Advertising Agency Management Software
Run an ad shop that blends brand campaigns, performance work, and media buying under one roof. Track creative hours separately from media spend, route approvals through multi-stakeholder client teams, and bill retainers and projects without breaking out a spreadsheet.
TL;DR for ad agency owners
- Built for 5-30 person hybrid digital/traditional ad shops mixing retainers with project work.
- Separates creative production hours from media pass-through so invoices and margins stay clean.
- Approval queues route concepts through CMO, brand lead, and legal without endless email chains.
- Flat $39-$79/month pricing with unlimited seats instead of paying per creative, planner, or buyer.
- Pair with your media platforms (Meta, DV360, The Trade Desk) and accounting tool. AgencyPro is the ops layer.
Built for How Ad Agencies Actually Run
Creative production, media planning, account management, and reporting each need their own tracking and billing logic. AgencyPro maps to that reality instead of forcing a generic project template.
Clients submit campaign briefs through structured forms that capture objectives, target audiences, KPIs, channel mix, deliverable lists, budget envelopes, and approval chains. Brand campaigns and performance campaigns route to different templates so creative and media teams see the brief through the lens they need.
Separate time entries for art direction, copywriting, production, media planning, media buying, account management, and reporting. Compare estimated to actual hours per deliverable and per client so retainers and projects stay on plan.
Most ad shops run a mix: monthly retainers for ongoing accounts and project fees for campaign launches. AgencyPro handles both on one client record, with overage alerts on retainers and milestone billing on projects.
Send concepts, scripts, storyboards, key visuals, and final cuts for client approval through the portal. Track approvers, timestamps, and round counts. No more chasing the brand manager, the CMO, and legal across three email threads to find out who has signed off.
Brand campaigns and performance campaigns have very different cost structures. Break down logged hours and pass-through costs per campaign to see which engagements actually clear the margin bar and which silently eat your retainer.
Ad agency clients rarely have one decision maker. Invite the CMO, brand manager, product marketing lead, and procurement contact with permission levels that fit their role, so approvals do not stall waiting for the wrong person.
Clients log into a portal at your domain with your logo. They see live campaign timelines, deliverable status, approval queues, monthly reports, and invoices in one place rather than digging through email for the latest deck.
Store final approved decks, master creative files, brand guidelines, channel plans, and post-campaign reports per client. New team members find the latest version on day one instead of hunting through five Drive folders.
From Pitch to Renewal in AgencyPro
An 8-step lifecycle covering how a typical retainer-plus-project ad shop runs an account, with hours, approvals, and reporting all tied to the same client record.
Pitch and Onboarding
Land the brief, run discovery on brand guidelines, target audiences, and historical campaign performance, and sign the master services agreement plus the first SOW directly in AgencyPro.
Engagement Setup
Create the client workspace, configure the retainer or project budget, invite stakeholders with the right permissions, and load brand assets and prior campaign reports into the asset library.
Campaign Briefing and Strategy
Translate the client brief into an internal creative brief and a media plan. Both live in the portal and require client sign-off before production hours start logging.
Creative Production Sprint
Concept, script, design, and produce deliverables. Log hours per role (art direction, copy, production) and route concepts and finals through the approval queue.
Media Plan Execution
Buyers execute across paid social, programmatic, search, and any traditional channels. Pass-through media costs are tracked separately from agency fees so invoicing stays clean.
In-Flight Optimization and Reporting
Weekly performance dashboards pull from your media platforms, narrated by your account team and delivered through the portal. Mid-flight changes are tracked as scope items, not surprises.
Wrap-Up and Post-Campaign Report
Final results, learnings, and creative archive go to the portal. The same report becomes the foundation for the next campaign pitch or quarterly business review.
Renewal and Scope Planning
Pull margin data per campaign, identify under-priced services, and walk into the renewal conversation with real numbers instead of guesses.
Common Scenarios at an Ad Agency
Three patterns nearly every ad shop runs into. Here is how the work flows through AgencyPro.
1. Launching a $250K brand campaign for a CPG client
A regional food brand commits to a Q3 brand campaign across TV, streaming audio, and paid social, plus a co-op retail push.
In AgencyPro:
- Spin up a project from the "Brand Campaign" template with sub-tracks for concept, production, and media.
