For those outside of the advertising industry (and plenty of those inside), what account management actually is can be difficult to define, even in those fortunate instances that it’s easy to recognize.
From personal experience, coming out of an account management internship at age 22 that was more like playing video games than budgeting video shoots, I know that unrealistic expectations coming in to the department can catch you by surprise and either dramatically disappoint or wildly relieve.
The fact is, account management is a diverse and engaging department that can be an exhilarating and fulfilling passion for the right person, and a masochistic, debilitating nightmare for the wrong person. By the end of this guide, I trust that you will know beyond a doubt where you fall on this continuum, and can proceed accordingly. Don’t forget to share your own opinion at the end of the article: has this changed your perception of account management? Does it line up with other things you’ve heard, read or experienced?
A Guide to Account Management in Advertising
What It Is
In short, account management is the representative of the agency to the client, and the mediator between the creative (and other departments) and the client.
Their overarching purpose is to use their direct knowledge of the business (e.g., problems, advantages, KPIs, competitive positioning, category landscape, history, and vision) via the client to influence and audit the brand creative and strategy, and to infuse the former with the latter.
As the “face of the agency,” people in account management need to be masterfully diplomatic, tactful and attentive, but also have to know how and when to tell the client “No,” or to defend and sell the agency’s creative despite client apprehension. Account Management personnel are the most exposed in the ad world and must be adept at maneuvering handfuls of unique and difficult personalities and ensuring all work together effectively'”even if only through the conduit of account management.
Perhaps more than any other department outside of new business/business acquisition, account management always has an eye on the agency itself, as though it were a client'”focusing on opportunities to acquire more work through new clients, additional projects, more time, or more independence. Other responsibilities include managing budgets, scope, and billing in partnership with the Finance department, managing time lines with Project Managers, and running both internal and client meetings on the behalf of the account or agency.
What It’s Not
Account management is rarely “creative” in the traditional sense, and barring an unfathomably tight deadline and blind eye from the creative director, A.M. never plays a direct hand in creating ad copy or design.
The department is not the most schedule-friendly (that would be Finance, which typically is an actual 9-5) nor the least schedule-friendly (that would be creative or planning). Depending on the size of your firm and market, one would expect to work between 42 and 52 hours per week.
Account management is also far from a glamor position. Sure, circumstance may require that you’re the best-dressed in the agency, and certainly the first-thanked by the client in the event of campaign success, but if you’re pursuing an Account Management position to be able to point to the TV and tell your friends “I made that ad,” be ready for the natural response, “What part of the ad did you make?” and your own deflated admission that you made sure the creatives did all the work on time and that the client paid for it. Wah-wahhhhh.
Who You’re Working With
Account management is statistically the most female department in the industry. At the risk of sounding sexist, did I mention that key skills in the job are sensitivity to different personalities, tact, and attentiveness to client needs? Sorry, gentlemen.
In the bigger markets, you are likely to be on a team of anywhere from three to eight account personnel, with an average age of 26 or 27, and a male-female ratio of 1 in 4. Who these individuals are will vary significantly depending on how each responds to the intense stress level associated with the work, but by nature of the job, most are highly professional, meticulous, and diligent with a “healthy” dose of anxiety-induced rage.
Salary
Entry level is 25k-35k (some would argue 28k-38k) depending on experience, size of agency, and cost of living in your respective city. In New York or L.A., expect no more than 35.
Typical Prerequisites
Educational background in communication, advertising, marketing or business. Some may have actually had work experience on the client side (as a corporate brand manager or associate BM), in sales, marketing research, journalism/broadcast journalism or consulting.
Positions
The size of an account team is once again dependent on client and work scope (money and amount to do), but it will include some if not all of the following, listed here from most senior to most junior:
Group Account Director
Account Director
Account Supervisor
Account Executive/Manager
Assistant Account Executive/Manager
Responsibilities
Scheduling meetings with client, internal departments, or partner agencies
Developing strategy presentations, P.O.V.s, or briefs (with Account Planning)
Set-up for meetings, travel, or accommodations (room/car/plane reservations, catering, A/V set-up, table/desk/chair arrangement, etc.)
Maintenance of daily or weekly status reports or hot sheets (1-3 documents listing all projects and their respective completed tasks, next steps, and progress on time line that is distributed internally, to the client, and/or partner agencies)
Leading calls/meetings with client and/or partner agency on behalf of agency
Leading internal inter-department meetings on behalf of client/account
Attending all relevant shoots, off-site client meetings, or consumer research events on behalf of agency (often with one or two other representative from Creative, Broadcast, Planning or Strategy departments)
Acting as liaison between client or partner agency and all the agency’s internal departments (and vice versa)
Auditing of creative work for legal compliance, where necessary
Auditing of creative work for overall campaign strategy (developed with Account Planning and client)
Auditing of creative work for solution (or “solve”) to previous client feedback, needs, and business objectives
Auditing of creative work for overlap with competitors’ creative
Management of time lines (e.g., communicating deliverable and deadline expectations with client and internal teams, regularly updating on progress)
Management of budget/scope/billing (e.g., communicating cost and staffing implications with client, regularly updating on remaining funds, necessary increases to budgets, and outstanding invoices)
Monitoring competitive landscape (what the other guys are doing)
Acting as “brand stewards” (familiarizing yourself with client’s internal presentations, research, goals, tools of measuring success, limitations, politics, history, and vision and using this knowledge as a lens at the agency)
Let me know how this Guide to Account Management in Advertising has helped. Has it changed your perception of account management at all? Is it consistent with what you yourself have read, heard, or experienced? Leave a comment and tell me about it!
Also be sure to look for more Advertising tips and guides like these on Work, Life, Advertising, and for a Guide to All Departments of Advertising coming soon on the Yahoo Network.
