What the Producer Said to the Account Executive Part 2

So, here’s what.  If you come to my house and you want a snack you might just find a box of Crunch 'N Munch. Why? Because a lot of years ago that was one of my accounts and I have always believed that Account Leaders should first and foremost be  Fans of the Brand.

If you are lucky enough to be in a pitch meeting with a Hollywood Producer (which I have been many times) you will quickly understand that there is no bigger fan of that movie than THAT Producer.  For every Titanic, Gladiator and Million Dollar Baby, there are 10 Howard the Duck’s.  Why?  Because Howard the Duck had a Producer who pitched that movie like it was the greatest thing since Home Pride Butter Topped Bread.

This is what I am not seeing as much as I should in Account Leaders.  I am not seeing people who I believe are actually a Fan of the Brand.  The crazy thing is, this is true even when they’re a consumer of the brand.  I worked at an agency that had one of the major wireless and Internet service providers.  I won’t say the name, but it’s not AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile. 

What constantly amazed me about the account managers on the business is how openly negative they were about their Client.  Meanwhile, 100% of them used the service.  I don’t need to get into why this is the case. Simply, this is wrong, and we need to get away from it.

If you work on a brand, you need to act like this is your family business.  You need to actually believe that anyone who buys from your competition is taking food off your table. 

Great example.  When I was an Account Exec at my first agency, I had a good friend who worked on Coca Cola.  He used to literally walk the halls of our 800+ person agency at lunch time, and if you had a competitive product on your desk, he would take it and leave you a Coke. No one told him to do this.  This is simply how much he believed in his brand.  He is now the CEO of one of the most successful Digital Shops in NY.  And I guarantee you… he is still walking those halls.

At the end of the day, we are NOTHING without our CLIENTS. Be a Fan of your Brand!

And, fade to black.

Just in case you didn't believe me.