- Lock the budget: $90K agency fee + $160K media at 15 percent commission, milestone billing at concept approval, production wrap, and post-campaign report.
- Build the multi-stakeholder approval queue: brand manager → VP marketing → legal for any on-screen claims.
- Production team logs hours by role; pass-through costs (talent, music licensing, post) get added as line items.
- Weekly in-flight reports pull from media platforms and live on the portal so the client never has to ask for an update.
Outcome: cleaner client communication and a defensible post-campaign margin reading.
2. Running an ongoing performance retainer for a DTC client
A DTC apparel brand on a $12K/month retainer covering paid social management, creative refresh, and weekly reporting.
In AgencyPro:
- Retainer configured at 60 hours/month split: 25 media management, 20 creative refresh, 8 account, 7 reporting.
- Creative refresh tasks template into a 4-asset weekly drop with two-round approval through the portal.
- Performance dashboard pulls from Meta and TikTok ad managers; account lead writes the narrative each Friday.
- Overage alert fires at 80 percent consumed; the team flags scope and gets sign-off before doing the work.
Outcome: retainer renewal conversations become routine instead of negotiations.
3. Pitching a new account with real margin data
A B2B SaaS prospect asks for a $50K project quote for a thought leadership campaign.
In AgencyPro:
- Open historical data on similar campaigns and see the typical hours-per-deliverable benchmark.
- Build the SOW in AgencyPro using a campaign template, populate it with the right deliverables, and send it for e-signature inside the portal.
- If the client signs, the project structure is already in place. No re-keying tasks or rebuilding the brief.
Outcome: faster pitch turnaround and quotes grounded in real cost data.
The Ad Agency Stack AgencyPro Replaces
Many mid-sized ad shops run a heavy stack of enterprise tools to do what a modern ops platform can do in one place. Here is what AgencyPro absorbs and what you keep.
| What you use today | Typical monthly cost (15 seats) | AgencyPro feature that replaces it |
|---|---|---|
| Workamajig / Adobe Workfront | $450-$900 | Projects, retainers, tasks, approvals, time tracking |
| Harvest (time) | $165 | Time tracking with creative/media/account tags |
| QuickBooks for client invoicing | $90-$200 | Recurring retainer + project invoicing (sync receipts to QB) |
| Frame.io / ReviewStudio for creative review | $120-$250 | Creative approval queues with version history |
| SuperOkay / ClientPortal.io | $59-$120 | Branded multi-stakeholder client portal |
| PandaDoc / DocuSign for SOWs | $40-$80 | SOWs and e-signature inside the portal |
| Estimated total replaced | $924-$1,715/month | AgencyPro Plus at $79/month (flat) |
You keep: Meta/TikTok/LinkedIn ad managers, The Trade Desk or DV360, Google Ads, your DAM, and QuickBooks/Xero for accounting.
The Pricing Math for a 15-Person Ad Agency
A worked example for a typical mid-sized ad shop running both brand and performance accounts.
Status quo: 15-person ad agency stack
- Workamajig or Workfront (15 seats): $675/mo
- Harvest (15 seats): $165/mo
- Frame.io Team: $180/mo
- SuperOkay or ClientPortal.io: $79/mo
- PandaDoc Essentials: $59/mo
Total: ~$1,158/month • $13,896/year
On AgencyPro
- AgencyPro Plus: $79/mo (flat, unlimited seats)
- Includes: projects, time, retainers, invoicing, portal, approvals, asset library, SOWs
- Add 5 more people next quarter at no extra cost
Total: $79/month • $948/year
Savings: ~$959/month, ~$11,508/year
The bigger payoff at most ad agencies is reclaiming 10-20 hours/week of producer and account-manager time from status pings and reconciliation. At a $100/hour internal cost, that is usually a bigger gain than the SaaS line item.
Migrating From Workamajig, Workfront, or a Tool Patchwork
Most ad agencies arrive at AgencyPro from one of three setups. Here is what each migration looks like in practice.
From Workamajig or Adobe Workfront
Export active projects, retainers, and open invoices. Rebuild 2-3 core campaign templates (brand campaign, performance retainer, content production) in AgencyPro and clone them per active client. Most agencies migrate client by client over 4-6 weeks rather than a hard cutover. Time and invoice history stays in the legacy tool as archive.
