Is it normal for accounts to constantly give creative direction without looping in your CD?

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Yes it is. Every account person wants to be (or thinks they are) a creative.

But it shouldn’t be normal. Let your CD know that changes were asked by the accounts team and see if they agree or want to push back.

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It’s hard to know those things as a junior though, and you’ll certainly learn what’s possible on what timelines as you learn and grow. You’ll also learn how to prioritize things based on their actual importance/urgency, not the urgency/importance an account person is conveying. Until you feel comfortable doing that though, you should ask for more support from your CDs, or creative resource manager

Loop your senior in.
"Hey account, totally understand where you are coming from, have you spoken to senior boss?"
"No? Oh could you get their approval? Let's set a meeting after that."

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Advice. Communicate with your account team instead of trying to strong arm them. Just tell them that you don’t feel comfortable working on something without the blessing of your supervisor.

Also use your PMs if you have them. Don’t try to figure everything for yourself. People usually help you if you ask. No snark intended. It’s actually something that we forget sometimes.

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Yes. And sometimes they don't need to. It's also a billing thing; if they are slightly overburned, they will not want a cd billing time towards small stuff if they think you can handle it.

But if you are confused or think you need to pushback you can tap the cd yourself.

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I had one earlier this week where their feedback went WAY off brief and didn’t consult the strategy team even before sharing FB. I was LIVID

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This happened to me a few times over the summer and as a junior, I felt cornered into saying yes. Thankfully, my creative lead found out and was able to reign the project back and clarify to account that we absolutely needed a strategy, a proper kick-off, and a design lead (at the very least).

It boggles my mind how account just decided that the project was “easy” enough for me to do on my own. Now I know that I can call that out myself, but at the same time, you’d think that they’d double check with a creative lead before sliding into a junior’s DMs and strong arming them into a 25-hour project 😑😑

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No. Accounts can give feedback to pre-empt client feedback but never creative direction.

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Depends on the ask. Could be small things like knowing the branding or guidelines better, mandatory shit that was in the brief that needs to show up in the work, the more "logistical" stuff

Obviously not stuff that impacts the work like art direction and copy.

Creatives should also be able to push back on inane shit on their own without looping in the CD unless it needs to be escalated.

Remember that for some juniors, especially those who start remote, a task that may seem inane for a normal creative team may actually be totally new! If this happens, ask for any guidelines you might not know of, ask for time with CDs to walk you through the process or time with strat to walk you through specs.

Unfortunately yes

Depends on the agency. Most agencies these days are “account-led” which translates into the account department having the power. A few remaining “creative-led” agencies exist where the power remains within the creative leadership.

Example: Crispin (back in the day) as a creatively led agency. McGarryBowen as an account-led agency.

Are you my teammate?

Just no.

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