One of my favorite things about Ad Agency life is that every day is a new adventure. I never know which part of my brain I will need to activate that day. Being an account person at an ad agency requires equal parts passion, hard work, and attention to detail. No two days are alike, but here’s an example of what a recent day looked like (for me, anyway).
9:00 AM – The Calm Before the Storm
Today is a remote day, so without a NYC commute I get to enjoy a coffee while getting my day started. I review my meetings for the day, set up my to-do list, and do a quick review of my email Inbox to catch up on all current projects.
10:00 AM – Internal Kick-Off
SB&A has a standing daily status meeting at 10:00 AM. This meeting is a great way to kick off the day. We all get to be in the same (sometimes virtual) room together and catch up on things. It gets everyone on the same page as far as deliverables for the day and week ahead. We review the status of current projects, including the big one: getting a completed website out to the client for final review.
10:30 AM – Oopsie
Sometimes things don’t work out the way you plan. One of our media properties didn’t execute an email sponsorship the way it had been intended. So, we quickly huddled internally to review the error and strategize what we think would be a proper solution. Then we scheduled a call for later in the day with the property to discuss remedies.
11:00 AM – Looking Ahead
Had a productive call with our digital media buying partner, reviewing one of our current campaigns and looking ahead to the next quarter. We looked back at the current quarter, evaluating strategies that worked and those that didn’t. We also looked ahead to Q3, discussing ideas for new strategies to implement and test. We’re always looking for new ways to reach our audience and maximize our budget, so constant testing is a must.
12:30 PM – Lunch (maybe?)
Working remotely means I’m always working, but if there are no fires burning, I always try to take a short break. Today, I had lunch while enjoying Mets’d Up, my favorite New York Mets podcast. It’s a much more enjoyable listen when they’re winning!
1:30 PM – Putting on my Details Hat
That website we’ve been working on for a few weeks is ready for final review. I take a few moments to put my brain in “details mode” and then review the entire site. Proofing all the copy, double checking links, then doing it all over again on mobile and tablet – it isn’t glamorous work, but it takes a village to build a website. I noticed a few things that need to get fixed, and let the Art Director know. They’re going to get right on it.
3:00 PM – Righting a Wrong
We had the call with the media property about that email mishap. They were apologetic and let us know the safeguards they put in place to fix the issue and make sure it doesn’t happen again. They also gave us a makegood that we thought was very fair, so everyone was satisfied in the end.
4:00 PM – We are (Almost) Live!
The website edits were made swiftly, so we are ready to share it with the Client. One last check to make sure everything is good to go, and we’re ready to go live as soon as we get an approval.
5:00 PM – Wrapping Up
Before my day ends, I make sure that my to-do list is completed, I’ve answered any outstanding issues, and I do a final run-through of my email (I try to keep total control of my Inbox) to make sure I’ve addressed any pressing issues. But my day’s not actually over…
7:00 PM – We are (Actually) Live!
This Client is on the West Coast, so we have a quick call to review the website edits, and we have an approval. Everyone is very pleased with how it turned out, and their new website is now live! But the beauty and the curse of a website is that it never goes to print. So now, we must work on the Spanish translation. But that’ll go on tomorrow’s agenda…