My Account Planner Portfolio from the Miami Ad School\'s Account Planning Boot Camp

1. Account Planner
Katie Tobin
katietobin5@gmail.com
(512) 784-4032

2. But I’m a poet
And I’m bound to walk
the line between the real
and the sublime
Poet. Troubadour. “Best damn songwriter in the world.”* All describe Townes Van
David Rodriguez
Zandt, but I believe at his essence, he was a storyteller, one capturing and connect-
Ballad of the Snow Leopard
and Tanquery Cowboy ing his listeners to deeper, unburnished truths.
I worship him simply because his songs make me feel found.
Townes’ songs uncover that which is hidden, real, and true. With precise clarity, his deceptively austere lyrics
articulate these hidden truths, the complicated ideas which most of us don’t even have words for. Planners
at their best also mine and articulate this insight.
Within the span of a four minute song, I feel transformed because
Townes’ storytelling has connected me to a human truth, some-
thing universal, sublime, and real with a capital R. Planners at their
best also connect and create this shift.
Feeling Found
Planners listen, uncover hidden truths, articulate, distill, clarify, and simplify. Planners -when using their
best storytelling magic - can also make us feel found.
What Can Be Found in Me
*Steve Earle once proclaimed,“Townes Van Zandt is the best
Account Planner damn songwriter in the world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s
Communications Strategist coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.”
Video Producer
Writer
Researcher
Account Manager

3. Feeling I’m on the verge
Of some great truth
Finding the
When I’m finally in my place
Alexi Murdoch
Wait
Best Fit Politics is the business of constant persuasion, according to Tony Blair.
That’s where I found my professional start and where I’ve remained
since: the persuasion business.
I worked as a legislative staffer on Capitol Hill when I was a freshly-minted college graduate, and I was working as
a Senior Director at a PR agency just before attending the Miami Ad School’s Account Planner Bootcamp.
Between the two, I’ve had a few professional incarnations, - in politics, at a social marketing company, at a strate-
gic communications firm, at my own strategic planning and communications company, and at a PR agency - but
all have relied on the same talents essential to the persuasion business.
At its most fundamental level, persuasion involves three actions: intuitively understanding the audience, using
this insight to discover how to communicate and connect with them, and crafting a story so engaging that it
shifts how the audience thinks and feels.
For Account Planners, the Unifying Idea on occasion precedes the Insight. Such is the case with me; my profes-
sional path’s Unifying Idea arrived first. The truth I’ve uncovered during 14 years in the persuasion business is this:
I’m a storyteller at my core, and selling ideas is what I do best. The part of the process I love best is the researching,
insight-mining, synthesizing, imagining, and designing strategies to sell those ideas. Account Planning is what fits
me best - it’s the niche where I feel found.

4. CASE STUDY 1
BoBaby * WINNER OF THE WEEKLY
CLASS CHALLENGE

5. Even though today’s dad is very involved in child-rearing,
BoBaby is a new website that sells moms remain the primary purchasers of baby and child
premium/trendy baby and kid’s products. I initially cast my net wide to immerse myself in
products. But, unlike most of the the baby product category and evaluate the competition.
existing sites, BoBaby will target Through a series of consumer interviews with dads of
dads, not moms. They want to newborns and toddlers, I set out to find out why most men
launch in the U.S. and rapidly be- don’t buy baby products, even in this era of co-parenting.
come a place where dads like to “It just hasn’t interested me that much,” said Alex, dad
spend time and buy high-end baby to 2-year-old Jake.
and child products.
“I kind of geeked out on the whole
thing. I think the buying of the baby
stuff was, in some ways, an excuse
for me to do the research/consumer/
dork thing. Buying the stroller and
jogging stroller was akin to buying a
CHALLENGE
car: I read online reviews at retail sites
APPROACH
(like Amazon), on search engines (like
Google), on consumer product sites
INSIGHT
(Consumer Reports), and watched
product demonstrations (YouTube).”
Ba, dad of 4-month-old Sara

6. TARGET AUDIENCE
Gadgeteer dads
(def.) a dad who is compelled to buy the latest and greatest gadgets
and gizmos.
What Is the Shift We
Are Trying to Create?
FROM: Baby products and ac-
cessories aren’t interesting to men
and that’s why moms buy most of
them. Plus, Mom Knows Best when
it comes to baby things.
TO: Baby products are just like
the gadgets that I “geek out on” for
myself, except they’re for my kid.
Why Should They Believe It?
These dads enjoy “geeking out” on research when buying any new gadget.
BoBaby makes baby and kid products interesting to gadgeteer dads by featuring
them in the way traditional gadgets are presented.

