Thursday 14 May 2015

account service in advertising

iv been working in the digital advertising industry for the past 3 years in account services (or client services), climbing from Account Executive eventually to Account Manager. now that im a strategic planner and no longer have responsibilities with client service iv decided to do a quick wrap up.

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE (AE)
basic expectations of a new AE: schedule meetings, make sure everyone attends said meeting, attend meeting and write meeting minutes, make sure everyone knows what theyre supposed to do, make sure everyone does what theyre supposed to do

some AE are also expected to do basic research and summarize accordingly. iv done plenty of brand audits and competitive landscape reports.

AE usually are not expected to contact or communicate with clients but in some cases (if youre more reliable, or if your boss is too busy) you will be introduced to clients to follow up items directly.

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE (SAE)
basically the same as what an AE does with more expectations and less room for mistakes.

ASSOCIATE ACCOUNT MANAGER (AAM)
skipped this role cause it's the same shit as SAE, no idea why this position exists.

ACCOUNT MANAGER (AM)
at this point youre expected to be the driver and lead any meetings or conversations. youre the one that tells everyone why they are in the meeting and what needs to be done. in some cases the account director will do this, but if you are a GOOD account manager then the director will rely on you to do this (best to make this your standard otherwise youre basically an SAE, you need to step up as AM).

if you have an AE under you then you dont have to manage meetings anymore, instead you take more time to study and learn in terms of leadership and taking more responsibilities.

account manager should also have a better grasp of timing and budget expectations. AE is not expected to revise or feedback on timelines and quotations, but as an AM you should have more experience and have some idea of a benchmark. AM and AD will usually work together to communicate to client and negotiate the right terms for both parties.

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER (SAM)
basically the same concept as AE jumping to SAE. at this point the AD will supervise less and expect the SAM to be more independent.

CONCLUSION:
in my opinion the role of account is underrated amongst other departments. our main role is to maintain relationship with client and ensure their expectations are met. more importantly that involves setting that expectation (a lot of times even the client is not 100% sure on what they want, and will rely on our expertise to advise them). the key to a good account is to balance standard and expectations of client AS WELL AS internal teams. your teams work and morale is almost as important as clients'. a creative designer that hates you will not be a good asset.

if i had to summarize a good account person in one line, id say "a likable someone who knows everything there is to know about the brand and client".

Wednesday 13 May 2015

review: lunch break at SOHO Exchange, Shanghai

was recently inspired to write a new blog post. with hopes to make it more useful have decided to create a review post. unfortunately i havent seen any new movies or played any new games lately, so i'll be doing a review of my lunch experience today.

1) Leave Office
not much to say as i was distracted by my phone, didnt really notice any of my surroundings. 低头 to the max. did however manage to feel the warmth from the sunlight. overall pleasant experience.

2) Walk Around 久光
usually crowded especially during lunch hour so i dont recommend 低头ing while indoors. typical person walking in Shanghai either 1) doesnt watch where theyre walking or 2) walk wherever they want. in both cases they dont care where YOU are walking, so you will need your awareness with you otherwise you'll unpleasantly bump into someone.

3) Food (Taiwan Bazaar 台湾集市)
a little booth in the basement floor of 久光, ¥24 for a 卤肉饭套餐, set meal of braised pork rice with a pork/radish soup loaded with 2 pork balls + ¥10 for some 盐酥鸡 salt fried chicken. decent cost for good food. considering there's no legit Taiwanese food in Shanghai it actually tastes as close as it gets. limited seating, set up kind of like the corner of a bar table and bar stools. not the most comfortable but most people who are there just eat and leave, not the best place to hang around after youre done.

4) Return To Office
walking back i took another path around Jingan Kerry Center. more grass and green in this path bundled again with the soothing sunlight feels pretty good. unfortunately along this path there is an Abercombie & Fitch store with its usual pungent smell of six-packs and junior sex.

probably the most useless and irrelevant review to anyone but at least i managed to use up a few minutes of my otherwise doing fuck all time. cause thats all that matters right, me wasting time, cause honestly who the fuck is gonna read this shit. okay. PEACE OUT