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Advertising Account Planner

Do you want to become a Advertising Account Planner? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Advertising account planners make sure that an advertising campaign is targeted at the correct audience.

• They carry out research and analyse information from past campaigns to decide whether fresh market research is needed. If it is, they will do this themselves, pass it to another part of the agency or get an outside agency to do it.
• Once they have defined the target audience, they develop a strategy and advise the creative team about the product and the target audience.
• Account planners may also be involved in presenting creative ideas to the client, pre-testing the campaign, monitoring its effectiveness and gaining consumer feedback.

Advertising account planners usually work with a range of different clients. In large agencies account planning is a full-time specialism. In smaller agencies it tends to be combined with the account executive or account management role.

Advertising account planners tend to work long, irregular and unsocial hours, Monday to Friday. Some of their time is spent working indoors in an office, but they also spend time travelling to meet clients and focus groups.

Salaries range from around £16,000 a year for new advertising account planners to more than £60,000 a year for some senior account planners.

An advertising account planner should:

• be creative and able to think around how to solve problems
• be interested in what motivates people
• have an interest in trends and fashions
• be able to analyse research and translate this into action plans
• have strong presentation and persuasive skills
• have good written and spoken communication skills.

Most advertising account planners work for advertising agencies. There are just over 1,000 agencies in the UK, of which over half are in London. Some account planners are freelance. There are around 1,000 people involved in advertising account planning.

Competition for entry to advertising is fierce and it is highly desirable for applicants to have had some relevant experience. Most have a degree. There is no upper age limit for entry to this work, but most people in advertising are below the age of 40.

Account planners are generally trained on the job by their employer. They may work for qualifications awarded by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising or the Communications Advertising and Marketing Education Foundation.

Progression may be to senior advertising account planner in a large agency. Some may set up small advertising agencies of their own or work freelance.

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