Download The Life of an account planner

Chapter 9
Objectives
After going through this chapter, you will be able to
understand about:
Recreate the day-to-day activities of an account planner.
Explain the importance of account planner’s role
Appreciate the role of an account planner
Introduction
The account planner is “The consumer’s
representative”. In a nutshell the planner ensures that
an understanding of consumer attitudes and reactions is
brought to notice at every stage of advertising
development
The planner is a fully integrated member of the account
team working on a continuously involved basis; bringing
a consumer perspective to strategy development,
creative development, pre-testing of ads and tracking of
the brand’s progress.
Introduction
An account planner adds value and helps in the
following ways An account having an account planner has more integration
within the agency and better teamwork in trying to
combine the needs of the client, the demands of the
market, and the expectations of the consumer.
The planner has brought an added dimension of
understanding to the process of developing ads by
stimulating discussion about: purchasing decisions, the
brand-consumer relationship and how the advertising is
working in specific circumstances.
Introduction
An account planner adds value and helps in the
following ways Helping to win new business: by in stilling confidence in the
prospective client as a result of a comprehensive and
disciplined approach.
Defining more tightly-focused strategies: the result of an
enhanced understanding of the consumer.
Introduction
An account planner adds value and helps in the
following ways Stimulating creative development: the result of more
productive contact between the creative department and
the consumer.
Helping to sell the ads: by explaining the way they work.
The quality and creativity of advertising grows in line with
account planning, thus proving that the function has
helped, rather than hindered this trend.
Introduction
The benefits of account planning goes beyond the
monetary gains and includes Better customer understanding
New thinking
Customer involvement and buy-in
Sharing of information
Learning
Holistic approach towards Customer and establishing single
point of contact
Common identification of challenges, risks and trends of
Customer’s business
Characteristics of a good account planner
Passion for advertising
creative process
Some of the
traits that a
good account
planner needs
are -
Intuitive curiosity about
consumers
Inspiring communication
skills
Aptitude for research
interpretation
Visionary mind for big
idea
Characteristics of a good account planner
Some of the traits that a good account planner needs
are Desire for involvement in account team. Mediator between
theory and practice
Needs to be creative - should think out of the box, most of
the times
Need to be social -Planners need to have an extensive focus
on culture, social organization and communication between
groups.
Characteristics of a good account planner
Some of the traits that a good account planner needs
are They need to have a solid foundation in research and
understanding people on a macro level. They are highly
adaptable and versatile when learning new things.
Need to be critical -need to analyse everything critically, as
well as observe the world around them for information.
Need to be excellent at picking out details
Characteristics of a good account planner
Some of the traits that a good account planner needs
are Need to be Observational - needs to be keen observers, and
have a grasp at understanding nonverbal communication.
They need to be able to look beyond what is said and
written down to get to the key points of what they are
trying to find.
Need to understand data -need to scan quantitative data
and understand its significance.
Characteristics of a good account planner
Some of the traits that a good account planner needs
are The Jack/Jane of All -The have their hands in a bit of
everything. They’ve had stats courses, but they are not
necessarily statisticians. They have had classes in design,
but are not necessarily artists.
They observe by nature, but they use their gut instincts to
give them further facets to look into when designing the
strategy from the ground up.
Job of the account planner
The account planner works continuously towards
understanding the changing needs of the consumer and
helps the agency’s creative team to focus on the same,
so that meaningful and profitable ads are made.
They study how consumers interpret marketing
communications. Using that knowledge, they help the
agency to bring out new ways of communicating about
products and services. Their role is dual - they offer
consumer insight as well as an action plan to deliver
effective advertisements.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s skill is not one skill but a
combination:
Planning of the objectives of the advertising which requires
analysis and synthesis, logic and insight.
Selecting and evaluating the research feedback which
requires technical and research expertise as adopted to
advertising
Make the feedback relevant and Stimulating to the creative
team.
An understanding of subjects as Psychology, Sociology, and
cultural anthropology is beneficial.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
Marketing Researchero A good planner doesn’t speculate or assume anything when it
comes to representing the consumers that they represent.
Research Designero It’s imperative that a planner come in direct contact with the
target. Any planner that does not conduct, review,
orchestrate, or deal with any quantitative or qualitative
consumer research is not a planner.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
Data Analysto An account planner is accountable for the proper reviewing
and analysing of all data from consumer, industry, economic,
business, and brand research that leads to the development
of the business and creative strategies.
Idea generation facilitator –
o The account planner facilitates and directs the discussion in a
productive way.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
Data Implementero A planner makes the data understandable for the creative
team and provide with consumer insight so that the problem
is not just discussed, but solved.
Creative Brief Writero A brief is supposed to be as simple, concise, and up to the
point so that the creative team can work on it. If the brief is
wrong, nothing will be right.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
Full of insights and data –
o The planner should be the one stop point for questions
regarding brand, category and consumers.
Problem solvero The account planner should be able to understand the need ,
the gap , the problem that is existing and then in a position to
think of ways to solve it.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
Consumer representation and insightso the account planner needs to have the passion and
motivation to understand consumers thoroughly.
