But recognizing the need to build a relationship with one human being isn't enough. This is the realm of the account planner. For if you know these things about a man you can touch him at the core of his being. While Mr. Bernbach was speaking about the role of account planning in advertising, his reference is just as applicable to the public relations discipline. For some, perhaps.
Emotion plays no part in the scientist's work.
Account planning is the ideal balance between facts and emotion, data and intuition. There is an excellent example of how a company seemed to score a homerun with a breakthrough advertising campaign produced and targeted to moms. While the idea of a mom and her kids together should be nothing but heartwarming, mothers either loved the ad or were put off by the family depiction. The campaign managed to alienate subgroups of moms in a number of ways. The lesson learned from this example is that by recognizing that all consumers within one demographic group aren't created equal, public relations and marketing practitioners are provided the opportunity to more effectively shape messages and tactics for greater efficiency and results.