Account Management
The responsibility of the account manager is to be the client’s representative at the agency, and the agency’s representative at the client’s organization.This means knowing how to handle people at the agency so that they give the client their best effort without spending more time than the income from the client’s business justifies.
An effective account manager develops a thorough knowledge of the client’s business, the consumer, the marketplace and all aspects of advertising, including creative, media, research, and commercial production.
Entry-level positions
Successful candidates have strong general business skills: the ability to write and speak effectively, demonstrated leadership experience, a capacity for statistical analysis, and developed organizational skills.
Candidates should have a bachelor’s degree and, in some cases, a master of business administration. A degree in advertising or marketing is not a prerequisite.
Career Opportunities
An entry-level position in account management usually leads to account executive and then to more senior positions, with responsibility for more than one account and for the work of several account executives.
Job Title Other Possible Title Job Description
Dir. of Client Services – Responsible for mgmt. Responsibilities include budgets, costs, resource allocation. Provides strategic leadership. Top level Client contact with usually 20+ years relevant industry and advertising expertise.
Account Director Group Mgmt. Supervisor – Responsible for leadership and overall management of the Client relationship on one large or multiple accounts. Drives long-term business building, oversees Account team management. 15+ years of industry and advertising experience.
Management Supervisor – Responsible for the overall service and profitability of assigned accounts. Represents the Agency’s senior management on a day-to-day basis. Typically reports to the Account Director, with 10+ years experience.
Account Supervisor – Provides strategic recommendations and manages all Company/Agency resources to ensure the Client’s marketing needs are met. Reports to Account Director, with 7+ years of industry experience.
Account Executive Sr. Account Executive – Manages/coordinates Client projects and may take an active role in all disciplines from planning to completion. Effectively executes strategies, problem-solves, and develops solid business relationships, with 3+ years of experience.
Assistant Account Exec. Jr. Account Executive – Provides Client service support to ensure that all assignments are executed timely and accurately. Assists in the daily operations of Client projects internally. Essentially an account executive “in training”.
Account Planning
Essentially, account planners make sure the consumer’s perspective is fully considered when advertising is developed.
The account planner works to continually focus and re-focus the agency’s strategic and creative thinking on the consumer, helping the team—particularly the creatives—understand what “turns the consumer on”. They study how consumers actually make use of marketing communications. They offer not only consumer insight, but a plan of action for approaching marketing communications challenges.
The account planner’s primary tool is research: consumer psychology and behavior, brand-sales history, competitive sales and customer information, consumer demographics, and much more. They use this information to determine how the agency can leverage a brand’s strengths in a strategic and creative approach.
Career Opportunities
Most account planners have academic backgrounds in Liberal Arts, and certainly exposure to such subjects as psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology is beneficial. What planners tend to have in common is the ability to interpret and synthesize information, generating useful insights that can be readily understood and acted upon by others.
Dir. Planning & Development – Responsible for management of the global/national/regional/local account planning department. May be an integral member of new business team, with 15+ years of planning expertise.
Dir. Account Planning Dir. of Strategic Planning – Responsible for the management of one or more Client groups. Responsible for developing ad strategy and creative brief and bring a strong consumer focus to all decisions based on 10+ years of expertise.
Account Planning Mgr. Supervisor – Planning Oversees day-to-day activity on assigned accounts, may include training and development of staff. 7+ years of experience.
Account Planning Supervisor – Responsible for applying consumer understanding to creative problems on assigned accounts. Partners with other departments to ensure the quality of the creative brief. 5+ years industry experience.
Account Planner Strategic Planner – Provide research pertaining to strategy and creative development. Provides insight to Clients regarding consumer preference, with 3+ years of experience.
Assistant Account Planner Jr. Account Planner – Responsible for assisting the planners in applying consumer understanding to creative problems.
Creative
The creative department of an advertising agency is responsible for developing the ideas, images, and words that make up commercials and ads. While many people in the agency contribute to the process, the invention and production of advertising is mainly the responsibility of copywriters and art directors.
Entry-level positions
Career Opportunities
Junior or Assistant Copywriter – The junior copywriter assists one or more copywriters in editing and proofreading ad copy, writing body copy for established print campaigns, and developing merchandising and sales promotion materials. With proven ability and experience, assignments might include generating ideas for product or company names and writing dialogue for TV commercials and scripts for radio ads.
Although a bachelor’s degree is not required, most agencies look for candidates with proven intellectual ability and emotional maturity. Degrees in English, journalism, or advertising and marketing can be helpful.
Junior or Assistant Art Director – Assists one or more art directors in preparing paste-ups, rough lettering, and layouts for print ads and television storyboards, developing visual concepts and designs, and overseeing photo sessions and the filming of television commercials.
Chief Creative Director – Overall responsibility and accountability for the management of the total creative function of the agency. Establishes the ‘creative tone’ and pace of the agency, based on 15+ years of experience.
Exec. Creative Dir. – Responsible for the quality of all creative work produced by the agency for all clients. Maintains standards of creative excellence. Typically has 15+ years of experience.
Assoc. Creative Director Creative Manager – guides the total creative effort of one or more creative groups. Insures creative compliance with clients’ goals. Usually has 10+ years of expertise.
Creative Supervisor Art Supervisor – Integrates art, copy, and production functions and guiding overall creative effort of assigned general advertising creative groups on one or more accounts. 8+ years of experience.
Sr. Copywriter – Responsible for generating concepts/ideas and highly targeted copy on one or more accounts. May adapt to changes in format, media and/or Clients’ strategies. 2+ years of experience.
Art Director – Responsible for the visual creation of general advertising campaigns on one or more accounts. Coordinates the design and reproduction of the copy with the art and production staff. 2+ years of expertise.
Executive Media Director Chief Strategic Officer – Oversees management of media planning, including budgets, costs, resource allocation and strategic leadership. Plays lead role in new business and acts as a consultant to top corporate officers. 20+ years of expertise.
Executive Media Buying Director Chief Negotiating Officer – Responsible for management of the media buying and/or operations. Handles sensitive Company/Agency negotiations. Involved in policy-making decisions, based on 20+ years of media expertise.
Group Media Director Client Service Dir. – Overall management of one large and/or multiple Clients setting strategic direction and driving long-term business. Holds accountability for budgets and planning. 15+ years of experience.
Media Buying Director Associate Director – Senior management on a day-to-day basis and is involved with negotiations. 15+ years of experience.
Associate Media Director – Responsible for the overall service of assigned accounts and media teams. Approves the development and execution of media strategy, communications plans while maintaining cost controls. 7+ years expertise.
Network Supervisor – Provides strategic recommendations and analysis. Manages media planners to ensure Client’s marketing needs are met. 4+ years of media experience.
Media Planner Sr. Media Planner – Responsible for developing, executing and managing media plans best suited to meet established Client requirements and objectives. May supervise, train, delegate assistant media planners. 1+ years expertise.
Interactive Marketing – If you have ever visited a company’s web site, you have been part of how interactive marketing is changing the relationship between advertiser and the audience.
Data from www.aef.com
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