7. Unifying Idea
BoBaby: Where dads
indulge their inner
gadget geeks

8. CASE STUDY 2
Durex

9. During man-on-the-street interviews, consumers chose
Durex is stuck in a challenger posi- Trojan four to one, yet when asked, virtually none could
tion in the U.S., as Trojan dominates articulate a reason for this preference. A clear opening
the condom category. The brand’s for Durex appeared after we discovered that Trojan’s
“unprompted awareness” is too low,
unprompted awareness status isn’t rooted in brand
and they need to win the top-of-
mind battle without investing too
benefits in consumers’ minds. Category research also re-
vealed that condoms are available in flavors spanning the
much. Create a bold campaign to
spectrum, and most consumers we polled have “taste”
make Durex more famous, using a
great PR tool: a new flavored con- flavor apathy.
dom. It’s your choice to find a flavor What did this mean for Durex?
We can make flavor matter.
that would surprise people, and
what is meant by “flavor” is open to
your appreciation.
Why?
We can create top-of-mind awareness
for Durex by boldly standing for a
meaningful cause.
CHALLENGE
“I don’t use condoms, but I would go
APPROACH
out of my way to buy a Durex con-
INSIGHT
dom if it helps me fight Proposi-
tion 8 and supports everyone’s right
to get married.”
Marie, a 20-something lesbian

10. Unifying Idea
It’s not another flavored condom-
it’s my personal expression that
I support marriage equality.
TARGET AUDIENCE
People who support marriage
equality
Recent news headlines added social/cultural context to the data. “Proposition 8 Overturned: Gay Marriage Ban
Ruled Unconstitutional” and “Fifth Gay Teen Suicide in Three Weeks Sparks Debate” ran in the preceding eight weeks. Is-
sue research also revealed that California’s anti- and pro-Proposition 8 campaigns were more highly fund-
ed than ANY state ballot initiative and EVERY campaign in the country except for the U.S. Presidential election.

12. CASE STUDY 3
PayPal

13. PayPal launched their Student Ac- Although the client had provided a creative brief, a planner’s
count product in 2009, and as of Oc- first responsibility is to ensure that the problem is precisely
tober 2010, teens are able to initiate defined and that the question, “why are we advertising” is
the sign-up process. Drive sign-ups, answered correctly. Ninety percent of a planner’s role is accu-
usage of and enthusiasm about the rately defining the challenge. I set out to evaluate the brief’s
Student Account product by com- direction and, also crucial, to test the message for reso-
municating the availability of the nance with the brief’s target audience.
product and that teens can now start Consumer research, which included man-on-street and tele-
the sign-up process. Target teens 15 phone interviews with teenagers and their parents, immediate-
to 18 years old with the message, ly revealed roadblocks in PayPal’s creative strategy and uncov-
“Enjoy the independence of having ered slightly-altered opportunities.
your own student account card,”
which is a debit card. Teens 16 to 18 years old
CHALLENGE
DISCOVERY
APPROACH
resonate with them as something unique that only
a PayPal Student Account offers
Teens 13 to 15 years old
change
this new life stage they’re entering

14. Reframing the Challenge
FROM: Encourage older teens (16 to 18) to enjoy their independence
by signing up for and using a PayPal Student Account
INSIGHT TO: Make PayPal’s Student Account a rite of passage - it’s the first step
on a younger teen’s (13 to 15) journey towards adulthood
“Getting my first debit
card was a really big deal
to me. It made me feel re-
ally grown up and mature.
It also made me feel like
my parents trust me. My
TARGET AUDIENCE
dad signed me up for my “aspirationalists”
PayPal account about six (def.) Teens 13 to 15 years old
months ago, and who “aspire up.” Enthusiastic
I have to be responsible about products that make
about how I use the them feel older, more mature.
money.” “Maturity” means “Freedom”
AND “Responsibility” to them.
Morgan, age 14
The best time for a brand to insert itself into a consumer’s life is when behavior is shifting, before rituals are formed. By targeting younger
teens at this pivotal stage, PayPal has the opportunity to become part of an adolescent’s changing behavior.

15. Unifying Idea
It’s not a student Creative Execution-Mobile
account, it’s a marker Teens use mobile application to create their own inspirational collages by
taking pictures of things that remind them of being “free” or “responsible.”
of my maturity. Teens empowered to directly contribute to content on the microsite and
create their own wallpaper.
Creative Execution-Online
Microsite www.choseyourlife.com linked to YouTube
Teens create and upload declaration video confessionals “I am Free” and
“I am Responsible.”

16. CASE STUDY 4 CHALLENGE
P.O.V. * WINNER OF THE WEEKLY
Write a critical essay about
your favorite movie scene or a
movie. It must include: what
is it really about, what’s the
CLASS CHALLENGE subtext, what does it do to
them, where does the tension
come from, what “theme” does
it bring up/play with, what’s
Voyeurs and Things Unheard
ESSAY original about it, what other
cultural objects (book, other
films, art...) does it resonate
with, and anything else it
The movie’s premise screams trite: married man in the midst of a midlife crisis
meets young ingenue stuck in a lonely marriage and lost in her own life. They’re
inspires in you.
in a faraway land, connect by happenstance and slowly fall for each other.
On their last night together, Bob and Charlotte reveal feelings of attachment, with “I’ll
miss you” and “I don’t want to leave,” but with just enough restraint and ironic detach-
ment that the audience feels CERTAIN that the cauldron of unexpressed emotions will
boil over any second now. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we know that the perfect Hollywood ending
awaits.
After they say a platonic and dispassionate goodbye forever, Bob leaves looking
dejected, rejected and full of unrequited love. Hollywood steps in to work its movie
magic! On the way to the airport, Bob serendipitously sees Charlotte walking down a
crowded street, orders the driver to stop the car and jumps out to chase after her.

