This week, Will Harvey is serving up his typical day as an account executive over at Proximity.
After being placed at Proximity for an internship by the IPA Summer School, Will was asked back as a graduate. Having been on the Royal Mail account for six months, he is now working on the newly won Lloyds business.
You can find Will's day in the life piece after the break...
Don Draper or Dogsbody? An Account Handler's 'Typical' Day
In account handling, the job varies so much from day-to-day, that there are few guarantees or standard days. It’s about as varied a 'desk' job as you can get.
I say 'desk' because the best days are when you are barely at it!
08.30am
I have a bit of toast or what's left in the floor's chocolate box, while I plan the day ahead or just dive straight into last night's emails.
Then I'm quickly whisked off into a lovely Continental breakfast meeting or I'm hastily finishing the timing plan I promised the client at the end of play yesterday.
10.00am
Those Creatives must be in by now – it’s briefing time. Heading upstairs with an armload of paper and my very own brief with a creative proposition that I reckon the team can really get stuck into. Or with a brief that couldn't fill a napkin but demands headlines and copy for close of play tomorrow.
Either way, at least I'm away from that desk.
Chatting away about the weekend, the briefing's soon over. Fun done – now back to the desk. The Creatives have some fundamental questions that appeared to have jumped out of the original client brief. A quick call to the client and more chatting – this time about how no one can quite believe how much of a knob that bloke on the Apprentice is. Quelle surprise!
I send a few quick-fire answers to some emails, or just add them to the never ending to-do list. Now, it would be just plain rude to put writing this brief off any longer. I decide the desk isn't the best place. So it’s down to the £1 a coffee cafe, with the ol' pen and paper in hand…and we call ourselves a digital agency eh?!?
I re-read the client brief and the wealth (or more often absence) of background information. Context understood.
Got that down on coffee-stained paper. Conversation with the planner now.
Where the hell is he?!? Back to the desk to drop him an email – "Need to chat Customer Insights now!" If that doesn't get a planner interested, nothing will.
12.00pm
It’s already twelve o'clock and I’ve got a conference call with the client to talk over feedback on copy we sent over five days ago. I can't even remember which copy this is, what product, and especially what version….anyway, I'll wing it.
A few polite battles later, and we come away with a couple of successful push-backs. Hopefully the Creatives will thank us for that at least!?!
Forgetting to eat means that the stomach rumbles have now become audible – so it’s time for that lavish expenses-paid lunch with the client, or a supermarket sarnie.
A choice cut or Sainsbury's choice range, it’s gobbled down at rapid pace.
2.00pm
We’re back on. Returning missed calls over lunch. Can a man not eat? A lovely chat with a client, or a reminder of a request that slipped away, and it’s back to the brief.
Planner in tow, it’s time to smash out who we're actually talking to. How we can relate to them? What do they actually want from this product? What makes this product different? A few mind blocks later, an extra large cup of coffee and it’s cracked.
It’s a mini-Eureka moment. This is no ‘Good Things come to Those Who Wait’ moment. In fact, the only person the only who's been ‘waiting’ for this brief is my line-manager!
A mini-victory none the less.
A couple of very dry cost estimates to go with it and it’s over to the client. Then a nervous wait to see if they like the direction...
4.00pm
WIP time – we’re reviewing the latest creative ideas. Another gem in a busy day. This is the lovely output of all that running round – the money shot.
And they're brilliant. Phew. Brow wiped clean and I can’t wait to present that to the clients tomorrow…
A good hour of housekeeping to finish. Sending over endless parts of endless projects that were promised at that all encompassing get out clause that is 'End of Play'.
6.00pm
Loose ends all tied up, or at least forgotten about and it’s down to the bar to have a cold one. Again, £1 a drink, need I go on?
So, list of things done today: umpteen timing plans, countless cost estimates, an indecent amount of emails, more calls than a 3 mobile employee, and just one brief. The best thing about the day – the fact that I spent most of it talking to creative, inspiring and interesting people – the Don Drapers of this world.
And that's why I love my job, warts and all.
If you missed last week's post, you can find Fiona's A Day in the Life of a Junior Creative here.
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