The Art of Account Management: For Alyson Fishbein, It’s Palpable Excitement
As SVP of accounts at MOCEAN, Alyson Fishbein oversees all of the agency’s entertainment social marketing projects and campaigns, with over 12 years of experience working in digital and social. She first fell in love with social nearly a decade ago at CBS News and has grown in the industry ever since. She’s led ground-breaking social campaigns and teams at iHeartRadio, AwesomenessTV, Rachel Zoe Inc., and Trailer Park Group. She currently manages and leads social accounts for clients including HBO, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, Universal, Disney, Sony, Warner Bros., among others. Some of her personal favourite campaigns she’s had the honour to work on include Red White & Royal Blue, Elvis, The Boys, Do Revenge, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Malcolm & Marie, and Judas & the Black Messiah.
Fresh off the back of her brilliant opinion piece on ‘how Barbie changed marketing forever’, we caught up with Alyson to find out more about her approach to her craft.
LBB> How did you first get involved in account management and what appealed to you about it?
Alyson> In all honesty, it was not a path I actively pursued! I didn’t know much about what an account role entailed until an opportunity came my way at Trailer Park Group. Once I learned more about the specific position, a digital account director role, it really spoke to me as I loved the aspect of working with various internal departments across creative, strategy, and production, while also working with all types of clients within the entertainment and brand worlds. I was excited to utilise long-standing relationships I had from being in the industry for 10+ years and building upon them in a way that was entirely new to me.
LBB> What is it about your personality, skills and experience that has made account management such a great fit?
Alyson> I am a massive consumer. From food, to fashion, to entertainment, I live and breathe it all every day and have for as long as I can remember. I used to steal my parent’s Fortune, Time, and Vogue magazines when I was a teenager to see what brands were doing, what ads looked like, which products were emerging – I wanted to take every bit of it in. On top of that, I’ve always been incredibly disciplined. Merging the management of both a wide variety of deliverables and campaign budgets has been a seamless fit for my work style. From a personality perspective, I’m sincerely passionate about what I do and what I work on. That passion comes from a very genuine place that many clients and creatives can relate to as they love advertising just as much as I do. That passion and excitability is palpable because I wholeheartedly love what I do and the various brands and entertainment entities I get to work with.
LBB> What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting their career in account management?
Alyson> My biggest piece of advice is to make sure you work day in and day out to have a deep understanding of what makes brand messaging successful, and learn how to persuade both clients and agency co-workers to that success. Take the time to understand what creatives do and what they need from you and from clients. Spend time with producers and project managers to learn what you can do to be their advocate and partner. There’s so much more than just talking to a client and managing a budget – you must really dedicate yourself to understanding the marketing funnel and the agency ecosystem. That dedication makes accounts and campaigns great.
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?
Alyson> Fortunately, I haven’t faced too many of those sticky situations, but when I have, I’ve found that listening and problem solving is undeniably crucial. Action is all that matters. I can say anything to my team or to my clients, but without actively working to solve a problem and deliver solutions, none of my words matter. Sometimes agency work and client expectations just don’t align – sometimes personalities don’t gel – and that’s okay. You work to make the relationships as pleasant as possible, and you focus on making the work great.
LBB> And what are the keys to building a productive and healthy relationship?
Alyson> Mutual respect, understanding, and patience are the keys to any successful account relationship – and truly all relationships in the workplace! I spend more time with my team and my clients than just about anyone else in my life besides my husband and dog, so the foundations of those relationships must involve honesty, respect, and healthy communication. When communication and relationships are in a solid place, the work is better, and the clients are happier. It’s a win/win for all involved.
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?
Alyson> I absolutely believe in healthy debates within the workplace. I have them with my boss, my peers, my team members, my clients – everyone I work with! Those debates build respect and trust, and often lead to the best work outcomes as they are typically fueled by passion, one of the biggest emotions people in advertising utilise every single day. Emotion in the workplace often stems from people caring so deeply about what they do, and if those emotions are conveyed in a way that makes the work better and empowers a team, I’m all for it.
LBB> Historically, account management has been characterised as the mediator in an adversarial client and creative relationship - what do you make of that characterization, is there any nugget of truth in that or is it wildly inaccurate?
Alyson> It certainly can be accurate! I believe a strong account leader must be the voice for both the creative integrity within the agency in addition to the clients. There is a never-ending juggling act an account person must maintain that caters to both sides. Ensuring both parties consistently feel equally heard and supported is crucial.
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?
Alyson> Every client has different expectations from an agency partner, so being flexible and nimble as it pertains to each of their specific needs is fundamentally what helps to manage the complex range of asks. What helps my team more than anything is having a deep understanding of the client’s priorities and goals, so we can strategically work towards accomplishing those alongside them. If a client is unsure of the direction a project should go in and needs more guidance, we can provide that for them, but again, it’s all a partnership. There is an ongoing dialogue between the internal teams at the agency with our clients to ensure success. That healthy relationship and rapport help to navigate all circumstances, even when they may be complex and daunting.
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?
Alyson> I am so proud of my team’s work across every account and campaign we have the honour to work on. From bringing a beloved book adaptation to life with a major streamer to helping a gaming client exceed previous sales goals and smashing a previous record in three months, our team has delivered incredible campaigns for fandoms everywhere. We have some very exciting projects in the works with both entertainment and brand partners that I can’t share just yet, but I am buzzing with excitement for consumers and audiences to see that work!
