The Art of Account Management: The Mix of Creativity and Practicality with Andy Chinnock

Andy is the client partnership director at Quantum, an integrated brand experience agency delivering award-winning campaigns for the biggest FMCG brands.

Andy leads a team of client service gurus and is utterly obsessed with the client experience - ensuring he delivers for them and their consumers and shoppers.

Andy has been in the industry for 15 years and in his time has worked across a whole suite of FMCG brands - from Peroni Nastro Azzurro to Aperol Spritz, Kraft Heinz to St Pierre, Wilkinson Sword to Hawaiian Tropic suncare.

Andy has a particular interest in how brands can drive conversion through the funnel, and how agencies can truly innovate with phygital first thinking in developing stand-out brand campaigns.

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

Andy> I managed to land an awesome account executive role during my time at university where I was studying marketing and needed to secure a placement. I remember being really inspired at the interview – by the brands, opportunities to develop, and the entrepreneurial agency culture. 

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

Andy> I love the mix of creativity and practicality. Having grown up preferring creative classes to academic ones, I felt that marketing and account management gave me the opportunity to develop my business, analytical and commercial skills in a creative context. 

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

Andy> Take your time and learn the basics. Get your head around the core competencies that make a formidable account handler before stretching yourself. Getting this right at the beginning with make your clients love you and set you up for success in the long term. 

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?

Andy> It’s hard to remember in the heat of the moment that we’re all human – even clients! I think in the early part of an account manager's career, the client x agency relationship can sometimes feel intimidating. But in time, you come to realise that clients are just as human and fallible as you are. Realising this means you can show more empathy, a greater understanding, and find opportunities to support them in ways that perhaps other agencies aren’t thinking about. 

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

Andy> Get to know your client – both professionally and personally. I’ve always found this builds more meaningful connections, breaks down barriers, and enables you to build a more personalised approach to your working relationship. 

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?

Andy> As account handlers become more senior and experienced, they should have opinions on things. As trusted advisors, we should (when appropriate!) interrogate client thinking, challenge the status quo and present new solutions. Never do it for the sake of it, but healthy disagreements that lead to value-add solutions is a great way of winning the hearts and minds of clients. 

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? 

Andy> I really don’t agree with this! But perhaps that’s because I’m part of a highly productive Client Services team in an agency of 40 people or so. Here, we’ve resisted all barriers and processes that would prevent us from delivering creative effectively and efficiently. 

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?

Andy> First up, not all account handlers are all rounders – and that’s fine! In fact, it’s a good thing as we can play to everyone’s strengths. What this means in practice is surrounding account management teams with the right talent, expertise and skills from others in the agency. We have a talent pool that we leverage internally, but with whom we also connect with the client. The account manager's job is to facilitate this interaction whilst holding onto the accountability of the project and client relationships.   

I also don’t believe that clients expect their account manager to know everything or have the answer for everything. I’ve seen the strongest client x agency relationships be facilitated by account managers who maintain ownership and responsibility at all times, but who delegate tasks to talent in the team. 

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?

Andy> As the client partnership director in the agency, I am responsible for building a team of account managers who consistently deliver work we’re proud of and which exceeds client expectation. My big challenge is making sure the team always has their client in mind. It’s imperative that we’re client-centric in everything we do. It helps us to evaluate our performance, consider value-add opportunities and shape our services from the client’s point of view. This is essential in delivering the best client experience and in ensuring we’re competitive as an agency.