17. when Bob catches
up to Charlotte. Her slightly damp eyes betray how forlorn she feels about his departure.
The two consummate their love affair with a chaste
kiss and--the most intimate and revealing act of all-- What Bob whispers is a mystery--his words are in-
Bob whispers something to her. They say a real audible--and this exposes the film’s subtext: it is a
goodbye, he grins with his emotions requited and meditation on the private world that two people
then they travel off in their separate directions. falling in love create for only themselves. The au-
dience must be excluded from Bob and Charlotte’s
private world in this final act for the film to be an
authentic love story. We’ve witnessed the emo-
tional intimacy develop between them, and now
it’s time
Lost in Translation is a film about alienation, loneliness and displacement, all made more for the
striking because of the film’s strangers-in-a-very-foreign-land setting. Bob emanates empti- voyeurs
ness, while Charlotte radiates longing for connection and purpose. Both are searching, and to leave
American culture has promised us that “romantic love” is the answer. Finding that one-and- the lovers
only soulmate bestows feelings of belonging, attachment and home all wrapped up in one, alone.
and usually wrapped with a pretty wedding bow.
Movies like The Graduate have the audience primed to expect Bob and Charlotte to run
away together, with Bob as the anti-hero who arrives at the last moment to rescue her
from her empty, loveless marriage--and rescue himself from aimlessness. Any student of
RomCom anticipates a When Harry Met Sally bold, unequivocal declaration of love to
end the movie, and a child of the 80s might even secretly be wishing for a “No one puts
Baby in the corner” dramatic finish, complete with elaborate dance scene. Even Jane Aus-
ten would tidily package up this love affair with not a secret left or emotion unexpressed,
just as she did in Persuasion.
With Lost in Translation, the mystery abides.

18. RESUME
EXPERIENCE
McDonald Public Relations, Inc.
2008-2010
Austin, TX
Senior Director
· Directed agency’s health care and energy accounts; conceptualized and
oversaw implementation of clients’ strategic communications programs
· Designed integrated public awareness campaign for the Children’s Advo-
cacy Centers of Texas; created campaign identity, produced PSAs for TV
broadcast, and developed site architecture and wrote content
· Rebranded and developed integrated marketing program for SpineAustin;
created new positioning strategy, wrote message platform, and produced
TV advertising and digital and print marketing collateral
· Conceptualized and produced videos for multiple clients; conducted all
phases of video production
2003-2007
Katie Tobin Communications Co.
Austin, TX
A strategic planning & communications company; Principal
· Performed qualitative research and mined key insights to conduct quarterly
customer retention research projects for Frost Bank’s Research & Strategy
Group; synthesized research results to inform bank’s business planning
·Designed ongoing Voice of the Customer Online Survey Program for Frost
Bank’s Interactive Marketing Division
· Conceptualized and conducted strategic assessment to determine reposi-
tioning for technology company; strategy recommendations directed com-
pany’s rebranding, repositioning, and new marketing plan
· Provided External Relations counsel as member of team which developed
State of Texas’ bid to win FutureGen, the $2 billion federal clean energy dem-
onstration project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy
M&R Strategic Services 2002
Washington, DC
Program Manager
· Directed feasibility assessment for the Pew Charitable Trusts
to plan strategy for issue campaigns promoting reforms to the
criminal justice system
· Identi ed and interviewed stakeholders, including reform
activists, legislators, academics, journalists, legal experts, and
public o cials
· Analyzed polling data and qualitative research results to
evaluate level of public interest in reform

19. e American Institutes for Research-
Health Care Communications Center 2000-2001
Washington, DC
Account Executive
· Served as primary contact for TeenReach branding project designed to build public awareness
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
· Wrote TeenReach Brand Book to guide integration of brand strategy into local marketing
plans
O ce of Congressman Gene Green (TX-29) 1997-1998
Washington, DC
Research Assistant
· Researched, analyzed, and recommended policy positions in individual issue areas, including
transportation, education, reproductive health, crime, civil rights, and a rmative action
· Prepared Member for Commerce Committee hearings on health care legislation by conduct-
ing background research, attending strategy meeting, dra ing Member’s statement and witness
questions, and sta ng Member at hearing
· Wrote speeches and House of Representatives oor statements
EDUCATION
Miami Ad School San Francisco, CA
Account Planning Bootcamp, December 2010
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX
Principles of Marketing Certificate Program, April 2008
Davidson College Davidson, NC
Bachelor of Arts, History, May 1996
Charles E. Lloyd Prize for Non-Fiction Writing. Semester study abroad
at University of Valencia, Spain.