A day in an Visual Unit Leader’s life: What do you want to become when you will grow up?

This is a question that some years ago gave me a lot of headaches…Well, at some point, you stop wondering… you just know and feel that you are in the right place.

My first passion was psychology. I wished to see beyond the looks and to read between lines. The passion didn’t fade away, it just shaped differently – being an account in an advertising agency. Shape which, two years from its birth, still surprises me. J

Being an account in an advertising agency, well, that is a thrill and a challenge! A day to day challenge, like a Montagne Russe, and I guess, the most difficult than most, but far the most satisfying one.

Inside the agency, the projects’ workflow dictates the tone of the day. So, an account must always be flexible, well balanced, must have a strong will and must know when to risk with a creative proposal or concept – she/he must always see beyond the basic requests of the client. An account must never lower one’s sights, no matter if we talk about a smaller project or a fully integrated campaign.

An account always learns and never gives up. Never says No and never stops trying. Also, I am convinced that one of the key elements that make the difference in front of the client is the experience you have and show and the way you handle the project.

At pastel, we are always trying to offer a complete experience to our clients, be it a day-by-day relationship experience, be it an experience dedicated to the consumer, presented through project/pitch proposals. Generally speaking, the approach is called the 3E Approach, but the 3 concepts that form it were guiding us before, without realizing, as if we had same part of DNA. J It is a coordinate which is measured in the joy of working with and for our clients, partners and team, in the measured experience for out of the box proposals and in the excellence with which we are approaching every project, no matter how big.

There are days in which we have 3 brainstormings and we drink 4 coffee cups. There are times in which we handle pitches and we work hard, but there is one thing we surely have in common: pastel is our home away from home. All these things bring us closer. Closer as a team and closer to our clients. J

From my point of view, the only variables of the story are the team and the way you work. At pastel, I learned from the first moment a thing that helps me even now in managing my projects. You must always learn to deal with anything pops out and you must learn to think that I can’t do it! really exists. Try and convince yourself that always, no matter how hard or impossible it might seem, there is always a solution. It is a credo which, if you put it near expertise and maturity, you can’t fail.

In our agency, one day doesn’t look like the one before. The ‘To do list’ is not the same and you can work for 2 or more projects or in different teams. Of course, there are some windows as we call them, during which, if you spot them right, you can solve little things or nice to haves on projects which laid quietly in your mailbox with a red flag, waiting for your attention.

Personally, I have a time schedule that helps me cope better with everything: I come early at the office, I drink quietly my coffee while I think at my ‘to do list’ of that day. If I have a really busy period, I prefer working late, when I know it’s quieter and I can focus better. In the end, everything depends on your own personal approach which fortunately is different from person to person.

I said earlier that an account always learns. Yes, it is a continuous process of accumulating new things – information, opinions, theories, creative ideas, headlines and so on. I think that an account, or at least taking my personal example, does not learn in school this job. She/he learns by stealing from the colleague next to her/him as junior and then learns simply from experience. You can learn from your creative colleague who explains you different graphic techniques, you learn from the copywriter how to write a text or a headline, you learn different tactics from the client, you practically build up information from all corners.

Summarizing, I think that as long as you are always trying to exceed the expectations, if you always practice what you learn day by day in this job, if you are responsible and determined, you can achieve excellence. Or, as Aristotle says: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”.

Material written by Ana Achimescu 

About Ana

Ana Achimescu works for pastel, is nicknamed Lexi and leads one of agency’s units as joyful leader of visual business unit.  

She started working at pastel two and a half years ago and now leads a 4 people strong team. She coordinates both her own projects and supervises the ones handled by her colleagues