Creativity Beyond The Canvas: Why Account Management Could Be Your Dream Creative Career
When people think of creative careers, they often imagine the bold strokes of an Art Director, the poetic precision of a Copywriter, or the motion magic of an Animator. But creativity doesn’t only exist on the page or the screen. Sometimes, it thrives in the spaces in between and sometimes, the most creative path isn't the most obvious one.
I always knew I wanted to be part of the creative world. With a father who was both an artist and a designer, I was raised in a home that breathed creativity - before he took over our family’s engineering business, that is. It was this early exposure to imaginative thinking and making that sparked my passion to forge my own path in the creative industries.
Like many others, I initially assumed my place would be in the "traditional" creative roles. I landed my first placement in 2009 at a design company, excited to dive headfirst into Adobe programs and pitch visual concepts for real clients. But something didn’t quite click. I struggled to bring my ideas to life on the screen. It was frustrating - and I felt like I’d hit a dead end.
But as Albert Einstein once said, “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”
That small failure redirected me and revealed a whole new world of creative opportunity. I gained experience in a planning department at an advertising agency, and for the first time, I heard the term Account Management. I wasn’t sure what it meant. Was it finance? Was it admin? It turned out to be a lot more - and everything I’d been searching for.
Account Management, at its core, is about balancing vision with practicality, relationships with results, and structure with spontaneity. It’s about collaborating with creative teams and clients to bring powerful ideas to life…not necessarily by designing or writing them, but by shaping the environment where those ideas can thrive.
And here's the secret no one tells you: this role is creative. Deeply so.
Being organised is a superpower of mine. Ever since I was young, I’ve found joy in structure - even as a schoolkid, I’d lay out my uniform and pack my bag the night before. Now, in my day-to-day work, that same instinct allows me to manage multiple projects, navigate different personalities, and orchestrate the moving pieces of a project, all while helping ensure the final product stays true to the brief.
Account Management is where creativity meets clarity, where the big ideas meet the real world.
If you're someone who loves being around creativity but doesn’t necessarily feel called to be behind the pen, the lens, or the tablet -don’t discount your place in this industry. If you’re a natural organiser, a team collaborator, a problem solver, a communicator, or someone who just gets things done, your kind of creativity might be exactly what an agency needs.
Because creative industries don’t just need creators, they need connectors.
So, if you've ever felt like you didn’t quite fit the mould of a "creative", take a closer look. There’s more than one way to be creative, and account management might just be your unexpected dream job.