Who is a Junior Account Manager?

How much is an Account Manager of an Ad Agency involved in brand strategy with customer and creation of concept internally for an ad campaign?

• I've experience working in Marketing and Account Management for a multi-national B2B company and have been preparing myself to pursue a carrier in an Ad Agency as an Account Manager where I may utilize both experiences equally. Please help me understand if the Account Management in Ad agency is just monotonous sales or if it has alot more than that? Also, illustrate on the "more" part.

• Answer:

  Well this depends on the size of the agency and the volume of work. In a smaller agency you can bet that each employee is wearing several job titles on their hat at any given time and that their various responsibilities have spill over into areas that might be outside their positions scope of work in other larger agencies. In a large and busy agency positions become more static and responsibilities are more concrete. It comes down to the personality of the agency and their work style. Every agency is different and handles creative solutions and generation in their own way. The Account Manager is much more than sales, especially in a smaller agency. In a large agency, you will be the liaison between the agency and the creative, media and strategy teams on a day to day basis. You need to have a very clear understanding of a client’s business and their marketplace. You also need to be excellent at juggling deadlines to make sure their work is done on time, and most importantly, on budget. You should have excellent financial skills and understand how to manage to a budget. But, the most important skill you need is communication. Since you will be talking to the client the most, you need to communicate the client’s goals, needs, situation, etc., to your various teams to optimize results.