Account Management: For the Best Results, Keep It Nice and Frank

Kevin Romero is a born-and-raised Angeleno who’s worked at shops like 72andSunny LA, Anomaly NY, and Big Spaceship NY on brands like Starbucks, J.P. Morgan, Adobe, and Paze.

Before landing at nice&frank, he worked for nearly five years at SPCSHP (formerly Big Spaceship). Outside of work, Kevin makes music, plays soccer, and is a proud cat dad to Fishy and Milo.

LBB> How did you first get involved in account management and what appealed to you about it?

Kevin> I first got involved in account management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I was part of the recreation marketing team. I got the opportunity to lead a student team of 20 to create the advertising and events for the university’s recreation department.

As the team lead, I became the account person that communicated the team’s ideas to the career staff. I loved navigating the process, from small creative chats in a little room to delivering events and quarterly programmes to the university.

LBB> What is it about your personality, skills and experience that has made account management such a great fit?

Kevin> I feel like I have a decently high amount of emotional intelligence. I can organise the messiest of thoughts, feel what needs to be done, and understand the quiet things that aren’t being said. I feel like the hard skills of account management can be learned over time, but the softer skills have been just as useful in my role, given I encounter different types of people and challenges!

LBB> What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting their career in account management?

Kevin> Always ask questions! I know it can sometimes feel annoying, but if it’s a new project, new client, new problem, whatever it is, you’ve got to ask. The thing to avoid is acting like you know everything.

I always come across acronyms where I try to guess what they mean, but then realise I’m wasting my time trying to be smart when I can instead ask and get to what I need quicker. Also, find out what each person on your team does by setting up one-on-ones!

LBB> Thinking back to some of your most challenging experiences you’ve had in your career, what do you think tends to lie at the heart of the more tense or difficult client-agency relationships?

Kevin> Miscommunications and external pressures that each side is not exposed to on the daily. Giving each other the benefit of the doubt that we’re doing as best as we can is important in managing relationships. I have found that being straightforward while also framing things in a nice (and frank) way gets the best results, even when things are tense.

LBB> And what are the keys to building a productive and healthy relationship?

Kevin> Small talk and social time is important! It probably feels like that is not part of work, but building relationships should be weaved into the job’s day-to-day. I have days where I feel more extroverted or introverted, but in order to build relationships over time, I do find it helpful to get to know the people you spend most of your day with!

LBB> What’s your view on disagreement and emotion – is there a place for it and if not, why not? If so, why – and what does productive disagreement look like?

Kevin> Of course there’s a place for it! But it’s about how you channel your emotions. If you disagree, whether that’s with your internal team or with the client team, always feel confident enough to give your POV. Even if nobody else has the same thought as you, your POV is important. It may be a needed perspective. Though, there is no place for mistreating others, no matter how frustrating someone may make you!

LBB> Historically, account management has been characterised as the mediator in an adversarial client and creative relationship – what do you make of that characterisation, is there any nugget of truth in that or is it wildly inaccurate?

Kevin> There is truth to that statement! I've found it's very important to be objective for both my team internally and with clients externally, so I can be a more trusted mediator on both sides.

LBB> These days, agencies do so much beyond traditional campaigns and as account management you’re pulling together creative, experience, data, e-commerce, social and more – and that complexity can often be mirrored on the client stakeholder side too? What’s the key to navigating (and helping the client navigate) that complexity?

Kevin> A previous supervisor of mine used to say “I know enough to be dangerous”, and I 100% believe that’s our job in account management. We should know enough to understand what’s going on, poke where we feel there is missing info, and then lean on our team to form an answer. That way, it’s not just on the account person to know everything – rather, we all roll together and then go to the client in delivering whatever response or recommendation is needed.

LBB> What recent projects are you proudest of and why? What was challenging about these projects from an account management perspective and how did you address those challenges? What was so satisfying about working on these projects?

Kevin> The PazeSM launch in 2024 was my proudest accomplishment.

It’s a new service offered by some of the largest banks and credit unions in the US that I led from research through campaign launch. We created a full 360 campaign, and two of the main challenges were navigating the ‘right’ moment to launch the campaign to the public, and balancing the boundaries of humour given the financial category can be very conservative in what can be said and shown.

Luckily, I had great client partners and we were on the same page from the beginning. We knew the project was tough, but we were supportive of getting across the finish line with great creative. Frankly, a great showcase in how to grow a client relationship.

Paze team, if you’re reading this, thank you!