|
Account Executive Position Description
When a new client begins working with an agency, he or she is usually assigned an Account Executive. An Account Executive’s main responsibility is to maintain a good working relationship between his or her agency and the client. The Account Executive is the individual who is totally responsible for overseeing a particular account. Account Executives may handle one or more accounts at any given time. As an Account Executive, the individual acts as a liaison between every department at the agency and the client. When the Account Executive gets a new account he or she has long discussions with the client about program directions. In these meetings, the client discusses the product (event, service, etc.), budget, goals, and campaign ideas. The two also discuss how to best reach the goals.
They talk about types of advertisements, various media, publicity, and promotions. An Account Executive has a lot of responsibility. It is his or her duty to keep a client happy with the agency and satisfied with the services it provides. The Account Executive, who might also be called an account manager, account representative, service representative, AE, executive in charge, or contact person, is in charge of administering every aspect of the account.
Account Executive’s job
While most of the Account Executive’s job is administrative, at times it must also be creative. He or she is responsible for planning the kind of advertising that will be most beneficial, the timing and placement of ads, and the use of public relations, publicity, and special promotions. The entire campaign plan is usually the brainchild of the Account Executive. After coming up with the all-important advertising plan or program, the Account Executive must execute the plan. To do this, he or she will work with all the various departments in the agency. The Account Executive meets with the creative department to explain exactly what the client wants. This includes both the AE’s concepts and the thoughts of the client. Creative decisions are ultimately the Account Executive’s. The Account Executive also has to supervise media selection. He or she works with the media directors to do this. Without the correct media, even a good ad won’t draw the right public to use the product. The individual must decide if it would be more beneficial to use print media, broadcast media, or both. He or she must make sure that a budget is designed and that the media department keeps to that budget. The Account Executive meets with the client either formally or informally on a constant basis. At these meetings he or she pitches new ideas and gets approvals and suggestions from the client.
Account Executive's duties
Much of the Account Executive’s time is spent in conferences with various people from the agency and the client’s office. On any given day the individual might have meetings with people from public relations, media, production, editorial, copywriters, artists, and research. He or she constantly coordinates the activities of various departments in order to run a successful advertising campaign for a client. The individual provides the departments with the information required to complete their work for a client. The main concern of the Account Executive is always the client and his or her campaign. Account Executives, like most others who work in agencies, usually have to keep time sheets to account for the work accomplished for a client in a given period. This way, clients can be billed for the time actually spent on their campaign. In certain agencies the Account Executive is also responsible for bringing in new business.
The life of an Account Executive can be rather stressful. If the client is not satisfied with a campaign, the advertising, the results, or anything else, he or she usually blames the agency, which in turn usually blames the Account Executive. In many instances, when a client leaves an agency, the Account Executive is terminated, too. While the Account Executive is responsible to the client, he or she is ultimately responsible to the account supervisor or vice president of accounts, depending on how the agency is structured.
Salaries for the Account Executive Position
Salaries for Account Executives vary drastically from individual to individual. Annual earnings may span from $32,000 to $200,000 or more depending on experience, type of client, or size of agency. Larger salaries are usually found in metropolitan cities that have bigger agencies and better-known clients. Employees working in agencies also have their earnings supplemented with fringe benefit packages.