The Handbook of International Advertising Research

5

Account Planning

International Perspectives

Padmini Patwardhan and Hemant Patwardhan

Introduction

The importance of account planning to the advertising industry in the West is evident. In addition to the United Kingdom, where it originated in the 1960s, planning is firmly entrenched in the United States as an advertising best practice. As an important activity in mainstream advertising, it represents both a philosophy of advertising development as well as an analytical technique to centralize consumer insights in the creation of advertising messages (Hackley, 2003; Meyers, 1986; West & Ford, 2001). Functioning as the “voice of the consumer,” a planner can bring a sharper consumer perspective to strategy development, creative development, ad pretesting, and tracking of the brand’s progress (D’Souza, 1986). Thus successful planning drives communication solutions that connect with audiences more effectively and efficiently (Baskin & Pickton, 2003; Blais, 2003).

The practice of account planning has also expanded to cyberspace, as evident in the establishment of professional planners’ associations in several countries beyond the UK and USA (e.g., Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Spain, and Sweden). Development of planning communities on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – drawing members from all over the world – also testifies to its emerging global popularity. Articles discussing planning have appeared in trade publications around the world including Advertising ...