Production & Creative Services

If you want to get involved in turning the ideas dreamt up by the creatives into reality, the production side offers two main areas: ‘production’ (whether print, tv or web) and ‘traffic’. Most trainees will start in Traffic and then move on into Production.

In Traffic, your main responsibility is to oversee the progress of work from creative brief to production. In terms of Advertising Skills, you will learn the sequence of events, the importance of meeting deadlines (client presentation, media copydates etc) and the flow of approvals throughout the agency to ensure quality control.

Organisational Skills will be needed to ensure that the whole agency team are aware of the timings and status of the job. You will need to raise estimates and purchase orders for materials and ensure that the jobs are running to budget.

Print Production deals with press, poster and leaflet production; you will be responsible for the quality of materials and suppliers, selected in conjunction with the Creative Department. You will need Negotiation Skills to bring the job within budget, dealing with printers, photographers, illustrators, art studios, image retouchers, printing houses etc.

Communication Skills will be important to ensure that creative and account handling teams are kept up to date with the status and any changes to the job. You will also need People Management Skills to build a good rapport with your suppliers in order to cope with unforeseen circumstances.

TV Production is usually a separate department (although this is beginning to change with some agencies adopting a project management approach that brings together all the production areas). This is the department that deals with television commercial production. You will start in the PA (production assistant) role. Good Organisational Skills are required to assist the producer by obtaining reels from the production company, arranging pre-production meetings between agency departments and the Client, providing admin support (monitoring the budget, booking the artistes, ensuring purchase orders are raised etc). You will also need to develop People Management Skills in order to deal with a wide range of people (from client to commercials director) as well as the agency team.

If you progress to TV Producer, Advertising Skills will include knowledge of the commercial director talent available, recommending suitable directors per script, managing the production process and keeping the whole job to budget and to spec. You will need Negotiation Skills in order to obtain the requisite transmission approvals (eg BACC) and Organisational Skills, for example to ensure the correct despatch of transmission materials or to organise location shoots. The TV Producer is usually also responsible for TV sponsorship material and radio commercial production. Training is available both from national associations and from suppliers to keep you up to date with new technology.

Web Production is now an essential part of agency life and is a new skills area for both creatives, media and production. In some agencies, it will be handled within the main body of the agency, in others; it will be either a separate department or a separate company.

The Advertising Skills you will need to develop are an in-depth understanding of how websites are developed, the relevant technology and the varying specifications for producing ads to be hosted on third party sites. Organisational Skills will be required for checking URL’s, coordinating and distributing relevant documentation such as campaign reports, meeting deadlines and keeping budget control.