With brevity, levity, and clarity, Robert Solomon, a well-respected advertising executive, has written a definitive and practical resource for advertising and marketing account executives. Writers, planners, researchers, and production supervisors will benefit as well from his down-to-earth advice on the care and feeding of the advertising client. Account management is more art than science, requiring a wide-ranging arsenal of talents and skills. At times acting as psychologist, orchestra conductor, or lion tamer, the advertising account executive must be creative and versatile enough to develop top-notch strategy, and also graceful enough to nag, persuade, rebuff, and inform-all in a constructive way. Distilling decades of experience, Solomon has compiled a fast-reading, actionable checklist of 54 essential ideas to help advertising professionals merge all these account management skills. The Art of Client Service is geared to the entire account team: writer, art director, planner, researcher, media executive, producer, and support staff-anyone who works with clients. Each of Solomon's 54 tips deals with a specific issue that an account manager will undoubtedly encounter when dealing with a client. The answers and insights Solomon provides are grounded with wit, common sense, and the wisdom that comes from years of hands-on experience. Readers will learn: *The prescriptions for great account work *The steps to take at the start of any assignment *How to write a strategy brief *What makes great creative *Do's and don'ts in client presentations *The elements of a good meeting *How to "package" themselves Also included is a well-edited, annotated, and definitive reading list for agency account executives.
Robert Solomon is one of America's most knowledgeable and respected client service executives, and is a frequent speaker and executive coach on account management.
Robert runs Solomon Strategic, a firm he founded in 1999 to provide marketing counsel to advertising agencies, client companies, and individual marketing professionals.
Robert has handled a wide range of consulting assignments, in both offline and online media, for dozens of clients, including Ammirati Puris Lintas, Cognitive Arts, Conde Nast, Draft Worldwide, Falconhead Capital, Gilbert and Partners, Initiative Media North America, Jordan Industries, R/GA Interactive, and Sotheby's.
Robert previously was President and CEO of Rapp Collins New York, President of Direct and Interactive Marketing at Ammirati Puris Lintas, General Manager of FCB Direct West, and Senior Vice President of Bronner Slosberg Humphrey (now Digitas).
In his 25+ years in the advertising business, Robert worked with a wide range of industry leading clients, among them American Express, Ameritech, AT&T, Cablevision, Citibank, Columbia Business School, Compaq Computer, DHL, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, Levi-Strauss, MasterCard, Mercedes-Benz, Pacific Bell, Polaroid, Seagram, Standard Oil of Ohio, TSYS, UPS, VantageScore, and VISA. For many clients he pioneered brand-enhancing relationship marketing programs.
In addition to writing the current and previous editions of The Art of Client Service for Kaplan Publishing, he also wrote Brain Surgery for Suits, which was published in 2000 by Strategy Press. Many agencies and marketing firms use the books as account management training tools.
Robert also writes a blog under the name "Adventures in Client Service," designed to help people get smarter on how to serve clients well, which in turn should lead to better advertising.
Robert does book signings, has conducted workshops, and given talks on client service, direct marketing, discipline integration, agency search, and related topics for a wide range of organizations, including the Association of National Advertisers, Columbia University, the Direct Marketing Association, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, DM Days, Kaplan Communications, Mercedes-Benz, Messner, MWW, and Omnicom.
Robert has a master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His undergraduate degree is from George Washington University, in Washington, DC, where he graduated with honors, and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He has a certificate in organizational and executive coaching from New York University's school of continuing and professional studies.
Robert lives in Manhattan with his wife Roberta and their cat Sam, and the world's best dogs, Alvin and Molly.
