The Art of Account Management: Theo Southworth and Blair Elliott on Asking ‘How Can We Help?’
Theo Southworth and Blair Elliott are both longtime FUSE Create account directors dedicated to making their clients look like heroes. Combined, these men have almost two decades of account management experience working with CPG, financial, sports, charity, and transit authority clients. Their work has been noticed on the award circuit, with their CIBC’s ‘Customer Appreciation Day’ and Maple Leaf Foods campaigns winning some hardware. Most recently, they helped celebrate the Canadian men’s soccer team in the World Cup, which they discuss below.
LBB> How did you first get involved in account management, and what appealed to you about it?
Blair> I was working in the field as a sales rep, and I wanted a chance to impact the programs’ planning and results. I took it upon myself to help other reps in a mentor type role, and was eventually recognised with an offer to move into the office on the account team.
Theo> I was working as an in-field coordinator, and similar to Blair, I wanted to impact program planning. Once I saw how the end product affects a consumer, the next step and desire was to see ‘how the sausage gets made’, as they say.
LBB> What is it about your personality, skills and experience that has made account management such a great fit?
Blair> I like control, and I’ve always had the tendency to be a mediator. Whether it’s family, friends or working scenarios, I want all the information in order to make informed decisions.
Theo> I find a lot of people in this industry are ‘Type A’ personalities. I suppose I fit the bill of a typical marketer: we want control over process, and we love to talk (and boy do I ever!). A lot of our job in account management is to be that person in the middle, providing program direction to vendors, clients and internal stakeholders while simultaneously forming relationships and trust with these groups because you’ll be doing it all over again, and again… and again.
LBB> What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting their career in account management?
Blair> Listen, take notes, and ask all your questions when the time is right. Some scenarios are only for listening and learning - others, you’ll have the chance to be more active. Work with your manager to ensure there’s time dedicated to answer all your questions. But be sure to study so that you avoid asking the same question more than twice.
Theo> Remember, no question is a bad question! ‘Fake it till ya make it’ will only take you so far in this industry, so ask questions and be engaged with your client and manager. There are so many idioms, acronyms, and pieces of marketing slang, so it’s ok not to know what ‘RACI’ means when you start (I didn’t).
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?
Blair> Point-blank, clear objectives. Both client and agency must accurately interpret the objectives, and the client must be forthcoming if those objectives change at any point in the working relationship.
Theo> To add on to Blair’s point, communication is key in any good relationship, and if one side - or both - can’t align on the best way to communicate, the relationship will be a tense and confusing one.
LBB> And what are the keys to building a productive and healthy relationship?
Blair> Being a human being. Our line of work is inherently stressful, and we all have personal lives. In this ‘work from home’ environment, it’s more important than ever to build a real human connection with our coworkers and clients. Everyone works more efficiently (and you might actually enjoy it) if you like the people you’re communicating with.
Theo> Balance is also important. While our industry does not always operate within the typical nine to five, respecting boundaries (as much as possible) is key in building a productive and healthy relationship. Save that 11PM email response for the morning, or make it clear to your co-workers and clients that ‘my working day may not be your working day’. Read and respond when it’s good for you.
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?
Blair> I believe disagreements are healthy. Without disagreement, we haven’t pushed ourselves to create the best work. It’s up to the account team to create an environment where negative emotions are resolved. Then everyone can be honest about the best direction forward.
Theo> As someone who wears their heart and emotions on their sleeve, there isn’t much of a choice in whether emotion lives within a client relationship – it will. The best advice I can give to someone in this industry is to listen to your gut and push your clients, vendors, and teams accordingly (even if it's uncomfortable), but always sleep on an email response if you are fuming!
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?
Blair> I already referred to myself as a mediator, so yes, there’s some truth to it. However, this statement infers that client and creative are adversaries, which isn’t true. It’s the account team’s job to provide proper context to the creative team so they understand the client’s current state and goals.
Theo> ‘Mediator’ is a better way to describe account management than how I have described my job to friends and family that don’t have context to this environment - which is more of a babysitter - but the notion is the same. It’s our job to play in that grey area between both sides, and it's critical for accounts to understand that clients and creatives don’t think or speak the same way. Having a knack for reading between the lines and asking both sides the right questions will help reduce spin while simultaneously showing empathy when you are working on tight timelines, shrinking budgets and in some cases, overworked teams.
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 - complexity that can often be mirrored on the client stakeholder side too. What’s the key to navigating (and helping the client navigate) that complexity?
Blair> Not only that, but I find myself being an accountant, project manager, producer, field manager or brand ambassador too! When there’s a tight deadline, there isn’t a sandbox that defines our roles. The expectation is to figure it out on time and ideally surpass client expectations. Our clients are being asked to wear more hats as well, but we, the agency, typically have more resources at our disposal. In most cases, there’s more opportunities to help our clients, and it’s our job to ask our clients how we can help.
Theo> Often, picking up the phone and asking the client ‘how can we help’ is the best approach. While it might add more work to your plate in the short term, chances are, it will save time in the long run. With CIBC, we were set to launch their new sponsorship with the Montreal Canadiens in late 2021. A maternity leave, team transfers and promotions meant their sponsorship team was lean at a critical time. Picking up the phone and asking that question ‘how can we help’ revealed some key areas where our account team could lean in to support their internal team directly, and that has led to a far more efficient second year with the team and allowed us to support CIBC onboarding new internal hires and agencies to support the QC market.
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?
Blair> We were briefed in June by our Sinai Health Foundation client for a TV spot that had to air by the fall. We were told there was no chance we’d get buy-in from the hospitals and doctors required to air the spot. Our team at FUSE Create took that as a challenge, and we crushed it. It wasn’t easy, and there were a lot of setbacks, but we created a beautiful brand spot with supporting patient stories that were so impactful and heartwarming.
We also successfully built an always-on social creative strategy for Maple Leaf Foods brands Grab‘N Snack, Lunch Mate and Schneiders. The projects transitioned from another agency with the goal of establishing new content pillars and entirely new production crews, without a perceived change to the public followers. It was a big undertaking, but we built it from scratch with great partners and now we can look forward to loftier goals in the coming years.
Theo> In early May, FUSE Create entered a partnership with Lumency House Toronto to support in creative, strategy and execution of programs against the Toyota and Lexus business. In August, we pitched Toyota on our approach to bring to life their partnership with Canada Soccer ahead of the World Cup. We successfully pitched a program that took advantage of the ‘road’ leading the team to Qatar. Given restrictions and timelines, we successfully pivoted to a more community-based launch events, with a focus on celebration through a strong social platform focused on how fans could ‘#KickitWithToyota’. Through rain and shine, we activated all three community events, launched social, wrapped a thank you video for the team, distributed 40 ‘event in a box’ to key dealerships across Canada, and sent a custom ball and display signed by Canadian fans, team alumni and Toyota executives to Qatar (which was showcased in Canada House for the team, friends and family to see)... all in the month prior to Canada Soccer’s first game. We worked with four agency partners, countless vendors and internal stakeholders to bring this to life, and the proudest moment was seeing that soccer ball by a pool in Qatar.
