What is Account Planning?

Advertising Club Calcutta

15
th
May 2010

Chandradeep (CD) Mitra
PipalMajik
C PipalMajik
Account Planning
Managing the 4Ms of
Marketing Communications
C PipalMajik
Managing the 4Ms

The First M the Right Market
The Second M the Right Motivation
The Third M the Right Message
The Fourth M the Right Media
C PipalMajik
Managing the 4Ms

The First M the Right Market (WHO)
The Second M the Right Motivation (WHY)
The Third M the Right Message (WHAT)
The Fourth M the Right Media (WHERE & WHEN)
C PipalMajik
Account Planning solves
the old advertising dilemma
Hard-Working or Creative?

Hard-working and Creative!
C PipalMajik
I do not accept that
there has to be a choice
between advertising that is
strategically relevant
or creatively original



Martin Boase
C PipalMajik
At the heart of
an effective 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 actions,
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.




Bill Bernbach
C PipalMajik
Account Planning is all about
having a consumer focus and
through this adding something to
the process of creating
outstanding advertising.
C PipalMajik
Account Planning is about 3 questions

Why are we doing any advertising or
communication at all?
Who are we communicating with?
What should we say and why?


C PipalMajik
Conceptually, account planning emphasizes
the importance of the target consumers:
understanding them, finding advertising strategies
that will best fulfil the clients marketing objectives
in terms of attitudinal or behavioural response,
and then evaluating the advertising developed on
this basis, by pre- & post-testing, long-term
tracking, etc.

S Staveley
C PipalMajik
Account Planning philosophy marks out a
somewhat changed relationship with the client. Instead of
simply mirroring the clients marketing strategy and goals
(usually in terms of markets, volumes, shares and revenue),
the agency provides a complementary expertise
that directed at an intimate knowledge of the target group.
This involves conducting a dialogue with the consumers,
and better understanding of who they are,
how advertising directed at them will work best,
how they use it, and in which media; and afterwards,
how well it is doing once a campaign is up and running.

S Staveley
C PipalMajik
Account Planning makes
advertising more Hard-working

Better targeting
Better researched
Deeper insight
Newer proposition
More relevant message
More appropriate media
C PipalMajik
Account Planning makes
advertising more Creative

Better Consumer Understanding
More Powerful Insight
Fresh Perspective
Unique Platform
Greater Impact of Message


C PipalMajik
Account Planning creates
a Better Chance of producing
More Effective
and More Creative advertising
More Often!

C PipalMajik
Role of Account Planning
in Advertising?

Risk Reduction!
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The creative man, the new type of planner
and the account man, in essentially as
a businessman with a flair for advertising,
are all likely to have greater equality of status.
And all of them are likely to be
directly involved with the client.
Because of their different mental processes and
ways of tackling problems they are likely
to work together more in a status
of controlled friction than artificial harmony.

Stanley Pollitt,
How I started Account Planning in Agencies (Campaign,
1979)
C PipalMajik
The drivers of Account Planning

Value-added utilization and interpretation of
Consumer Research
Deeper understanding of Consumers
Understanding of how Advertising (Marketing
Communications) actually works
Helping create more effective ads
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The Voice of the Consumer
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The Agencys Conscience
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The Third Leg
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The Creativity
behind the Creativity

Henrik Habberstad

C PipalMajik
The goal is always about effectiveness,
which means we must bring everything back to
behavioral & business outcomes, both short & long term.
When in doubt, our best judgements about these
must always be more important than pleasing the client,
double guessing the boss, winning a Golden Lion,
making a quick buck or covering our arses.
Its not always easy, but this is
the only solid ground to stand on.


Paul Feldwick
C PipalMajik
Any systematic approach to
planning advertising has to do more
than simply provide
controls and disciplines.
It must actively stimulate
imagination and creativity too


Stephen King, 1974
C PipalMajik
We need a process that enhances an agencys ability to
produce outstanding creative solutions for our brands
that will be effective in the marketplace.
It is the planners job to guide or facilitate this process
via the astute application of knowledge, otherwise
known as consumer and market understanding.
From the real world, outside the myopic,
navel gazing self absorbed, self rewarding industry
we live and work in.

Mary Baskins
C PipalMajik
The ROI of Account Planning

Relevance ( Understanding of consumer, her
relationship with category, brand & media,
and how communications can influence her)
Originality (Differentiated strategy, unique
platform, clutter-breaking creative)
Impact ( Effectiveness in getting desired
business result within minimum investment of
time & effort)
C PipalMajik
If researchers are data gatherers,
then planners are knowledge applicators.
Planners must insightfully
interpret and illuminate the data, and
develop intuitive hypotheses from it.


Mary Baskins



C PipalMajik
"Account Planning serves to
channel the consumer's viewpoint
to the agency's creative staff
during the entire process of
making an ad campaign



Jay Chiat, Chiat/Day
C PipalMajik
"Account Planning brings
the voice of the consumer
to the creative, so that, in turn,
the creative can
talk to the consumer
lona Kligman
C PipalMajik
"The Account Planner
speaks with the voice of
a thousand consumers


Jane Newman
C PipalMajik
"An Account Planner will find
a statistic, then, rather than
simply deliver the data
interpret what the number
means in the real world

A Feuer
C PipalMajik
"The secret of
peering into the future depends on
the deepest possible understanding
of consumers as people "

R Sliver
C PipalMajik
"The Account Planner who explains
the marketplace with value-added
interpretation and analysis
will have a decided edge
over the Researcher who is
still 'describing' markets"

A Adams
C PipalMajik
"The Account Planner's role is to think
as the consumer thinks,
thus giving a face to piles of
demographic and psychographic research
compiled by both client and agency"

K Stern
C PipalMajik
"An Account Planner should be
like an investigative journalist.
You need a lot of brains
and a little moxie

Richard Block
C PipalMajik
5 Benefits of
Account Planning
C PipalMajik
Benefit 1:

Account Planning helps an agency
understand the consumer more precisely.
It prevents the agency from
listening only to the client,
who can easily make false assumptions
about his or her audience.
C PipalMajik
Benefit 1:

Account Planning helps an agency
understand the consumer more precisely.
It prevents the agency from
listening only to the client,
who can easily make false assumptions
about his or her audience.
C PipalMajik
Benefit 2:

Account Planning starts with what
a client wants to say and ends with
what a target audience wants to hear.
Constant interaction with consumers
ensures that the agency always knows
what consumers are thinking.
C PipalMajik
Benefit 3:

Because Account Planning helps an
agency know a client's market so clearly,
the concept leads to
attention- grabbing campaigns that
help sell more of the Brand.
The advertising is simply better.

C PipalMajik
Benefit 4:

Account Planning leads to relevant advertising
more often because Account Planning is the
consumer's representative within an agency.
They ensure that their agencies are in
constant communication with consumers
and not just their clients..
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Benefit 5:

Account planning makes it easier to
sell a campaign to a client because
the agency can explain quite specifically
why the advertising should be
done a particular way.
C PipalMajik
So lets roll!
C PipalMajik
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