arantzau
account supervisor
What led you to work in advertising?
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Okay, that’s a good question especially to start off the conversations.
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When I was in college I knew I wanted to do something in the communications field, but I wasn’t sure exactly what. I liked working with groups of people and doing team and group-led efforts. And as a kept taking communications courses I realized –you know I find this really interesting, I just didn’t know what. There are so many different routes to go down. I took an advertising course it was really interesting, I didn’t have a major at my school for advertising. But, It turns out my brother worked in advertising and started working at Y&R, because he interned at Y&R. He would talk to me about it and I would ask him questions and say you know I really like this and this. And I actually thought I wanted to work in public relations, but then I realized I don’t really like to write. So, before I graduated, he told me I could get the contact information of the internship coordinator, just so I could understand and if I wanted to apply then do that. After talking to him and trying to understand what he did in advertising. I was like you know what I’m going to give it a shot. If I don’t like it is not the end of the world. I applied and I got in and I liked it. I liked getting to know what advertising was about, because it’s not like Mad Men really. It was just really cool to see how things come together because as a consumer you see how it on tv, or online. And now it was like you get to see the behind the scenes from the beginning to the end.
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What school did you go to?
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SUNY New Paltz, it’s a small liberal arts college. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.
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Where you in any advertising clubs?
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We did have a communications and media club, which I participated in. What I really liked to do were clubs that were backed by a cause. I was a part of club for Invisible children. I was the PR and the communications chairperson there. I felt I could use my skills even before I was in advertising of just talking to people and getting them interested and helping them to understand why we needed their clubs help and get the cause across to other people and their friends. I felt no matter what I was doing that’s the part I leaned on.
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Do you feel like you have that in account management right now?
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I do, I do feel that way because account management is so much the thread and that invisible thread throughout the different departments. [The thread] stems from the conversations with the client, through the creative department, through the production department. It’s all about coordination and thinking and solving and a lot of –seriously just a lot of communication. It’s really cool.
Did you ever do any cause work here?
I did work on drink up….
It was outside of my comfort zone, and so different from working in a B2B business, or b2c it’s just so different working on a not for profit.
What’s the craziest thing that happened at work?
I can’t think of one specific scenario, but this happens so often it just blows my mind. The crazy timelines and constraints that clients give
us. It’s happening again this year, but it happened last year, they wanted to have a full-fledged campaign launched by the end of August. And we had been showing creative for months and months and they couldn’t make a decision and they kept changing direction. Then they finally started approving stuff at the end of June. It’s just one of the things you see over and over again, and its mind boggling because then you have just a short amount of time to actually make whatever you’re creating and it’s just insanity and you just feel like there’s not enough hours in the day to accomplishment. But you get it done. This is something that happens all the time, but I’m still like this is crazy, you’re crazy, we’re crazy. We’re miracle workers.
Sometimes you have to learn not to worry about things.
Last year I got super sick and when I realized that it was from all the stress and anxiety I had mental switch. I was like it’s okay it’s not just all falling on my shoulders and we’re a team and we’ll all figure it out. It really took me a long time to make that switch in my brain.
Do you think there are a set of characteristics that define people in advertising?
Usually by department it varies. In account management and production there’s a lot of Type A’s because you have to love process and love following that process. Creatives you either hone in on that talent or you don’t. Not everybody could be a writer or a designer or an art director. I just watch them and I’m like how are you doing this? And they’re like how are you dealing with the client like this? It’s two different worlds, and that’s why one person belongs in one department and another person belongs in another department. That’s why we work well together because we are not all the same person with the same skill set. And that’s one of the things I like about it. You need everyone to survive.
Do you really feel that team effort here at Y&R?
I do. I feel like the people are really nice. There’s really like a sense within your team, especially in account management depending on the size of your team you have 2 or 3 or 4 people around you in your department on your team. You spend so much time with them, you develop such a strong relationship with them and really get to know them and everyone has different work styles. It’s interesting. I really like the team aspect of account management.
Why would someone choose to be in advertising?
