Fried Logic

BUS 416: Intro to Account Management

Here’s the first question I’m asked when the high school reunion conversation takes a turn down the yardstick-measuring career path: “Advertising?! Yo, that’s fresh. But what exactly do you do?”

[Requisite awkward pause. I wet my whistle. This might take a while]

I could take several different paths here, but I guess I’ll take the least expected, ‘cuz that’s how I roll. While we certainly don’t have the uber-glamorous responsibility of creating the award-winning pieces of advertising lore, I’d wager my entire 401k that what we do is just as important for our client’s bottom lines. Yes, the creatives get the awards, the congratulatory slaps on the behind and the mysterious extra vacation time, but how could they do what they do without someone behind the scenes feeding them every possible nugget they can use to best understand a client’s business?

I’d like to think of my role as an account manager as being very similar to that of an international man of mystery. A spy. See, like spies in the world of international espionage, we acquire the secrets of our just-as-complicated business world through skilled trade craft and half-drunken schmoozing. The high value part is the work we put in decoding these secrets down to their lowest terms. We must be able to work with all types of people and understand and analyze various bits of information in ways that can be applied to resolve a business problem. We’re taking everything in and dissecting it to the point that we are able to effectively communicate to our creative counterparts exactly what they need to generate the “idea” that will sail a thousand ships for our clients.

So I may glamorize my role a little. But I have to help you people understand that us suits aren’t all like Pete Campbell, right? Right?