From consumer insight to advertising strategy: the account planner’s integrative role in creative advertising development

In commercial applications the somewhat passive notion of marketing research is increasingly being superseded by the more active idea of consumer insight. In advertising this subtle change of emphasis is captured in the evolution of the account planning role and the associated “philosophy” of creative advertising development. The account planner is ostensibly responsible not only for commissioning and/or conducting advertising and consumer research, she or he is also responsible for integrating the resulting consumer insights into the creative advertising development process. Account planners deploy their consumer insights to act as “midwives” to creativity in the sense that they are responsible for persuading creative staff to take research‐derived consumer insights on board. This paper draws on recent depth interviews with advertising professionals and previously published research to explore the process of integrating research‐based insights into creative advertising development. The overall aim is to further elaborate the tasks and effectiveness of the account planner.