Advertising account planners work with art directors and copywriters to
create a piece of advertising.
Art directors make the ad visually appealing and copywriters create the
words. It's the job of account planners to come up with a message that will
mean something to the target audience. Account planners are the people who
research, create and decide what the message of the ad will be.
Account planners work to create an ad that reflects what people are interested
in.
"Account planning, if you boil it down to its essence, is really the customer
representative in the agency," says Glenn Geller. He is a brand planner for
an advertising agency in Dallas, Texas.
"[They consider] how people think, feel, act, behave, in order to take
that information and translate it for creative teams," says Geller.
Because they want to create ads that will grab people's attention, account
planners have to be students of culture. You'll succeed in this career if
you're always observing the world around you.
"I actually don't separate my work from my life any more. It's one and
the same thing because you have to be a student of this business to be really
great at it," says Kevin Pfuhl. He works at an advertising agency.
In addition to always observing, advertising account planners generally
work long business hours, starting early in the morning and extending into
the early evening. They are often required to put in extra hours depending
on the type of projects they are working on.
When conducting research for an advertising campaign, they can also be
found outside of the agency setting, gathering information.
"If you're pitching or working on a beer account, you're going to want
to spend time in bars and talking to people about why they choose the things
they choose," says Geller.