Get to know the account director at Union agency in Charlotte, NC as she talks about client feedback, project goals and contract renewal.

Melanie Pearl | Account Director | Union

Take 10: with Melanie Pearl, Account Director

Melanie is Union’s account director, resident dancer (she danced at UNC for four years before becoming a Carolina Panthers cheerleader) and a core reason our agency accounts continue to thrive and grow. “It’s my responsibility to ensure that the team members responsible for leading these accounts have the confidence, know-how and tools they need to be successful,” she says.With 12 years of experience in the digital marketing space, Melanie has moved from corporate marketing director to client services, and from account manager, to supervisor, to director. Through it all, she’s worked on multiple enterprise-level accounts that have a family of brands. One of her favorite projects to date: the design of a digital music board that allowed users to make their own audio tracks using curated clips, record them and share them in a 3D gallery. Beyond the office walls, she juggles interior decorating, finding new dance-oriented workout classes, serving as a board member for the Charlotte AAF Chapter and spending precious minutes with her son, Ollie.From setting an example at home to fostering client relationships in a collaborative environment, here are some insights and motivational moments from Melanie.What’s the first thing you do when you get to the office?Check my schedule for the day and make my coffee.What experience do you want clients to have with Union?I want our partnership to be a collaboration, a coming together of two sets of expertise where we can bounce ideas off of each other and feel comfortable having candid conversations. I want our clients to be excited about meeting with us, to look forward to receiving our deliverables and to feel inspired by the work we’re doing together. In my ideal world, we would serve as an Agency of Record for all of our clients, instead of something more project-based, so that we can be ingrained in their business, and them in ours, and dedicate ourselves to achieving big goals. What’s your approach with clients when helping them set project goals?It’s important to understand the bigger picture. Yes, we understand that you want a new website, or you need to drive traffic, but why do you think those are beneficial to your business? What are you ultimately trying to achieve? What is the learning objective or KPI? When we have a deeper understanding of the “why,” then we can use our expertise to recommend the best tools to get you there. What’s the biggest mistake clients make when it comes to providing feedback?When reviewing deliverables, it’s important to strike a good balance between first impressions and methodical, thoughtful review. I think everyone can be guilty of going with an immediate reaction to a headline or an image or an animation style without thinking through the greater strategy or user experience. However, sometimes you can look at something for so long that you overanalyze and tweak it to death. If that’s a concern, then I just recommend testing it! That’s the benefit of the digital space — we can test, iterate, analyze and try again. You oversee so many different accounts — what’s your trick to staying on top of it all?Having a great team. Knowing I can trust them to proactively identify any potential problems and escalate issues to me when needed. It’s my responsibility to encourage them, to ensure they feel supported and empowered as well as to challenge and motivate them to do great work. What’s the best part of your job?Seeing the work come to life. I understand that 80% of my time is spent working on the business — growing accounts, managing a team, influencing process improvements and business decisions — but at the end of the day, I still just love to be in the work. We have a really talented team and I’m proud to stand alongside them.

Get to know Melanie as she answers our 10 questions between meetings.

What’s the best part of your job at home?My favorite part of the day is when I come home from a long work day and my son is there to greet me giggling and squealing. That wipes away all the stress of the day and any guilt I have about not spending all my minutes with him. For me, it’s so important to have the outlet of work to recharge and feel challenged in different ways, while showing my son that he’s got a mom who’s a boss.What’s one piece of advice you’d give to clients when it’s time to renew an agency contract?Intellectual capital is invaluable. Yes, there are dozens of agencies, within miles of us even, that offer similar services, but here at Union we place a lot of time and investment on establishing strong relationships, immersing ourselves in your business and growing with you. Your goals become our goals, and that’s not something you can put a price tag on.What’s your brand?Say what you mean, mean what you say. I’m a very direct person and I pride myself on delivering things in a clear, concise and to-the-point way. Some might say I’m “No BS.” I like to think it just makes me a boss. Better yet, a mom boss.Where can we find you in Charlotte when you’re not at work?One of my favorite things to do is weekend brunching with my husband and son. You can typically find us at Lincoln’s Haberdashery or Rhino Market &amp; Deli. Then we like to rent scooters and ride through the fancy neighborhoods of Charlotte, admiring all the landscaping and beautiful homes.

Valtech Union is a creative &amp; performance marketing agency that creates omni-channel campaigns, unleashing creativity on a data-driven world, helping brands produce memorable, measurable and repeatable results. Obsessed with data-driven performance, we believe every marketing dollar should be viewed as an investment. Our clients expect a meaningful return and we prove the ROI of our work with quantifiable data.