A compilation of some of the best thinking in the exciting and challenging field of account planning. Beginning with Stanley Pollit's "How I Started Account Planning," this great collection includes pieces from John Griffiths, Malcolm Gladwell, Merry Baskin, Paul Feldwick, John Heilleman, and many more.

Account planning is a discipline that combines aspects of four traditionally separate areas of advertising and marketing. This text aims to demonstrate how to use account planning to win clients and produce better, more effective advertising. It also shows the role account planning played in producing celebrated advertising campaigns.

The Practical Pocket Guide to Account Planning provides a straightforward, no nonsense approach to understanding what Account Planners do on a daily basis and how they do it. Filled with real world examples, amusing anecdotes, and useful techniques for getting to better insights, The Practical Pocket Guide provides a clear path for how Account Planners can collaborate with Creatives to produce great work that is insightful, engaging, and culturally infectious. In this engaging 2-hour read, you'll learn: the difference between most Account Planning job descriptions and day-to-day realities, critical planning skills, including: concept testing, copy testing, discussion guides, positioning, and the basics of good research, techniques for writing better briefs and ideas for how to lead more engaging briefings, and how to be an ally to Creatives so that together you can sell big, culturally infectious ideas to Clients. Whether you're a Client, a Creative, an Account Manager, or an aspiring Account Planner, this book will help you understand how Planners think and what great Planning can really do.

Account Planning is a strategic imperative that goes beyond traditional selling tactics. The benefits that accrue go beyond simple revenue numbers, and point to an approach that must be focused not just on greater revenue as the sole arbiter of strategy. When Account Planning is executed well, customer satisfaction increases. Customers who are more satisfied buy more from you, and do so without calling your competitors first. Customers who are served well are easier to retain, and therefore it is easier to make your revenue targets year after year.

Although there are numerous advertising texts available to the advertising student today, few focus solely on account planning and even fewer view the digital landscape as permeating every aspect of advertising. Advertising Account Planning in the Digital Media Landscape seeks to bridge that gap by providing a strategic understanding of what the account planner does, a thorough explanation of the kinds of research needed for the account planning process to be successful, and all explained within a digital media mindset. Written in an engaging manner, Advertising Account Planning helps students understand the job of an account planner in this contemporary moment. From data analytics to building a creative brief, this core text systematically covers the tools and skills needed to be a successful advertising account planner. Features: Teaches advertising as consumer engagement using the POEM (paid, owned and earned media) model Covers a range of research techniques including databases, free social media monitoring tools, and customer mapping and critical analysis of ads Illustrates the strategic process that culminates in developing the creative brief Incorporates interviews from industry professionals to give a sense of the actual job Includes assignments, discussions and additional readings

Market-proven strategies to generate competitive advantage by identifying and always taking care of your best customers The Seven Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts provides decision makers with a proactive program for profitably managing their largest, most critical customers--their strategic accounts. Drawing on the expertise of S4 Consulting, Inc., a leading-edge provider of strategic account consulting, and Miller Heiman, a global sales training leader serving many Fortune 500companies, this how-to book shows how many of today's market leaders have learned to focus on their most profitable customers, avoiding or overcoming common errors before they become relationship-crippling disasters. Placing its total focus on the design and implementation of cost-effective strategic account management programs, this hands on book provides: A world-class competency model for strategic account managers Techniques for developing a program to manage and grow "co-destiny" relationships Examples and cases from Honeywell, 3M,and other leading corporations