{"id":47230,"date":"2017-07-05T05:00:28","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?p=47230"},"modified":"2017-07-05T05:00:28","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T12:00:28","slug":"building-relationship-account-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/","title":{"rendered":"The Painless Guide to Building a Relationship with Your Account Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most longstanding, silly, and harmful advertising myths<\/a> is that account people and creatives are very different types of people \u2014 like, \u201cmortal enemies\u201d-type different. You know how the stereotypes go: Account people are obsessed with spreadsheets, rules, organization, and sucking up to the clients. But as a creative, if you want to do good work, rise in the company, and enjoy your job, it\u2019s important to see past the stereotypes and embrace the idea that you and your account people are on the same team.<\/p>\n

Building a productive and mutually beneficial relationship with your account team doesn\u2019t have to feel like brown-nosing, and it\u2019s about much more than going out for drinks after work. In fact, you can put these ideas to work immediately.<\/p>\n

Show up for meetings<\/h2>\n

Once you get to a certain point in your career, it seems like you\u2019re spending more time in meetings than doing work, and the temptation is great to skip a meeting here and there \u2014 after all, if someone from creative goes, they can take notes, right?<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t think you need to, GO. It\u2019s a sign of respect to whoever organized the meeting. It also lessens the workload for your account team, since if you don\u2019t go, they have to do double-duty by taking their own notes as well as catching you up on creative input. Even if a creative colleague takes notes, you will be missing out on opportunities for input and discussion, you look less engaged, and you may find fewer opportunities for growth within the company down the road.<\/p>\n

Before you start concepting, spend quality time with the creative brief<\/h2>\n

You know how you and your partner can spend a week (or more) concepting, hashing out ideas, going back and forth, and finally you come up with 10 amazing ideas, and your creative director blows through them in two minutes? This is kind of what it\u2019s like for the account team when you spend 30 seconds to scan through the brief and then toss it aside.<\/p>\n

Putting together a good creative brief is no small feat. It\u2019s not something they open up a template for, jot down a few notes, and then spit out of their computers 10 minutes later. A good creative brief is the culmination of research, time spent understanding the client, and deep insight into business needs. It\u2019s surprisingly difficult to write a good one.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just review it to make your account team feel better \u2014 do it because it will help you produce work that\u2019s on target and will satisfy your client. It will lighten your own workload, since you\u2019ll arrive at viable creative solutions much faster and spend less time creating work that the creative director will yank off the wall.<\/p>\n

Invite them to review your work early<\/h2>\n

A good way to send your account team the message, \u201cHey, I respect what you bring to my job,\u201d is to have occasional creative check-ins with them (of course, always make sure your creative director is OK with this). Even if it\u2019s not much more than ceremonial, it\u2019s a good way to make them feel like they\u2019re being included in the process. And, if by some chance, the creative team has gone horribly afoul of the creative brief, these check-ins allow for quick recalibration.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest complaints we creatives make about account people is that they don\u2019t understand good creative. Here\u2019s your chance to help them learn. Explain your way of thinking, give examples of different creative executions you could have used but let them know why your solution solves the problem. You may be surprised by how eager they are to learn, and how useful that is: a seasoned account executive can crank out a headline or a tagline that\u2019s almost as good as anything your creative director can write.<\/p>\n

Go out for lunch, happy hour, or team-building exercises<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a lot to be said for getting to know your co-workers as people, outside of work. You don\u2019t have to become best friends with your account team, but the occasional lunch outing lets you get away from the pressure of the work environment and get on more friendly terms. Plus, it helps you dispel all those unflattering stereotypes that account people can hold about creatives!<\/p>\n

And finally, remember you really are on the same team<\/h2>\n

Yes, at the end of the day \u2014 after you\u2019ve included them, made them feel respected and shared the secret creative handshake \u2014 it can still be frustrating to work with people who don\u2019t quite see it your way, pressure you to work faster, and make demands on your time. But don\u2019t forget you both want to create fantastic work that will make your client a huge fan of the agency \u2014 as well as have a fun job that affords work\/life balance. You and your account team can be partners in all of that together.<\/p>\n

\n

Lisa is a Creative Circle candidate and seasoned advertising copywriter who lives in Los Angeles. Her background includes both in-house and agency work on Fortune 500 and global accounts in the consumer and healthcare\/pharmaceutical fields. She excels at words, fashion, and cats. If you want to work with Lisa, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most longstanding, silly, and harmful advertising myths is that account people and creatives are very different types of people \u2014 like, \u201cmortal enemies\u201d-type different. You know how the stereotypes go: Account people are obsessed with spreadsheets, rules, organization, and sucking up to the clients. But as a creative, if you want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-as-a-freelancer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Painless Guide to Building a Relationship with Your Account Team | Creative Circle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a creative, if you want to do good work and enjoy your job, it\u2019s important to embrace the idea that you and your account team have the same goals.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Painless Guide to Building a Relationship with Your Account Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a creative, if you want to do good work and enjoy your job, it\u2019s important to embrace the idea that you and your account team have the same goals.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Creative Circle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CreativeCircleStaffing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-05T12:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Painless-Guide-to-Building-a-Relationship-with-Your-Account-Team.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"creativecircle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Creative_Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Creative_Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"creativecircle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/\",\"name\":\"The Painless Guide to Building a Relationship with Your Account Team | Creative Circle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Painless-Guide-to-Building-a-Relationship-with-Your-Account-Team.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-05T12:00:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c341c21f6106a12b4641044c8f5d1d61\"},\"description\":\"As a creative, if you want to do good work and enjoy your job, it\u2019s important to embrace the idea that you and your account team have the same goals.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/building-relationship-account-team\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Painless-Guide-to-Building-a-Relationship-with-Your-Account-Team.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Painless-Guide-to-Building-a-Relationship-with-Your-Account-Team.jpg\",\"width\":2250,\"height\":1500,\"caption\":\"Creative Circle - 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