Advertising Alumni Visit Graduate Course to Discuss Current Trends in Account Planning

Dr. Neal Burns invited three advertising alumni and local brand planners working in the Austin area to visit his graduate course in account planning on Wednesday. Among them was Flor Lozano, strategic planner at Latin Works, Dan Widels, planner at GSD&M, and Becky Arreaga, co-founder of Mercury Mambo. The three speakers spoke on topics ranging from the client-agency relationship and its dynamics to relationships within the agency from the account planner's perspective.

Lozano, a native of Mexico, began on the client side working in Mexico for Hermann Miller prior to pursuing her Master's in Advertising here at UT. Since receiving her degree, Lozano has worked on the Walmart account at GSD&M and is now a strategic planner at LatinWorks, a local Hispanic agency. Widels also graduated with a Master's degree in advertising from UT-Austin, and currently works as an account planner at GSD&M. Some of his current work is for AARP regarding their stance on the social security issue, which he argues has made his job more closely associated with public relations than account planning. Becky Arreaga, the final member of the panel, began her career at the agency known today as Bromley Communications. She then enrolled in the planning program here and has since co-founded her own agency with her sister named Mercury Mambo which focuses on grassroots marketing.

Students present for the discussion agreed that the discussion provided valuable perspectives into the current world for account planners in local agencies, as well advice for success as a professional account planner. The discussion also provided value to students with interests other than account planning. Shannon Fausak, first year advertising graduate student studying media management, recalled, "even though my concentration is in media, the information they gave was very relevant, especially regarding taking time to ask the necessary questions to better understand the consumer, which also leads to better media decisions."

4/5/2005