032: Scaling Smart - How One Agency Built a Custom AI Playbook for Brand Deals

In this episode of The Contract Playbook, host Casey Handy-Smith talks to Mia Cunningham, co-founder and director of talent at Alora Society. Mia shares how they use custom AI playbooks to speed up contract negotiations and secure the best deals for their creators, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how AI is helping scale their agency. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to The Contract Playbook Casey introduces the episode and discusses the power of AI in scaling agencies and improving contract negotiations. 00:21 - Season Overview: AI in Contract Review Casey explores AI's role in transforming contract review and management for creators and talent agencies. 01:03 - Interview with Mia Cunningham Mia shares her background, journey into talent management, and how she co-founded Alora Society with her partner, Kaylea Nicole. 01:16 - Mia’s Background and Journey Mia recounts her experience transitioning from working in social media and PR for a national brand to managing Kaylea’s brand and eventually founding Alora Society. 01:59 - Founding Alora Society Mia explains how Alora Society focuses on long-term, relationship-driven influencer management rather than transactional partnerships. 02:11 - Alora Society's Operations and Philosophy Mia describes their agency's mission to advocate for creators, ensuring they get the best deals while maintaining strong ethical standards. 10:28 - Challenges in Contract Management Mia discusses early challenges in managing contracts manually, such as repetitive tasks and the time it took to review contracts. 11:54 - Integrating AI in Contract Management Mia shares how they began integrating AI into their contract process to improve efficiency, especially as their agency scaled. 13:51 - Custom AI Playbooks for Agencies Casey and Mia dive into how Alora Society created a custom AI playbook tailored to their agency’s needs, allowing them to streamline contract review. 37:06 - Training and Scaling with AI Mia discusses how Alora Society is using the custom playbook to train new team members and scale the agency while maintaining consistency across contracts. 43:08 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts Mia reflects on how AI has transformed their contract process, saving time, increasing efficiency, and allowing them to scale with confidence. Key Takeaways: Scaling with AI: Alora Society has effectively integrated AI to scale their agency and improve contract efficiency. AI helps speed up redlining and ensures consistency. Custom AI Playbooks: The agency built a custom AI playbook, allowing them to automate repetitive tasks and apply consistent terms for their creators, including clauses for late payments and termination fees. Efficiency in Contract Review: By using AI, Mia can review contracts in a fraction of the time it used to take, reducing the cognitive load and ensuring accuracy. Ethical Agency Practices: Alora Society's philosophy centers on maintaining integrity and advocating for creators, ensuring fair negotiations with brands. Empowering Teams: AI enables the agency to scale by providing a system for training new team members in contract review and keeping everyone aligned on contract standards. Resources: Alora Society Follow Mia on LinkedIn Connect with Alora Society on Instagram If you found this episode insightful, share it with others in the creator economy and leave us a review. Don’t forget to subscribe for more tips on navigating brand deals, contracts, and the creator business. Join Casey's Substack Newsletter - https://aicontractlab.substack.com/ 🎧 Tune in to learn how to leverage AI to make your contract process smarter, faster, and more efficient.