Account Planning Important For Bottom Line Results.

In spite of what can be its tremendous benefit to campaign success, the account planning function in marketing and advertising firms is still debated and poorly understood by many inside and outside of the advertising business (see Journal of Advertising Research abstract). That’s too bad, because done well, account planning can provide the key insights and reference points that allow advertising to connect and succeed remarkably well with the target audience.

Account planning is a discipline intended to ensure the consumer point of view is represented in the marketing and advertising development process (see diagram). In the planning and execution phase of campaigns, the client point of view is represented by strong personalities: brand managers, VPs of Marketing, etc. In addition, the agency point of view is passionately expounded by the creative function (writers, art directors, creative directors). Unfortunately, before account planning, the most important point of view — that of the consumers, customers or prospects — might have been represented in planning meetings only by important, but non-dynamic stacks of paper representing research reports, data or other “intelligence” information. Account planning and account planners see to it that important customer points of view have a dynamic voice within the marketing planning process. This helps counterbalance and challenge both creative and client assumptions, and facilitates the process of turning statistics and information into actionable insights that shape campaigns and drive results.

To learn more about account planning you can see the helpful Wikipedia definition here, but this explanatory PDF from the Account Planning Group might be more useful.

Another place to develop a deeper understanding of this function is Russell Davies’ blog. Davies cut his account planning teeth at Wieden and Kennedy on the Nike account and has an extensive blog-centric website with considerable content on account planning including an extensive plannersphere wiki.

Account planning is a good investment. It can contribute significantly to the bottom line. The links above are helpful to learn more about this valuable function and to impart its importance to other key decision makers in the marketing development hierarchy.