Glenn Geller is a brand planner who works for an advertising agency. He
remembers the proudest accomplishment in his career thus far:
"One of the most exciting things in my career has been taking an almost
dead brand of Subaru in 1993-94, and a year and a half later having Business
Week call it the greatest turnaround in the automotive industry," he says.
Bringing about change in a product's image on the strength of your ads is one of the rewards of the advertising business. Another is being able to show people real-world examples of your work.
"It's...gratifying when you see your family and they ask you, 'So what
do you actually do?' You can actually point to work in the market and say,
'That's exactly what I do,'" says Kevin Pfuhl.
Pfuhl has been in the industry for more than 15 years. Throughout his
career, he has worked on a wide variety of projects and with national
and international brands, ranging from major names in the automotive industry to big players in the electronics and brewing fields. He has also done some work for charities.
"You name it, I've probably worked in the category," says Pfuhl.
Despite the rewards, Gellar says advertising agencies are not the best work environment for everyone. "Agencies are a great place if you love working with lots of
people in a very creative environment where there really aren't any rules,"
he says.
Those looking for a more structured and stable workplace should steer
clear. This job is ever-changing and can be very stressful.
"It is a pressure cooker and there are long hours," says Geller. "This
day and age in business, one thing gets messed up and it could jeopardize
an entire client relationship.
"It's all about interacting with people, and for [advertising account]
planning, it's about really getting into people's heads and hearts and understanding
what makes them tick," he says.
Advertising account planners need to be able to take all the information
they have and create a single meaningful, creative and persuasive idea. "That's
the challenge each and every day," says Geller.
Charles Kouns would agree. He is a professor of advertising account planning
and associate director of account planning for a university in San Francisco,
California. He says that the toughest part of the job is "trying to understand
or create a message for advertising that nobody has ever done before."
Ideas for ads need to be unique and really creative. Nobody wants to see
the same old thing in every ad. It's the account planner's job to make sure
ads stay fresh.
"Planning plays a tremendous role in how good, or how bad, advertising can
be," says Kouns. "What makes account planning so exciting is that if you think
about the skill of understanding how people think, feel ... understanding
trends, things like that, you can do the job in almost any profession."
Dagny Scott-Barrios works for an advertising
agency in Boulder, Colorado. "Simply put, it's our role to draw key insights
from culture and consumers and translate this insight into inspiration and
strategy for the creative teams," she says.
Geller says this career path is geared more toward people
who have a lot of curiosity, excellent people skills, and the ability to be
persuasive and sell their ideas.
Account planners also have to be entrepreneurial. "It's not the kind of
career where you're going to be successful if you're going to sit and wait
for your job order to come in. It's about getting out, seeing what's
going on in businesses, looking for opportunities," says Geller.
Research is also an important tool. Research is used to gain an understanding
of real consumer behavior.
"The best way to do that is to get out into the world and actually watch
people, or spend a day or two with people to see how they behave, again as
you're focusing on a particular product," says Geller.
Scott-Barrios says a few other skills that could prove invaluable in this work include empathy, fresh ways of thinking, great language skills, diplomacy
and client management.
"To really excel, it requires the rare combination of both creativity and
linear thought," she adds.
Those who are truly interested in immersing themselves in the world of advertising can take comfort in Geller's advice. "If people have a true curiosity
about what makes people tick and like working in a really creative dynamic
environment, I would say an agency is the place for them."
"There's never a dull moment," says Scott-Barrios. "I feel especially
lucky working at an agency that, rather than offering simple conventional
services, is actively looking to change culture."