Undervalued and Overlooked, Producers are the Linchpin of Great Creative

In advertising, the producer role can be many things, from a facilitator of the campaign creation process to someone who works on set making sure the work gets done.

The role has numerous titles—creative producer, interactive producer, executive producer, account manager, project manager, client partner, product manager. But a recent study by creative consultancy NoCo found that no matter what they’re called, producers are undervalued across the ecosystem.

The Producer Landscape Study, which surveyed over 280 agency, in-house, and freelance producers, uncovered the value of the critical role. It found that producers are the linchpin for successful creative projects, client accounts, and business health, yet many agencies fail to harness their full potential.

Key findings in the study include:

-Producers finish projects on time and on-budget 77% of the time when properly supported.

–84% of clients report extreme satisfaction when producers own the relationship.

-Despite their proven value, 23% of surveyed producers work as freelancers, indicating many agencies overlook the benefits of integrating these professionals into their core teams.

-While 62% of producers surveyed have been in the discipline for eight to 19 years, 63% said they have only been at their current role or most recent company for less than three years.

Shining a light on producers

NoCo founders Tsilli Pines and Amie Pascal met when they were executives at agency Instrument (now a part of Stagwell). Pines had a creative background and founded Design Week Portland (Oregon), while Pascal was a business and production vice president, helping Instrument scale from 10 to 300 employees.

Their experience with production-led teams inspired them to start NoCo to help agency leaders understand the benefits of putting the producer at the hub of the process.

“Most people’s conception is that of just a project manager—taking notes, scheduling things, harping on timesheets—but really, a producer is a very strategically-oriented role that facilitates, shepherds, manages, directs, and guides people through a body of work, and that can be at the scale of a single, small project to an entire organization,” Pascal told ADWEEK.