A few years ago, Reg Bryson, chairman of The Campaign Palace
Sydney, referred to account service people as the ad industry's
equivalent to "air hostesses".
While Bryson was strongly criticised for his remarks, he did make a
valid point - all too often, account executives and managers add no
value to the account because they fail to properly understand the
client's business.
Yesterday, I received a brief to begin creative work for a new brand of
dog food.
Now, admittedly, it's not the most exciting product category to work
on.
However, I've always believed that if you're working on an account you
should take the time to learn something about the client's business.
It's our responsibility if we are to produce ads that work.
So I asked the account executive, what I thought were some really basic
questions such as: "what are the main competitors for this brand? Where
is this brand available and in which market?"
The account executive said she didn't know. Not only that, she really
didn't have a clue where to find the information.
What was her excuse?
The usual excuse that account executives give: that is, they find it
difficult remembering information because they have so many accounts to
work on. Talk about a poor excuse.
Often I do my own research and contact the client to get the information
I require to put together the ad.
So in effect, I'm almost doing the account executive's job.
As a creative working in this industry, I feel agencies should be
stricter in ensuring that they don't just employ account executives who
have good presentation skills - in other words show ponies - but rather
people who are inquisitive, have a good general knowledge, read the
newspapers and generally take an interest in what's happening in the
outside world.
I think it's embarrassing to work for an agency that claims to be the
client's business partner when in truth it has some people in account
service, who don't even know the most basic facts about our client's
products and services and the issues facing our clients.
Whoever you are, and whatever you want to get off your chest, send your
rants to rant@media.com.hk and we'll print them anonymously.