Creation of adso The planner main job is to see whether the advertisement
developed is relevant to the target audience, and its
effectiveness in the market.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
Strategy Development Stage –
o The planner will collect and collate data to guide building of
strategy. This is done by understanding attitudes and
behaviour of people
Creative Development Stage –
o The planner will research on the first cut of ads to check
whether the advertising is achieving the desired responses.
Job of the account planner
The account planner’s role spans at various stages. He
plays a bit of a role in everything.
The Approval Stageo The planner will help to provide justification on how and why
the particular piece of advertising will work for the brand.
The post campaign stage –
o The planner will commission and use research to track the
progress of the brand.
Job of the account planner
In account management the account planner Must communicate the client’s needs clearly to the agency
team
Plan effectively to maximize staff time and energy
Present the agency’s creative ideas to the client.
Act in such a way that the final product is profitable and
effective for the client and the agency.
Job of the account planner
The creative team
The account planner needs to act like an interface.
Producing ads is essentially a team effort, and the way the
planner relates to the client on the one hand and the
creative team on the other hand is important Leadership
and co-ordination are the primary skills.
They manage the whole advertising development process,
and have ultimate responsibility for the strategy and
creative brief.
Job of the account planner
Advertising
Advertising account planners play a key part in developing
advertising campaigns for a diverse range of products and
services. The planner is responsible for writing the formal
creative brief and for providing the ideal environment for
creative development.
Acting as the voice of the consumer within an agency, a
planner uses research data to identify suitable audiences
and the best methods of communication.
Job of the account planner
Consumer:
In today’s world, the consumer has already rejected the
traditional way of advertising. The consumer, his needs, his
perspective have changed with time.
This is one of many challenges planners have to bear ¡n
mind when they are working out the advertising strategies.
Job of the account planner
Success of an account
When the right creative brief is created
Insight created s actually brought into the ad and the
Consumers agree
It provides a new way of looking at the client’s situation and
problem
It creates a picture that makes sense to both the client and
the creative team.
Bringing creativity and effectiveness together
How does an account planner approach the
project assigned
Let us understand how an account planner approaches
his project Step 1: Understand the problem
o The account planner gets a brief from the client, including the
key business challenges and success expectations, with the
budget details.
Step 2: consumer segmentation
o Understand the target market and Consumer. Understand
their life ,what is relevant, their decision-making etc.
How does an account planner approach the
project assigned
Let us understand how an account planner approaches
his project Step 3: Insight
o Try to find the unmet consumer insight. Insights are
unspoken human truths, truths the subconscious recognizes
when it sees them.
Step 4: understand the brand and the product
o The account planner needs to know what ¡s getting sold and
what its USP are. How will satisfy the need of the consumer?
Where will it fit in the brand?
Step 5: writing the creative brief
Account planner concern areas
An account planner needs to be aware of some of the
places where it can go wrong Analysis -While trying to understand the customer and
gather data , a vast amount of data ¡s already available. It’s
therefore important to select the right data to draw
conclusions otherwise the whole work of the account
planner can get futile.
Understand past data before new -An account planner
needs to understand what has happened.
Account planner concern areas
An account planner needs to be aware of some of the
places where it can go wrong Client and consumer - An account planner needs to balance
what the company wants with what the customer wants.
Many a times, the clients dictate the objectives and it is the
account planner’s job to plan that both the objectives are
met.
Should be consumer driven - Numbers and data are
important, but more important is the qualitative aspect like
consumer insights and verbatim.
Account planner concern areas
An account planner needs to be aware of some of the
places where it can go wrong Should be action oriented - Its great to have a great plan,
but it has to be executed. A good account plan has an
output of a brief, clear and regularly updated action plan.
Should be measurable - The account plan needs to be
measured to a ensure that it stays on track. It should be
easily and regularly monitored. But if there are too many
variables to be measured, then the team might lose its
focus.
Account Planning and Agency Structure
If an agency has to in corporate the account planning
role, then it can no longer operate in the traditional way.
First and foremost, recruitment of a skilled account
planner is necessary.
Internal reshuffling of people with lesser skill — set is
not advisable. There is a clear demarcation that
happens -, the creative team comes up with the ideas,
and the planner is the voice of the consumer.
Account Planning and Agency Structure
Account planning will have an effect on the creative
development process except for production. The
creative team will have the Consumer’s point of view.
For creative development, account planners are
responsible for researching the advertising before
production to make sure it is as relevant as it can be;
finally, once the work runs, they monitor its effect ¡n
depth with a view to improving it the next time around.
Account Planning and Agency Structure
With the account planner
in the picture, more
discipline comes in as the
project is monitored on a
regular basis. Also the
creative team gets
involved right from the
start rather than just
churning out ideas.
The account planner
explains and
communicates and drives
the creative team to come
up with the best successful
ad.
Account Planning and Agency Structure
Planning also becomes more organized as the creative
brief acts as the stepping stone which the creative team
follows. This is otherwise not the case if account
planning is not incorporated.
The creative brief needs to inspire in a way that might
lead to the trigger word, so therefore the brief needs to
be simple, clear and informal.
Chapter 9