Account Director Sophie Bogdan Loves Ideas and a Touch of Chaos

Sophie Bogdan has over 20 years’ experience partnering with clients at brand, advertising and digital agencies. She is a passionate, energetic and focused marketing and agency professional with experience across a wide range of verticals, blue chip and high profile accounts.

A team leader and builder of senior client relationships, Sophie is experienced in solving business problems through CRM, CX, data, digital and integrated programs of work.

She has worked across a range of categories and clients including News Corp, Foxtel, Samsung, and iiNet as well as managing a rebrand for TAB. And at BMF Sophie currently partners with Endeavour Group and Alinta Energy.

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

Sophie> My first agency role was as a production assistant at a small digital shop called BOLD, where I worked on a non-shooter video game that was being developed as a side project. My job was to help translate the in-game action into multiple languages.

I'd studied French, Spanish and Romanian at Flinders Uni, while also proofreading, writing copy, and contributing to a project focused on recycling e-waste, which felt both innovative and virtuous at the time.

My first account management role came later, within the design function at FCB. After the code-heavy world of BOLD, I was drawn to the pace and variety of managing multiple creative projects and loved watching ideas take shape through the design process. It was my first real exposure to the inner workings of a creative agency and a steep but fascinating learning curve, especially coming from an artsy, public-sector family.

I still credit that early FCB role with sparking my love of typography and colour, and giving me a deep respect for the mysterious power of composition.

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

Sophie> I grew up in Canberra in a household where creativity was king; maths and PE were dismissed by my mother as inferior subjects. Instead, my week was filled with classical ballet on Saturdays, piano on Wednesdays, and music history and composition on Fridays.

At home, it was all about drawing and painting, though I was impatient and inept compared to my two older sisters, who both went on to study visual arts. I was surrounded by creative types even then.

With a ballet dancer/art teacher mother and an expressive Hungarian father, I’ve always felt at home in creative environments. But there’s another side to me too. I’ve always loved order and analysis as much as I’ve loved ideas and a touch of chaos. As a kid, I was fascinated by old advertising annuals from our local library: the sharp copy, the airbrushing, the objectification of women, the dated fashion, all of it captured my imagination and invited my quiet, withering critique.

Over 20+ years in the industry, I’ve worked across brand, 1:1, design and digital disciplines, developing a broad understanding of creative processes, production, and marketing techniques. After the scale and drama of agency life at BWM, I wanted to explore the not-for-profit space and spent 18 months at Pareto, then a leading fundraising agency, where I worked with some brilliant clients and a team that included data scientists. I’m not a data specialist, but I gained a deep appreciation for predictive modelling, segmentation and the mechanics of 1:1 marketing.

Later, at AnalogFolk in Sydney, I loved collaborating with UX specialists and developers. I’ll never forget the moment our CTO solved a complex issue by simply Googling it. I'd assumed he was some omniscient oracle. It taught me a valuable lesson: dive in, ask questions, and don’t be intimidated by what you don’t yet know.

Now at BMF, I’m part of our gen AI taskforce, exploring how automation and artificial intelligence can improve creative processes and help our teams think differently. I’m especially interested in the human edge: how we build better collaboration, tap into our intuition, and use our creativity in ways machines can’t replicate. In an age of increasingly generic AI-generated content, I believe having an authentic voice, and a human one, is only going to become more powerful in brand marketing.

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

Sophie> You are the gatekeeper to the entire agency process - you have power! Use it wisely. Your pushing for time and resources to do the job well really counts. Don’t forget your role is inherently and deliberately in opposition to other departments around you. Debate is normal.

Being interested in all kinds of good work and developing an instinct for it helps enormously.

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?

Sophie> A lack of mutual understanding and a lack of open communication around values, motivations or expectations can quietly erode even the most promising client–agency relationships.

Before jumping in, take the time to understand each other. Unpack assumptions. Talk about what you both need from the relationship and define a shared set of expectations, a kind of social contract. It can also be useful to reflect on past tension points in previous partnerships. What worked, what didn’t, and what do you want the spirit of this relationship to be?

In those early “forming” stages, frequent contact and active listening go a long way. Some clients are comfortable being direct; others may need prompting or permission. Some benefit from guidance on how to get the most out of their agency. Either way, creating space for that dialogue early builds trust and alignment.

Finally, aim to protect your people and preserve a relaxed, respectful energy on both sides. That’s where good work comes from — but more importantly, your teams deserve it.

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

Sophie> Clear expectations should always be front and centre. Trust is built by delivering on what you say you’ll do, listening carefully, and spending enough time together to develop a genuine understanding of each other. Honesty matters, but it should be delivered with grace and generosity.

At BMF, there’s a strong culture of radical candour, being upfront about challenges, whether they sit with us or with the client. Timely feedback is key to ensuring it lands well and drives a positive outcome. And often, showing a bit of vulnerability can diffuse tension and turn a tough moment into a constructive one.

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?

Sophie> Clear expectations should be front and centre in any successful relationship. Trust is built by consistently doing what you say you will, listening well, and spending enough time together to truly understand how each other thinks and works. Honesty matters, but so does how you deliver it. Feedback, even when difficult, should be shared with grace, generosity and good timing, so it has the best chance of landing well and creating impact.

At BMF, we have a strong culture of radical candour, being upfront about challenges, whether they sit with us or the client. That openness, paired with respect and a willingness to show vulnerability, can quickly diffuse tension and build stronger, more resilient partnerships.

When it comes to disagreement and emotion, I think there’s absolutely a place for both. A productive disagreement, where people feel safe to speak freely without things getting personal, often leads to better outcomes. I’d rather someone show emotion because they care than stay silent to keep the peace. In strong relationships, those moments of high emotion can lead to real breakthroughs.

That said, I do believe most decisions are best made from a place of calm and clear communication. But a healthy client–agency culture should be able to hold space for both: calm clarity and passionate conviction and recognise that different people bring value in different ways.

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?

Sophie> It very rarely comes to that; it’s almost always a collaboration. Ultimately, we’re all working towards the same goal: solving business problems through creatively effective work. It’s a bit like an advertising version of Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ -- start with the brilliant basics, and keep reaching for excellence.

In account management, our role is to lay the foundations, spark the right conversations, and help create a culture, both internally and with clients, where the best work can emerge.

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?

Sophie> I see BMF’s long idea philosophy as a lens that brings together diverse disciplines. Having worked across different parts of the marketing mix, I’ve found it to be a holistic way of understanding customer needs and how brands can meaningfully meet them.

It starts with strong, flexible strategic foundations that are customer in rather than brand out. Curiosity is key, especially in a landscape that’s shifting quickly with the rise of gen AI. We don’t need to be experts in everything, but we do need to be connectors. That’s where we add value.

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?

Sophie> I’ve been working on the Endeavour Group account for the past 11 months and have helped launch two brand campaigns for BWS, Summer and Sports. While the client was initially happy with the work we pitched, we revisited our thinking during creative development. It took collaboration, negotiation, and the good grace of both our client and internal teams to get it made on time.

Our first project for Dan Murphy’s, the Best in Glass Wine Awards, is now live and has been well received by the Dan’s team, industry peers and winemakers. It’s a pleasure to work with a client who embraces new thinking and values true partnership.

I’m also enjoying being part of several custom AI tool initiatives at BMF, aimed at boosting creative effectiveness, more on that soon.