From Asana plus Harvest plus FreshBooks
Export tasks, time logs, and active invoices. Recreate retainers in AgencyPro and start logging new time entries there. Upload the most recent month of creative assets and approved decks into the per-client asset library. Don\'t backport years of history. Most teams are off Harvest and FreshBooks within 30 days.
From a Google Drive plus spreadsheet setup
This is the easiest migration. Use AgencyPro\'s campaign templates as the starting point. Recreate each active client from the sheet (typically 30-45 minutes per client). Send the portal invite. By week 2, most teams stop opening the spreadsheet entirely.
What Changes When Every Campaign Hour Is Tracked
Ad agencies running AgencyPro report cleaner billing, faster approvals, and clearer visibility into which campaigns actually carry the firm.
Separate Creative Hours From Media Spend on Every Invoice
Pass-through media is tracked apart from agency fees so clients (and your finance team) see exactly what they are paying for.
Cut Approval Cycle Time Across Multi-Stakeholder Teams
Centralized review queues replace email chains, so a CMO, brand lead, and legal can all weigh in without slowing production.
Surface Retainer Overages Before They Turn Into Write-Offs
Alerts trigger when logged hours hit 80 percent of allocation, giving you time to talk to the client before doing free work.
Pinpoint Which Campaigns Actually Make Money
Per-campaign margin data shows whether your brand work, performance work, or production retainers carry the agency.
Defend Pricing With Real Effort Data
Walk into renewals with hours-per-deliverable benchmarks instead of trying to justify rates from memory.
Stop Chasing Approvals Through DM and Email
A single approval thread per deliverable replaces Slack, email, and the dreaded Loom comment loop.
Saved weekly per account manager
Multi-stakeholder approvals
Average invoice creation time
Based on average results reported by agencies using AgencyPro
A Real Scenario: 14-Person Ad Agency in the Midwest
A 14-person ad agency running a mix of regional CPG brand work and DTC performance accounts. They came to AgencyPro from a Workamajig + Frame.io + QuickBooks setup.
The challenge
Workamajig handled everything but felt heavy and slow; the per-seat pricing punished them for hiring. Creative approvals lived in Frame.io but strategy and account approvals lived in email, so deliverables stalled when stakeholders had to weigh in across channels. The COO spent 8-10 hours each month reconciling pass-through media costs with QuickBooks.
What changed in AgencyPro
- Approvals consolidated into a single queue per deliverable; multi-stakeholder sign-off dropped from 7-9 days to 3-4 days on average.
- Pass-through media tracked as line items per campaign, then reconciled monthly with one QuickBooks export.
- Retainer overages caught at 80 percent instead of at month-end, recovering roughly $3,200/month previously written off.
- Producers reclaimed 5-7 hours/week previously spent re-keying status updates between Workamajig and email.
Measurable outcome (first 90 days)
- Tool spend reduced from ~$1,050/month to $199/month.
- ~$9,600 in previously written-off retainer overages billed and paid.
- Approval cycle time cut roughly in half on multi-stakeholder accounts.
- Two new accounts onboarded inside the first month using the campaign template.
Scenario based on patterns reported by AgencyPro customers; specific numbers will vary by agency.
Is AgencyPro Right for Your Ad Agency?
AgencyPro is built for mid-sized ad shops mixing brand and performance work. It is not the right tool for every team. Here is an honest read.
AgencyPro might NOT be the right fit if:
- •You are a 50+ person traditional advertising agency. Workamajig, Adobe Workfront, or a custom build will fit your finance, resourcing, and multi-entity needs better.
- •You are a solo art director or freelance creative. HoneyBook, Bonsai, or Dubsado are lighter and probably cheaper.
- •You only do production work for other agencies. A studio-style tool like Float plus an invoicing app will likely fit better.
- •You need a media buying platform. AgencyPro is the ops layer; you still need The Trade Desk, DV360, or the native ad managers for actual buying.
- •You need deep multi-entity finance consolidation. AgencyPro plays nicely with QuickBooks and Xero but is not an ERP.
AgencyPro is a great fit if:
- •You run a 5-30 person hybrid ad shop. Brand work, performance work, production retainers, and project campaigns under one roof.
- •You handle multi-stakeholder approval chains. Brand manager + CMO + legal queues without the email tail.
- •You mix retainers and projects on the same client. Both billing models on a single client record.
