A lack of 'true believers' in the account planning discipline in Australia

Abstract

In Australia, advertising agencies have partially embraced the UK-originated account planning philosophy. In an exploratory study, six senior account planning directors were interviewed to gain insights into account planning in Australia. It appears that the scale and nature of the Australian advertising industry militates against full acceptance of the UK model. Indeed, the UK model has met resistance from several areas. It was further found that the expectations of the planners' role probably exceed the individual's capacity to deliver on that role. Hence, the outlook for planning other than for a small group of “true blues”, to use the Australian argot, may have limited success in Australia.