The X Factor: Diary of an anonymous AE

Sean X Cummings
Media Planning & Buying Posted on June 10, 2008

Tuesday, 2:30 p.m.
No communication from client. I don't even know what the presentation is about other than social media. I told her I would help with presentation preparation but have not heard anything.

Tuesday, 11:27 p.m.
The plane flight sucked. It was delayed two hours sitting on the tarmac, with one of those creeping "10 minute delays" that just get longer and longer. The client booked me on an airline with which I have no status, so I spent the entire time sandwiched in a middle seat in coach next to a mastodon and a rhino oozing into my seat. Well, at least there wasn't a screaming baby. That would have been too cliché. What it did mean, however, is that I really had no ability to work on the flight, and that was five hours of possible work-time essentially wasted because my client was cheap. Aren't I dragging my ass cross-country to do them a favor? So I end up getting wiped out while travelling with much less time to prepare.

It didn't really matter anyway. They did not send me their presentation until 10 p.m. for a noon meeting tomorrow. Time to take a look at the presentation. Well, at least the social life at the bar was OK, at least not 60-year-old insurance salesmen types. You have to love New Jersey. Why am I staying in New Jersey for a meeting in Manhattan?

Wednesday, 9:15 a.m.
OK, the hotel also sucked, and I am working on a three-hour time difference. A lot of suckage so far on this trip. I know NYC is expensive, but setting me up at a hotel that takes more than an hour to reach the client's office in Manhattan is ludicrous. There are a bevy of hotels within blocks of their office -- and they have vacancy, I checked. I would say I'm beginning to hate this. Then again, I didn't get much sleep. I was up till 3:30 a.m. editing their presentation, which was a disaster. Why do people do presentations in which it's obvious that they're just going to read from the slides? Does anyone teach anyone else how to present anymore? Does anyone know how to use the "Notes" section in PowerPoint? Arghhh! Well, at least I had a decent breakfast once I got into the city. Gotta love NYC for that.

Going into the client building now.

Wednesday, 11:16 a.m.
Needed to get out to take a break. She had not even read my presentation edits by 11 a.m. after I stayed up until 3:30! And the meeting is in less than an hour.

Wednesday, 4:07 p.m.
The one-hour presentation went almost three hours. It was obvious to everyone that she didn't understand social media. Worse, she made it appear as if the agency had been helping her on this. (Me!) The potential disaster has now progressed to a real disaster. Does she really think that using the agency as a scapegoat is going to endear her to us? I just looked like a total idiot in front of their senior management, and worse, she made our agency seem like we are clueless.

I have to go to dinner with her tonight and the rest of the PR team. I need a drink!

Thursday : 9:00 a.m.
First of all, I'm hungover and getting on a plane in a couple hours to go back to the West Coast. Last night's dinner was surreal. The feedback from her was that the meeting went very well and that her senior leadership was very pleased. Huh? It seems that they are even more clueless than her, so I guess any talk of Twitter or social media sites just went completely over their heads. I can't understand how they cannot have a single person on the client side in the entire company who actually understands the basics of this. They are a multimillion-dollar company! At least I got to talk to the agency who officially handles social media for their internal corporate communication group. They also understand how clueless the client is. It feels a little better to know that it's not just me.

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Comments

Brad Hampton
Brad Hampton June 18, 2008 at 6:13 PM

That was a great chronicle of a week I've lived over and over! One thing to mention is that when the client's incompetent employee finally gets fired (it happens!), the agency and AE they were working with are often thrown out with the bathwater for a "fresh start."

We don't do gimme's, or freebie's, or favors for clients, and we bill for our time - plus rush charges. If your client doesn't respect you, your skills and your time, they're not a long-term client.

By the way, your "Deep Throat" mentioned being able to blackberry from a meeting. If someone is texting another client when they're meeting with me... Well it doesn't happen twice.

Jon Wegman
Jon Wegman June 10, 2008 at 2:28 PM

This is the worst article I have ever read for the following reasons.

1. "They were all cute - by the way"
In what way is that applicable - if not sexist - to anything else contained in this "diary"

2. This is a rant of an underpaid young proffesional, probably going to sleep every night wondering if everyone in her agency is as stupid as she thinks they are.

3. The conclusions at the end of the article are in no way related to the "diary" of this person.

I can't believe I just read this.

Anne Simons
Anne Simons June 10, 2008 at 2:26 PM

There are real issues that need to be addressed between agencies and clients but the complaints in this article are trivialities.

For example, travel arrangements are (or should be) specified in the agency contract. Typically, agency personnel are expected to abide by the same guidelines as their client counterparts unless different arrangements are negotiated at the time of engagement. If they're not specified in the contract, shame on the agency.

And whose idea was it for the account executive to attend a presentation to answer questions on something the account executive isn't familiar with?

I echo Megan's question: Where was the supervisor while this was going on?

I've been agency and client side so I know that there are times that clients treat agencies badly (and vice versa.) But the poor treatment in this instance was entirely self-inflicted and will merely serve to reinforce the stereotype of account executives as empty-headed 'suits.'

Anon Ymous
Anon Ymous June 10, 2008 at 11:37 AM

What a POS resource.

I'm sorry that your client - to you - is stupid. That you don't get to fly business class (boo hoo). That you have to commute an hour (!) to the client's office. That you're not strong enough to delineate your agency's value proposition (if you even have one.)

But I did notice that you managed to get hammered on the client's dime. So much for integrity of thought.

This article is a microcosm of why working with an agency is fraught with peril - people who are, essentially, thankless.

Here's a suggestion... go work in a Burger King for about six months. Then come back and tell us all about how "horrible, stupid and thankless" your clients are.

Anony Mous
Anony Mous June 10, 2008 at 9:53 AM

Millennials!

Seriously, next time do this experiment with the best account person you can find, not just the hot young girl who doesn't want to work for her salary.