All things Account Manager by Shruthi Jain as on 14/09/2013

"Go beyond the obvious"

Ogilvy and Mather have this following principal which they adhere to. 

Brand always comes first 

then comes the Client 

Agency is the next 

and then, if you can and manage to have something left out/over, then you think about/for yourself. 

And it has always held them well. 

What do Account Managers do?

=> Treat your client as an asset and not as a burden. 

=> Relationship is what matters the most, relationship with the client, relationship with the brand.

They'll need to be the 'hub of the wheel', they're the Catalyst, they're akin to the Orchestra Conductor, they're the Baton carrier, they're simply put, the very face of an agency.

"It's how you view your job that'll change your way of looking at it" 

"Buck stops with Account Management"

"Ethics and Attitude of an Account Manager plays a very vital role." 


An Account Manager will have to interact with the following:

• Creative
• Media Planning
• Research
• Media Buying 
• Studio
• Print Production
• Film Production 
• Finance 
• Administration 
• Direct Marketing
• PR
• Events
• Rural Marketing 
• Interactive 
• Client

And you'll also have to be able to negotiate with Suppliers and various Vendors. 

Subjects at which an Account Manager should be adept at

- Marketing for it is the very root of Advertising. You will in all likelihood will be dealing with an MBA who'll have a chip on his shoulder thinking that he's the best when it comes to marketing and you'll have to convince him and you can't or don't do so without knowing it yourself. 

- Research Techniques and Interpretation (This is that one thing that'll lead you to an insight)

-  Sociology (We don't have to re-invent the wheel, every time but knowing us is and can be a big help indeed)

   

- Psychology (If you don't change on or from day 1, then you'll never be able to do so in the next 9 months)

- Production Techniques

- Media (Facts about the media, knowing what media reaches whom)

"90% of the time we start with a TVC"  

"Our plans are as disconnected as we possibly can be from reality"

- Negotiate Techniques (We negotiate all our lives, this continues with being an Account Manager)

- Production Planning 

- Know everything under the sun 

- Time Management 

Key Traits required are  

-> Curiosity.

-> Patience.

-> Sensitivity/Insensitivity.

-> Jump from liner to lateral and back.

-> Sense of Humour.

-> Presence of Mind.