“So, tell me about the agencies you have worked for before…” an advertising agency’s Account Director asked me during an informal interview. “None” is the only answer I could come up with, followed by the dreadful truth: “I come from the client’s side”. Very dramatic. Would we have been in the middle of a thunderstorm, lightning and blinking light bulbs would have perfectly complemented the scene.
Even a fast-learner would inevitably get lost the first couple of days or weeks.
In the marketing world, switching from working at an advertiser who hires advertising agencies, to working for the accounts department of an actual agency is quite a process. What makes it so challenging?
The Fifth P
Marketing executives commonly deal with the 4Ps (Product, Place, Price, Promotion), but they are not really aware of the fifth P – the agency’s P – namely: the Process. Who does what? When? With whom? Where is the brief template? And the contract template? Is there even a contract signed for each project? Seen from this angle, it would indeed require a lot of patience for an Account Director to hire a new Account Manager who comes from the client’s side. Even a fast-learner would inevitably get lost the first couple of days or weeks. Unless the agency provides the new employees with a comprehensive training program that will enable them to quickly understand how and where to find the useful tools and resources.
Why would marketing specialists ever want to move to the agency world in the first place?
As far as the marketing specialists who are passionate about communication and advertising, it has a lot to do with their frustration of not being able to focus more on these specific areas. Where they come from, it’s all about R & D, consumer research, trends, range structure, budget forecast, and market shares, whilst promotion is often the last issue that is being brought up at the time of a product launch. The communication campaign is then left in the hands of the agency. Later in the product launch process and once the campaign is approved, the marketing team’s main responsibility is only to interface with the project manager at the agency in order to deal with day-to-day issues. Continue reading