Insights on Account Planning: A View from the Indian Ad Industry

Abstract

Abstract Using a grounded theory approach, this study on account planning is the first to explore its growth in India, a region of increasing importance to global advertisers and ad agencies. Five themes emerge from interviews with sixteen Indian ad professionals: a glocalized planning ethos, environmental factors as primary planning growth drivers, demand-supply issues as developmental constraints, lack of variety in planning roles, and lack of institutionalized measures to evaluate planners' performance. Organizational innovation diffusion and institutional theory paradigms are utilized to interpret findings and build a conceptual framework of account planning diffusion. Similarities and differences with western practice are noted.