In the last few years the figure of the implementation manager has raised, the all-around person that can deal with the client and make sure campaigns are delivered.
Having worked in few global agencies I have seen Account Managers being pushed to fulfil the role, but this is not always a natural shift from an Account Manager role, sometimes providing more issues than advantages.
IMs needs to have deep understanding of production and should to be able to brief production and manage it. This role is more a fit for a Project Manager role. You could argue you need to talk to client and agencies and need to have more understanding of the business, but that is exactly what a PM should do / have when delivering a project / campaign.
IMs are the ones that needs to take decisions on projects and need to have strong production background more than anything as usually you have a Lead Account person to support / work with them.
This role has been pushed by client and agency, and has become a sort of staffing battlefield, what is an Implementation Manager?
In the Ad agency structure usually the IM is included in the Account Management department but it is more a fit for Project Management. This is a debate that I am sure everybody has an opinion.
Try to search the web for implementation managers roles and you will see most of them are PM jobs. Looking forward to hear your view on the subject.
I am a problem solver, a communicator and a digital entrepreneur. I have more than 20 years experience in digital and advertising, I went through all the digital revolution / evolution, starting my career as a developer and ending up on the dark side as a Manager.