I think for example on Xerox with Xerox’s PR firm, they just do different things that we do. Everyone has a strategy no matter what communications field you’re in, but the output is so different. We focus on campaigns that are external. Other companies focus on the brand, or consumer perception. The process is similar the output that comes in a different channel. From the client perspective about meeting your business, It’s very much so we know communication is important and we want this print ad to look great, but did that print ad make me sell more toothpaste at the end of the day they have a boss to go back to.
You have to think about what kind of interests you of that output
I think as times goes on things kind of mull some more. We are doing a lot of branding and the PR agency is making a video and we’re like woah we’re the creative agency, so I do think the lines are beginning to blur.
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What changes have you seen in advertising since starting at Y&R?
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The change has been in social media and digital advertising and just larger type of activation. As opposed to just a tv or print campaign. Clients expect Y&R who isn’t a digital agency is expected to be digitally driven. That’s one of things that’s changing and will continue to change. It’s hard playing the catch up game to that. Not everyone at every agency is digital savvy and driven, not that they don’t know how to use Instagram, but they don’t see how things could come to life on those channels. There brains automatically go to “oh this idea can really live on tv or film”, but think of the other ways an idea can come to life. Not just using to use it, but thinking about it through your consumer’s eyes. Yeah like social is really cool but you don’t see a CFO interested in what their brands are saying on Instagram.
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Do you think account has to remind other departments to think outside of the box?
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Yes because people kind of get stuck in what they know and you do have to remind them don’t think about it through a channel, and what the best way to activate the channel.
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The account team lives eats and breathes that client, the strategists isn’t in that day to day with the client or its competitors, so we really help to identify the strategy and the challenges. We know our client and it is a part of our job to help. When we evaluate the creative you have to be ready to say whether or not this makes sense. Because you’re an invisible thread you have to be a part of each piece.
Do you find anything frustrating about today’s industry landscape?
Overall in this industry especially being in NY, there’s a lot emphasis on work and the work life balance is not ideal, but overall I feel like it’s one of my frustrations. Is how much focus and time you have to put on the job. Im not saying it because I’m a woman, I think it’s something common in work spaces. I don’t think it’s just specific to advertising. Then again there are times when it’s great.
In terms of diversity, the male to female ratio it fluctuates, but when you look at ethnicities there’s definitely a lack of diversity. I’m Mexican, so I’m a part of the minority here. I can’t think of many other Hispanic people here. I think diversity totally. I don’t think it’s done purposely, I really don’t know and many clients are looking for a diverse team because diversity brings ore value and perspective.
Do you feel like your intern class was diverse?
Everyone wasn’t the same, but it wasn’t the same as walking into a class in NY.
Another frustration, sometimes you have two masters. One is your creative agency and the other is your client and sometimes the two just don’t meet. Your client wants something good and your creative wants something good, but good means something different to both of them. So especially in account management I really feel like there’s a big headache and struggle that happens to how do we make both entities happen. Because at the end of the day My client is my client and I have to make them happy however I work at an agency and to the head chief creative officer they want to make our clients happy but guess what they want to win awards and get recognized and do good work and sometimes the stars do not align, so some entity is unhappy. I think that’s really challenging and one of the frustrations, of like why why can’t we all have the same objective. So sometimes it works out other times it just doesn’t.
Do you feel like you often have to push back on the client or creative more?
Both. I mean mainly to the creatives it’s more helpful when you have concrete examples of why it doesn’t work strategically. But sometimes the clients are like I do not like it, then explain to me why you don’t like it or what you like about it. You don’t like it because it’s red? Explain what’s wrong with it That’s when It can get frustrating because sometimes it feels like there is no rhyme or reason as to why something is wrong. And they’re like I just want it bigger and the creative is like no, it looks bad. Then sometimes it’s like they’re right or no they’re right.
How long do you have to work with a client to build that trust to tell them no?
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It depends on the client. Some clients can take criticism. They’ve been working together for 9 years, if it’s a small thing they’ll let it go but if it’s a big thing they’re not going to let it go. Trust is really important and the communication skill to explain “you may not agree with me but let me explain to you why this is important to us in our opinion” and if at that point they’re like no, then there’s not much you can do.
It’s a lot about communication and problem solving.