- •You want pass-through media tracked separately. Clean invoices, clean revenue recognition, clean margins.
- •You are tired of Workamajig pricing for what it actually delivers. Flat-rate, modern, faster setup.
Advertising Agency Project Management
Advertising agency project management is multi-stakeholder by default. Every campaign has account, creative, strategy, media, and the client involved. Generic PM tools assume one team working on one project; ad work needs cross-discipline coordination, parallel approval streams, and a clean hand-off between strategy, creative, and trafficking.
What generic PM tools miss for ad agencies
- No native creative proofing for ad concepts, videos, and storyboards
- No way to manage parallel client and internal approval streams
- Time tracking not tagged by discipline (strategy vs creative vs media)
- No integration with retainer billing and overage tracking
- No campaign-to-deliverable mapping for performance reporting
How AgencyPro handles advertising agency project management
- Built-in video and design annotation for ad creative review
- Project templates per campaign type (brand, performance, launch)
- Time logged per discipline rolls up to retainer allocation
- Branded client portal for review and approval without email chaos
- AI Agents draft first-pass creative copy and categorize incoming requests
For broader project management tool context, see our guide to the best project management software for agencies and the all-in-one agency management platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about our platform.
How does AgencyPro handle the difference between agency fees and pass-through media spend?
Configure two categories on every campaign: agency fees (logged as hours at a blended rate) and pass-through media (entered as line items with your markup). Invoices show both separately so clients (and your finance team) understand exactly what they are paying for. This also keeps revenue recognition clean if your accountant cares about gross vs. net billings.
Can AgencyPro handle both monthly retainers and project-based campaign work?
Yes, and most ad agencies run both. A single client record can have a monthly retainer (with hour allocations and recurring invoicing) plus discrete projects (with fixed fees and milestone billing) sitting underneath it. Time tracks against whichever bucket the work belongs to.
How do creative approvals work when a client has five stakeholders?
Each deliverable has an approval queue. You can sequence approvers (junior reviewer first, then brand manager, then CMO) or require parallel approval (legal plus marketing). Comments and version history live on the deliverable so when someone joins late they see the whole thread.
Does AgencyPro work for traditional advertising work like TV and OOH alongside digital?
The ops layer is channel-agnostic. Whether you are producing a 30-second spot, a billboard, a podcast read, or a paid social flight, the workflow is the same: brief, creative, approval, production, media plan, in-flight reporting, wrap. The specific channel reporting comes from your media platforms; AgencyPro is where the operating data and client communication live.
How does AgencyPro help with quarterly business reviews?
Every campaign archived in AgencyPro feeds the QBR. Pull total agency fees vs. media spend, deliverables shipped, approval cycle times, and margin per campaign, then present a clean view of the quarter. Clients can pull the same data from their portal anytime, which reduces the surprise factor.
Can I track production costs like illustrators, voice talent, and post-production?
Yes. Mark them as pass-through with your standard markup, attach POs and contracts to the asset library, and they appear as line items on the campaign invoice. You keep a clean record of every outside cost per campaign for accounting and for future budgeting.
Will AgencyPro replace our trafficking and media buying tools?
No. Programmatic platforms like The Trade Desk and DV360, social ad managers (Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn), and traditional buying tools stay where they are. AgencyPro is the agency operating system around them: briefs in, hours and pass-through tracked, deliverables approved, invoices out, reports to the client.
Is AgencyPro a fit for a 50+ person traditional advertising agency?
It is a stretch. Large traditional shops with deep finance integration, multi-entity accounting, and global resource management usually need Workamajig, Adobe Workfront, or a similar enterprise platform. AgencyPro is best suited for 5-30 person hybrid digital/traditional shops that want the speed of modern SaaS with proper ops discipline.
Resources for Advertising Agencies
Guides, calculators, and use cases for ad shops scaling their ops.
Retainer Pricing Calculator
Price brand and performance retainers profitably.
Profit Margin Calculator
See which campaigns and retainers actually clear the margin bar.
How to Prevent Scope Creep
Practical scope language for ad shops.
Agency Lead Generation Strategies
How modern ad agencies build a pipeline.
Media Buying Agencies
For shops focused purely on paid media.
Performance Marketing Agencies
For performance-only operators.
Creative Agencies
For pure creative shops.
PPC Agencies
For paid search specialists.