What is an account guy?

What is an account guy? (I use guy as a unisex word. Account girls, don’t feel left out.)

If you are an account guy, you know that the account side is the heart and soul of an advertising account. You know all the work that goes into keeping up with due dates, client meetings and materials checklists. Most importantly, you know the frustration of dealing with pompous, infantile, bloated ego creative teams.

If you are a creative guy, you know that the account side is like a vacation. You hang out all day, chit chatting on the phone with clients and every now and then you have to reply to email. You spend most of your day pushing your work off on the creative team.

The real roll of the account guy, for those of you that don’t know, is like a mother. You have to be equal parts encouraging caregiver and iron fisted warden. You have to be able to encourage creativity and at the same time keep the ever-wandering creative teams within timeline. You have to be able to translate client speak into creative speak. And be able to keep the creative team from quitting when the client asks for the logo to be made bigger for the fifth time.

So this is the daily chore of the ultimate account guy. Keep the ying and the yang of the advertising world in line. Some say it’s an easy task. Some say it’s an impossible task.

What do you think? How important is the account side to good advertising?

-The Ultimate Account Guy

P.S. The unavoidable best and worst commercials of the Super Bowl is coming. Check back soon.