As we all dance on the tenuous thread of an indie agency life, success hinges on delivering creative excellence while maintaining strong client relationships and, of course, staying on time and budget.
The producer plays a critical yet often overlooked role in achieving this balance. Two experienced agency leaders, NoCo founders Tsilli Pines and Amie Pascal, created the industry’s only known extensive study on producers: the Producer Landscape Study.
The data shed light on the role’s untapped potential and why it’s time for independent agencies to rethink their approach to this role to spark business growth and talent retention.
Defining a Producer Role Today
Many agencies see producers as logistical facilitators, handling timelines, organizing meetings, and ensuring projects stay on track. However, as Pascal explains, the role of a producer goes far beyond simple project management:
“Being a producer means facilitating, shepherding, managing, directing, and guiding a crew of people through creating a body of work.”
Producers are the glue that holds projects together, ensuring seamless client relationships and creative execution. According to Pascal, producers are essential at every project scale—whether a small campaign or a large, complex initiative.
The Producer as a Strategic Partner
One of the key insights Pascal and Pines highlight is that many agencies are underutilizing their producers, treating them as mere project managers rather than strategic contributors. According to Pascal, the ideal role of a producer is far more integrated:
“A producer is not just about managing tasks or scheduling meetings. In a well-functioning agency, the producer is a strategic leader, connecting client partnership, team leadership, and business intelligence.”
When empowered, producers become vital strategic partners who bring business intelligence to the project or campaign. They ensure the smooth delivery of work while keeping the client’s goals and business objectives at the forefront. By working closely with creative teams, they help translate these goals into actionable strategies that guide the entire creative process.
Data-Driven Insights: The Value of Producers
Pines and Pascal’s survey of nearly 300 producers revealed some striking findings. One of the most significant insights was the correlation between a producer’s involvement in client relationships and project success. Pascal explains:
“We found that the more producers own client relationships, make decisions in the scoping of the work, and contribute to the work, the more clients are satisfied and the more projects are successful.”
According to their research:
– 84% of producers who own client relationships report that their clients are extremely or very satisfied.
– 86% of producers who contribute to scoping decisions also report high client satisfaction.
– 77% of producers who contribute strategically or creatively are likelier to complete projects on time and on budget.
These numbers demonstrate producers’ crucial role in ensuring client satisfaction and operational efficiency. The overall success rate significantly improves when agencies allow producers to take a central, strategic role in projects.
The Current Disconnect
Despite the clear value producers bring, many agencies still need to fully utilize them. The survey also revealed that producers often find themselves disconnected between what they are responsible for and how they are valued within the agency. As Pines notes:
“Many agencies treat producers as an afterthought, someone to just handle logistics, but this underestimates their ability to drive real value. If a producer is only brought in to manage calendars and timelines, you’re missing out on their potential to help shape the business strategy and improve client relationships.”
This disconnect is further reflected in the need for more investment in long-term producer roles. Pascal highlights that many experienced producers are either not retained in full-time roles or are undervalued despite their extensive experience and skill sets.
Empowering Producers: A Path to Growth
Unlocking a producer’s full potential empowers them to be strategic partners. According to Pascal and Pines, there are three key areas where producers should be integrated for maximum impact:
Client Relationships: Producers should be trusted to own and manage client relationships, ensuring that they deeply understand the client’s goals and can act as a bridge between the client and the creative team.
Scoping and Strategy: Producers need to be involved in the early stages of project planning, helping to define the scope, allocate resources, and make decisions that align with both the client’s needs and the agency’s capacity.
Creative Contribution: Producers should work alongside the creative team, contributing not just logistical support but also strategic insights that shape the direction of the work. They are uniquely positioned to offer a holistic project view, balancing client expectations with creative vision.
When producers are empowered in these ways, agencies see better outcomes across the board—higher client satisfaction, more efficient project delivery, and stronger creative work.
The Untapped Potential of Producers
Pines and Pascal’s findings make it clear that producers are a critical, yet often underutilized, resource in the independent agency world. Agencies that fail to integrate producers fully into their business and creative processes are leaving significant value on the table. As Pascal puts it:
“The seniority and expertise of producers are being overlooked. These are people who understand how to deliver work successfully at every scale, and yet they’re often treated as replaceable, or their role is minimized to just project management.”
To truly unlock producers’ potential, agency leaders need to rethink how they structure their teams and what responsibilities they delegate to producers. Empowering them as strategic partners rather than task managers is key to driving long-term growth and success.
Rethinking the Role of Producers in Your Agency
For independent agencies looking to grow and thrive in a competitive landscape, the producer role is a strategic asset that cannot be overlooked. By giving producers more responsibility and integrating them into client relationships, project planning, and creative development, agencies can unlock new levels of efficiency and client satisfaction—which can leadto better business growth.
Check out the full survey report from NoCo to learn more about empowering producers and building a more effective agency. Their research sets the gold standard for understanding how producers can drive success in today’s independent agency world.
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Doug Zanger is the founder and editor-in-chief of Indie Agency News. He is also the founder of the Creative Bohemian consultancy, lives in the Pacific Northwest and is insufferable about it.
