firm specializing in helping companies realize the transformational value of managed partnerships.

— Read the published SuperbCrew interview —

Bruno is the author of best-seller “Agency Mania,”  the former chair of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Client/Agency Committee, and a faculty member of the ANA School of Marketing.

April 5, 2021

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Agency Mania Solutions?

A: We are the industry’s leading agency management software provider, trusted by some of the largest brands in the world (i.e. IBM, GSK, Dell, WarnerMedia, Toyota, Bank of America, and more) looking to realize the transformational value of effectively managed and streamlined partnerships. We provide automated, SaaS-based solutions designed to improve the ability of brand advertisers to effectively manage their valuable agency relationships – from choosing the right agency, to accurately briefing agencies and handling SOWs, effectively managing resources and related financials, and much more. The below solutions suite is what we refer to as Partnership Lifecycle Management Solutions.

Q: You’ve recently announced the addition of ContractDeliver™ to your existing suite of SaaS-based agency management solutions; can you tell us more?

A: ContractDeliver is a self-service solution that provides marketing and procurement teams with easy, detailed, and up-to-date information about contracts from advertising and marketing agencies as well as licensed assets, relevant suppliers and third-party resources. This is a custom solution, designed specific to our clients’ needs, recognizing that the data contained within the tool is highly confidential. We listened to our clients and heard the persistent challenge for people in their organization to access contracts, licensing agreements in a timely manner so they can leverage those for their marketing programs and be in full compliance. We are always looking for new, innovative ways to address challenges clients are facing. This is how this new solution focused on contracts and licensing agreements came to life.

Q: Who is your ideal client and why?

A: We serve some of the largest brands in the world, in regards to complex agency ecosystems and global spend. Our software solutions are needed across industries (pharma/bio-tech, technology, financial institutions, automobile, media, consumer packaged goods, etc.), and we support our clients by empowering their marketing organization to manage their relationships and work with their agencies more effectively. Our tools are used daily by marketers, sourcing and procurement professionals, and by the vast number of agency partners they rely on to go to market. Although our tools are used by a wide variety of stakeholders in sourcing, marketing, or suppliers, the individuals that have ownership and direct oversight of our tools vary across the function areas of agency relations/management, marketing operations, sourcing, or marketing procurement. Specifically, these members own the responsibility of managing marketing and advertising partnerships. Agencies are also heavy users of our toolset as they supply their clients with vast amount of data and reports on a regular basis and we make it easier for them to do so.

Q: What are the main benefits of using ContractDeliver?

A: Finding actionable information about a particular contract or licensed asset (such as a celebrity or song) is often a daunting task faced by marketing and procurement professionals today and their agency partners. They want to find out what is included in the contract, when it expires, and specific terms that are essential to being in full compliance. Primary benefits of ContractDeliver include:

• Anywhere access to your company’s contracts and licensing agreements. This means no more time wasted or frustrated marketing teams or agencies looking for contract details and associated extensions and addendums. A single destination with convenient search features means everyone finds what they are looking for in a timely manner.
• Convenient search functionality for quicker and better results. Each agreement or licensed asset can be searched based on key attributes that are determined based on our clients’ needs. Common data attributes include (but are not limited to) agreement type (primary, extension, addendum), status (pending/active/expired), agency name, asset type/name, region/market, brand or business unit, brand/marketing contacts, or start/end dates.
• Easily track key information about the agreement. Each agreement may contain important and useful information users want to track, such as when the agreement expires so they can be notified prior. Once a draft of that information is created, it can then be published for everyone to see and access.
• Streamlined workflow for drafting, reviewing, and approving new agreements. A simplified workflow allows users to draft a new agreement, adding details such as services included, and other fields such as country, team, or values (such as budgets, quotes, savings, and more). A convenient file repository feature allows easy access to relevant documents.

Q: What can we expect from Agency Mania Solutions in the next 6 months? What are your plans?

A: Our plan for the near future is to grow this category by providing access to this platform to brands that are still relying on manual, labor-intensive processes to manage their partnerships with agencies and marketing suppliers. We are taking a leadership position in this category by introducing new capabilities and expanding the use of our entire platform in a fully integrated but seamless way inside the largest brands in the world. Our long-term plans are to automate, simplify, and streamline how companies engage and collaborate with their advertising and marketing agencies and other key suppliers so they can focus on building stronger brands and growing their business.

Q: What makes your organization unique and different in the marketplace?

A: As a leading cloud-based platform provider in agency and supplier management, we are located in Seattle, the birthplace of cloud-based software and in the backyard of giants Microsoft and Amazon. We customize solutions to focus on what clients need most to support their business. We have unmatched client/agency experience.

Bruno Gralpois is an Author/Speaker, Thought-provocateur, Client/Agency Guru, Entrepreneur, Innovator

April 5, 2021