Activision Blizzard

Allan de Leon is one of the many production-minded folks helping bring Creative Marketing to life at Activision, where he currently serves as a Manager of Production. His journey began at Walt Disney Animation Studios, wandered through the world of live-action film (including a stint at a Sonyfirst-look production company), and eventually found its home in marketing—with stops at places like Electronic Arts, Machinima, Ayzenberg, and Omnicom (Media Arts Lab and BeGrizzlee), to name a few.                                                                                                                             

So, what do you do exactly?

It’s a question I get all the time—from friends, from colleagues, even from my own mom (who wishes I went to medical school, still). And to be fair, it’s not an easy one to answer. What is a Producer? Are we just professional schedulers? Note-takers? Problem-solvers?

Sure, we do all that. But a good Producer is so much more.

What Makes a Good Producer? Being the Bridge

At the heart of every creative project is a Producer—often invisible, but always essential. We’re the linchpin, the connective tissue between client and agency. We’re the ones juggling deliverables, budgets, timelines, personalities, and expectations—all while staying (mostly) calm, collected, and highly caffeinated.

We read the brief five times minimum when others skim it once. We check the specs, double-check the resourcing, and triple-check the budget. We’re the voice asking, “Are we aligned with the ask?” when everyone else is already in execution mode or already mocking up ideas.

We're not just managing a project— we're shepherding it. From kickoff to delivery, we’re the bridge between vision and reality.

What Makes a Good Producer? Knowing When to Push Back

Sometimes, being a Producer means being the adult in the room. Or, as I’ve been “lovingly” called before, the “Fun Police.”

One project I produced stands out, but to be fair there have been many like this. The brief was straightforward: a media campaign across two specific channels—let’s call them Channel A and Channel B. These were selected by the client based on strong historical performance and clear ROI.

But our Creative Director had other ideas. They wanted to ditch A and B and go all in on Channel C—a platform the client had never used and didn’t prioritize. The idea was bold, exciting… and completely off-brief.

A good Producer is someone who navigates between chaos and control with a steady hand, making it all look effortless while quietly holding the entire train together.

I had to step in. I pushed back internally, reminding the team of the strategy, the data, and the client's needs. It wasn’t easy. Tensions rose. Accusations flew that Production was “stifling creativity.” But I knew we couldn’t show up to that pitch having ignored the brief. It would have made the team look bad.

We compromised. We developed our pitch focused on A and B—what the client asked for—but also brought a “what if ” concept using Channel C.

The day of the pitch came. The client loved the A and B ideas. As for C? “Fun,” they said. “But not right now.” They had the data. They had the plan. They knew what they needed.

Had we gone all in on C, we’d have missed the mark entirely. That would have caused churn, stress, and crunch to make up for the lost time. Worst case scenario it would have cost us the hard earned trust we had with the client.

That’s the balance a good Producer strikes—protecting the creative spark while honoring the strategy and the original ask. It’s not about saying “no.” It’s about knowing when to say no.

What Makes a Good Producer? Planning for the Worst, Hoping for the Best

A good Producer is a walking contradiction. We’re optimistic realists. Strategic improvisers. We plan meticulously for success—but we secretly prepare for everything to go sideways.

We carry backup plans the client and our teams never see. We worry about things no one else does. We anticipate delays, miscommunications, tech hiccups, missing assets, and that one person who always forgets how to share their screen when pitching a deck.

And when the fire alarm goes off—figuratively or literally— we already have the extinguisher.

So, What Makes a Good Producer?

It’s someone who sees the road ahead, even when it’s foggy. Someone who navigates between chaos and control with a steady hand and a full calendar of endless Zoom and Teams meetings. Someone who makes it all look effortless—while quietly holding the entire train together and crying inside.

It may not always be glamorous. It may not always be understood (sorry, Mom I’m not a doctor). But it’s a job I’m proud to do. Because at the end of the day, every great project needs a Producer to bring it to life—and keep it on track. Now I’m going to put this all in a deck.