Account planning: back to the future

The article describes the founding of account planning 40 years ago, independently by Stephen King (JWT) and Stanley Pollitt (PWP, later BMP).

Account planning: back to the future?

Paul Feldwick

Account planning began in two London agencies over 40 years ago. As most people working in advertising or marketing today were not even born in 1968, it is worth remembering that not only were there no PCs then, there were not even pocket calculators; that while the internet did not exist, neither did colour TV in the UK. But no changes since then have perhaps been as important for the advertising world as the two big shifts in ad agency structure: the virtual disappearance of the commission system, and the total separation...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands