There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of an advertising agency which clients typically don’t see. An often forgotten, but integral, department within an agency is the traffic department. The traffic department, also known as air traffic control or the hub in our office, manages the flow of projects within the agency through account management, creative department, copywriting, media buying and production. Traffic ensures that projects flow through the agency smoothly with constant communication with all departments to ensure deadlines are kept and/or adjusted accordingly to meet client demands. In addition, the traffic department also reviews submitted projects to ensure that they are setup properly and all specs are included.
So how do we finish so many projects in the time we finish them? It’s definitely a complex juggling act. It requires a lot of conversation (sometimes uncomfortable) to work through prioritizing projects based on urgent needs or what needs to be finished first to meet media and print deadlines or client meetings, and then finish everything in between. A famous statement in our office…”hunker down and get it done.” It takes a good team to make it all work.
In summary, traffic is in charge of making sure everything gets done, gets done well and gets done on time. It takes lots of walking around talking to all departments to achieve this, but when it’s done well, everyone’s happy.
