It has been over 30 years since the first account planner walked the earth. Since then account planning has developed into a job function that exists not only in the advertising agencies but in client marketing departments, direct marketing agencies, design consultancies, PR firms, media independents et al. It has long since existed outside its London, England birthplace, extending to the US and Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Scandinavia, Chile, Brazil, Europe, even China. And those are just the countries that have approached us about starting their own APG.

One of the striking tendencies of human beings is to act, judge, believe or vote on strictly instinctive, emotional grounds, and then, after the act is committed, to try to justify it or defend it by intellectual or logical reasons. (The Want Makers – Eric Clark)

‘An advertisement is nothing but facts/information put in a strategically healthy fit of words is always paying and effective on the consumer ’ David Ogilvy (Confessions of an Advertising Man)

Account Planning is a study of consumer psychology often called ‘research’. Borrowing from David Ogilvy, The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. A good husband is always called perfect when he understands his wife well, what are her likes, dislikes, her feelings, what has to be said when to make it most effective yet romantic!!!

An account planner is known as the ‘Voice of the Consumer’ (Pollitt 1979)

This is typically the role of an account planner, to figure out what is mapping on the mind of the consumer alias his wife.

Is the consumer's representative.

Monitors the market trends and the attitude of the consumer towards the client's brand and its competitors.

Develops effective strategies in achievable basic form for the creative team.

The name .account planning. was coined by Tony Stead at a JWT awayday in 1968,attended by media planners and account people from the marketing department. Hesimply merged the two titles together as Stephen.s new department was to comprisea hybrid . selected folk from both disciplines. And so we have been saddled withone of the most obfuscatory job titles ever since. Our North American friends inadopting the discipline have strived to better it with the likes of .Brand Planner. and.Strategic Planner. (preceded by the usual Senior Executive Vice President tosh, ofcourse) but none of these appear to have stuck. Perhaps we rather enjoy themystique of having a job title that implies crystal ball gazing without a clearly definedhandle?

The name .account planning. was coined by Tony Stead

at a JWT in 1968, attended by media planners and

account people from the marketing department. He

simply merged the two titles together as Stephen’s new

department was to comprise a hybrid . selected folk from

both disciplines. And so we have been saddled with one

of the most obfuscatory job titles ever since. Our North

American friends in adopting the discipline have strived

to better it with the likes of Brand Planner. And Strategic

Planner. (preceded by the usual Senior Executive Vice

President tosh, of course) but none of these appear to

have stuck. Perhaps we rather enjoy the mystique of

having a job title that implies crystal ball gazing without a

clearly defined handle?

Is the consumer's representative.

Monitors the market trends and the attitude of the consumer towards the client's brand and its competitors.

Develops effective strategies in achievable basic form for the creative team.

In the words of Bill Bern Bach; “At the heart of a creative philosophy is the belief that

nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature,

what compulsions drive a man,

what instincts dominate his action,

even though his language so often camouflages what really motivates him.

for if you know these things about (a) man you can touch him at the core of his being.”

Agency set upBridge between marketing and advertising objectives.

Organizes information about the consumer and marketplace from every source available.

Analysis of Current Marketing Information.

Deductive reasoning.

Intuition driven by conversations with consumers.

Task Definition, based on consumer insight becomes the creative brief.

Exploratory Research

Descriptive Research

Causal Research

New Product Research

Packaging Research

Branding Research

Pricing Research

Field Trial Focus Groups Personal Interviews Observations Surveys

Who is the Typical Target Consumer?

Demographics

Psychographics

Usage and Behavior

How do Consumers View the Brand?

What is the Role for Advertising?

Focus on the Consumer

Written from Consumer POV

Use THEIR terminology

Introduces the Creative Department to the person they are talking to

Know the Creative Team

Brief must be single-minded

Imaginative Description of Target Group

Brand Specific

Consumer Litmus Test

Very Delicate

Must be encouraging

Not Leading

Not Dictatorial

Success built on good judgment & trust/relationship with creatives

Summarize the brief

Present the Key Insight

Describe the Consumer

Presentation can be elaborate (videos, brandscapes, composites)

Consumer Reaction to Advertising

“Let the Consumer Tell us”

Feedback: Tracking the Advertising

Do they get it?

What do they get?

What do they remember?

Are there dynamics in the marketplace that can and should affect the next stage?

What’s going on?

What’s new?

What is cumulative impact on brand?

Market Researcher Data Analyst Qualitative Focus Group Moderator Information Center Be a bad cop!! ;) Brainstorming facilitator Target audience representative/ Voice of the consumer Futurologist Media/Communication Planner Strategic Developer Writer of creative brief Think Piece Polemicist Social Anthropologist Insight Miner Knowledge applicator

Process of measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement

It may be broadly classified into two types:

• Pre-testing• Post-testing

Psychological Tests or Projective Techniques

Physiological Tests

Experimental Type

Lab Experiments

Field Experiments

Consumer jury survey

Coupon-return analysis

Recognition test

Recall or impact test

Sales area test

Doing research without anyone knowing WHY The Wrong Questions are often asked Right Questions are asked in a Wrong Way People don’t always mean what they say It is also very important for an effective research

to get the respondent in his comfort zone i.e. without any prejudices. The best interpretations are sought from non verbal and underlying meaning of words said.

An account planner needs to learn, unlearn and relearn for every new research undertaken.

Confessions of an Advertising Man Truth Lies & Advertising The Advertising Handbook- Sean Brierly The Want Makers- Eric Clark How to Plan Advertisement- Alan Cooper www.apg.org.uk/download.cfm http://americanapersona.wordpress.com/

2008/04/30/anheuser-busch%E2%80%99s-budweiser/