By 1965 Britain was at the peak of prosperity. The economy and society had recovered from World War II, and a healthy economy meant good years for advertisers. However, unlike American agencies of the same period, the British advertising structure of the time included very little emphasis on the research function. Into this structure, Pollitt introduced the idea of a consumer liaison, a new advertising professional who could combine quantitative research with the voice and opinions of consumers

The problem, as Pollitt described it, was "a considerable increase in the quality and quantity of data that was relevant to more professionally planned advertising-company statistics, available consumer and retailer panel data, etc. And facilities for analyzing data were becoming more sophisticated and more cheaply accessible." Britain at that time had few qualified people to deal with data of that sort.

Initially, large British agencies met account planning with skepticism and hostility. Smaller agencies were more receptive to the idea, and as they grew, planning became part of their larger structure. For the next fifteen years, British advertising became innovative and award-winning, and the rest of the world started to take notice. Jay Chiat, impressed by the creativity and effectiveness of ads from the UK, became curious about this new advertising discipline and decided to integrate it into the structure of Chiat/Day in 1981. Chiat understood the weakness of creative but ineffective advertising. "The most 'creative' work is aimed at other agencies," he said, rather than at consumers. Chiat hoped that through the implementation of account planning, he could help his agency create advertising that was both creative and sold the product (Hedges 1982).

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