The Producer - Job Description (Simple)

The Producer initiates, maintains and manages projects  on an ongoing and project basis. They direct and coordinate the day-to-day agency efforts on assigned accounts. In this role, the Producer insures that the agency provides:

• Sound and responsible project management and planning.
• Proper and innovative execution of work in all areas on schedule.
• A consistently superior creative product.

The role is typically now client facing and requires a mix of project management, account services and producer type skills.

Responsibilities and Duties

The Producer has four areas of responsibility (specific duties of each are explained below)

1. Planning, Analyzing, Evaluating

• Develop workable budgets, work plans and realistic timetables.
• Collaborates with the Account Team on preparation of marketing recommendations, strategies and actions for the client.
• Reviews, analyzes and evaluates the following, relative to the client’s needs and objectives: all assigned creative projects, internal agency projects and assigned new business projects.
• Provide client platform / business updates on a regular basis to demonstrate upcoming opportunities and threats to their business
• Defining project scope, estimate and writing scope of works and technical specifications, works with account team in the creation of project specifications and time plans.
• Educates account team and clients and manages their needs and expectations.
• Determines project risk on an ongoing basis, escalates issues as needed.
• Evaluate best team makeup for assigned projects.
• Monitors out of scope requests, initiates additional estimates and approvals.

1. Team Leading, Coordinating, Managing

• Provides leadership within the agency and monitors work scope against all variables.
• Monitors all budget and production activity on assigned projects and communicates status of each project to appropriate agency and client personnel in order to meet project deadlines.
• Act as the team leader on all assigned projects.
• Maintains communications with appropriate agency and client personnel to ensure positive workflow. Escalating exceptions and issues to Director level as required

Educating clients and managing their needs and expectations.

• Keeping project status reports up to date
• Monitoring and enforcing project constraints (schedule / scope / resources)
• Champion internal systems for higher productivity working
• Drive projects to final stages of completion by keeping the team both on track and highly motivated.

1. Project & Product Management

• Manage assigned projects, involved with client projects from start to finish, ensuring successful project completion against deadlines.
• Provide and maintain projects status - liaising with development teams, designers and commercial staff to provide accurate updates of project statuses
• Project quality assurance - testing and review of output, reviewing outputted deliverables against scope
• Asset Management, sourcing through final delivery
• Initiates and leads all appropriate project meetings.

1. Financial & Administrative

• Monitor all internal and external costs for assigned projects.
• Creates and maintains all project backup, status reports, PO’s, estimates, schedules, change orders, technical and production specs, preproduction books and any other associated backup.
• Manage vendors and talent on assigned projects - create purchase orders, monitor actual vs. budgeted costs.
• Manage the production of new business presentations and materials as assigned
• Manage agency internal projects and assist in preparing materials for creative presentations and meetings

Old Skool Agency Process Manuals

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with agencies to develop various workflow systems. One of the most important steps in creating new workflow and new systems is to distill and identify the basics within the agency. The link below is the result of a very basic workflow analysis. The book called, "How the Agency Works," was meant to be used as an educational tool and a starting point for discussing process within an agency. This version of the workflow book was developed for a small to medium size agency and is just one of the many different versions of the book.

"How The Agency Works."

Here is a version that was done a few years back for a Healthcare Agency. Again, simple print centric workflow.

"How The Agency Works - Healthcare."

Traffic Manager - Generic Job Description

This job description is for a generic traffic manager. Coordinates assigned client's creative and production projects. 

Responsibilities:

• Keeps track of day-to-day ad releases.
• Open job number/job file folder, maintains job bag and job histories.
• Writes up job spec and job order/ request forms.
• Manages all specs and deliverables and distributes to production and the studio.
• Contributes to agency master publication spec sheets.
• Traffics online, offline or broadcast materials. Calls to make sure that materials were received.
• Routes estimates.
• Ensures appropriate proofing.
• Ensures projects are delivered on time.
• Delivers clean job file folder to billing when job completeness are met.
• Distributes P.O.s and copies of estimates.
• Prepares cost analysis sheet, quality control forms
• Updates production log and project estimates and billing binders.
• To obtain deadline extensions from media, when needed.