It’s an exciting time to be in Austin. I recently met an Account Planner named Chris Kocek who has a lot going on. In March at SXSW Interactive, Chris launched his company, Gallant. Then in April, he spoke at TEDxYouth about ‘Seeing the world with a fresh set of eyes’. And in May, he agreed to speak with me on Dialogue and [AND! seriously, there’s more] he published his first book, “The Practical Pocket Guide to Account Planning“.
I’m excited and energized by Chris and am thrilled to share with you some of his smarts.
You can find Chris’ interview here with the other Dialogues. Or, simply click below to access our conversation:
[the Dialogue is 30 minutes]
AlixCompany Dialogue with Chris Kocek (click here)
Please find below the key questions from our conversation:
- What would you say was the spark for creating, The Practical Pocket Guide to Account Planning? If you would, please share with us how the idea to write the book came about.
- What would you say is the book’s purpose?
- Who do you think will find the most value from reading it? Why is that?
- You bring up an excellent point, “…traditional planners will cross with UX planners.” Share with us your POV on planning’s value as a discipline within the digital and user experience world we live in today. What stays the same? What would you say has changed? What would you say the future holds for planners in our digital world?
- I love that you break out consumer segments and personas in the book. Over the last three years, I’ve seen a rise in the use of personas with lot of good-use and a lot of bad-use. The good-usage always links back to knowledge gained during research or some otherwise substantiated fact and insight. Share with us your process for integrating research within developing personas; the ‘what works well’ and also the ‘what doesn’t work well’ for developing personas.
- Getting into an agency as a planner can be tough. How did you do it? What would you recommend to those listening in terms of getting a job as an account planner.
Enjoy!