A study of the adoption and adaptation of the discipline of Account Planning in the Mexican advertising industry. In the last 20 years, the advertising industry has transformed around the world as large conglomerates have formed and consolidated in the largest advertising markets. The Mexican industry was ranked 12th in 2006 and 14th in 2008 based on advertising expenditure. However, little is known about the practices of local advertising agencies, and the way these practices were adopted. This study seeks to address this dearth in the literature by looking specifically at the discipline of Account Planning. Using a Grounded Theory methodological approach, through in-depth interviews with advertising practitioners a tentative model is developed. The findings provide insight into the lack of clarity as to how account planning is conceptualized. According to virtually all the participants, account planning in Mexico is more a verb than a concept which is adapted to the corporate culture of each agency, and to the style of the person heading the department. Limitations of this study and future research recommendations are also presented.

This study provides a historical understanding of the adoption, adaptation and education of account planning in Hispanic advertising agencies. At the time of this writing, minimal academic research had focused on the discipline, and even less on the discipline in Hispanic advertising agencies. According to the United States 2010 census, the Hispanic population surpassed 50 million, making in the largest minority group in the country, accounting for over 15% of the population. Hispanic advertising agencies as a group are charged with reaching this market, and within these agencies, researching, strategizing and briefing are their account planners (also called brand planners, strategic planners, creative planners and research planners). Grounded theory was employed to interview twenty-nine account planners in five states who work, or at some point worked, in a Hispanic advertising agency. The results present a thorough explanation of the adoption and adaptation of account planning in Hispanic advertising agencies, as well as an overview of what account planners who want to work in this market should study. The findings suggest that account planning in Hispanic advertising agencies has experienced innovation diffusion and big brother syndrome, involvement, improvement, and fictive digital kinship. Study limitations, future research, managerial and educational implications are presented as well. / text

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