The Heavy Lifting Behind Great Account Management

​Account people aren’t stereotypically the bookish types in an ad agency, but Erin Madden, now senior account executive at The Public House in Dublin, describes herself as an ‘intellectual’ who was keen to succeed and even excel at school. “I’d say I was a (very) quiet teacher’s pet,” she says. 

Growing up surrounded by books, Erin loved to read. “I did try to dabble in writing, but as I got older my imagination dwindled, so I left the storytelling to the authors,” she says (and nowadays, the copywriters). 

Other childhood traits have continued to serve her well. “For as long as I can remember I’ve taken pride in my organisation and wanting to always have things in order whether it be with my homework, my bedroom or, of course, my work as I grew up. I think this trait above all lends itself to my current role in account management, without a doubt.” 

Erin wasn’t big on sports, but fell in love with figure skating while watching ‘Dancing On Ice’ on TV. She took lessons for a couple of years until the ice rink in the area shut down. “I don’t think there are any permanent rinks left in the Republic of Ireland anymore, which is such a pity,” she reflects.

Having graduated from Technological University Dublin in 2022 (slightly delayed by the rude interruption of covid) with a BSc (Hons) in event management, Erin was grateful for the flexible scope of qualification it gave her. Being quite business/marketing/management focused, it served her well. 

Coming out of college, she interviewed for both event management companies and marketing/creative agencies. “It became clear during this process that the agency side of things sounded more my speed, with a lot more structure. I LOVE a routine!”

Erin’s first entry to the industry was as an Intern at Goosebump, a Dublin-based creative agency, where she learned the ropes under two account directors who she says were ‘amazing’.

“I owe a huge amount to my two ‘mentors’, my then senior account manager Sinead, and my subsequent account director, Adam. Working as part of two small teams allowed me to build confidence and my skillset quicker than if I had been part of a bigger company.”

One of the most major early lessons she learned was: “We are account managers, not project managers (although our project manager at the time did try and poach me) – the importance of taking a wider view of both feedback and creative output, not just passing work through hands, to ensure the best final result for all. Another key one for me too was you don’t have to be a yes man. Sometimes it’s better to say no and here’s the reason for this.”

Early projects often revolved around rollout of in-store assets for F&B brands – shelf talkers, wobblers, floor vinyls and scan-to-win competitions. “I remember being shocked at the attention to detail required for the design team and for the account team to review the T&Cs on some of the small formats,” Erin chuckles. “One such project involved going to my first stills shoot, which was for one of our food brands, and it was brilliant to see the great partnership of Joanne Murphy (photographer) and Johan van der Merwe (food stylist) at work. I remember how cool myself and my family found  spotting the work ‘out in the wild’ in Tesco, Dunnes etc, then.”

A natural introvert, Erin has over the years put herself in situations where she had no choice but to become more extroverted – like so many of us in careers that encourage gregariousness. “Working in retail at Christmas will do that to you,” she laughs. “And if it didn’t, studying to be a fitness instructor and teaching classes definitely will!” 

Ambition is something Erin has continued to develop as she’s grown older and particularly post lockdown, when she got into fitness, “like the majority of the population”. She enrolled in a course alongside her nine-to-five in an agency to become a qualified personal trainer and fitness Instructor, to help answer her childhood hope of becoming a teacher. 

“When pursuing this career wasn’t a new enough challenge, I found my passion for bodybuilding and have just finished two competitive seasons. So where I would have never thought myself a super ambitious person before, I definitely can’t argue it anymore.”

She even took a hiatus from advertising from 2023-2025 to work in the fitness industry. “This was a great way to get more experience in the social/digital side of things too, having to ‘market’ myself and my services,” she says.

After that hiatus, Erin credits her account director Annie at The Public House, who “made the transition everything that it was for me, again helping build my confidence at the agency.”

A career highlight was a brand refresh for an Irish commercial gym. “It was a job that I really threw my all into, wanting to be in every meeting and every room to get as much insight into what was going to be a big production project which would be a first for me.” Combining her work and her passion for fitness, it was smack bang in the middle of Erin’s Venn diagram of interests. “It really did ignite the fire in me to be a part of and the creative routes to come out of it were so impressive. The production didn’t end up getting across the line in the end, but it gave me my first exposure to the world of brand refreshes/rebrands, strategy insights, pre production and recces!” 

As the bridge between different disciplines, account executives should revel in connection and this is certainly true for Erin in her day-to-day at The Public House. “I love the cross-department collaboration within the agency. I love getting to work with such talented creative minds and detail-oriented designers, and trying to wrap my head around where the strategy team even BEGIN with their work!” 

The weekly battle over available resource is something that Erin sarcastically calls a ‘perk’ of working in a small agency, but the passion always goes a long way. “I love to see brands who really have their finger on the pulse and hit the mark with reactive content, whether it be  across digital/social or more traditional media,” she says. “I love a clever OOH build!”

Erin is based in county Louth, outside of Dublin, which she describes as “the perfect distance between city, country and seaside.” Outside of work she values training in the gym, lots of pet exposure (her family have three dogs and she and her partner just adopted two cats), and reading in the evenings.

After her two successful bodybuilding seasons, Erin is taking time off now to build herself back up and try and find “that elusive balance people talk about”. She still does some online coaching outside of work too, which brings her joy. “[It] means I’m still able to help some amazing people transform their lives through nutrition, training and daily habits and being a support system for them throughout,” she says.

As she looks forward to 2026 at The Public House, she’s driven by “a constant want to be better than I am now, and a drive to find real pride in what I have done.” And she’s equipping herself with the attitude to get there. “My main aspiration is to be someone both my colleagues and clients have full confidence in.”​