I love production. The impossible brief, the puzzle of getting a big idea made on time, on budget and better than anyone expected. Twenty years in, from global productions to local ones, that feeling hasn’t changed.

I work like an architect. From brief to finish, I draw up the plan, build it, and see it through until it lands: on budget, on schedule, with happy stakeholders, a happy team and only the best suppliers in the industry. Whether the budget is big or small makes no difference to me. Every production deserves that same care.

Great work comes from great teams, so today I build them too. At ASN Bank I set up the in-house production function from scratch. At Rituals I oversee production operations for a global brand agency. And I still produce myself whenever I can, because that’s where I’m happiest and where I stay sharp.

More and more brands are bringing creative production in-house. That takes someone who knows how agencies, production companies and suppliers work, and how to make it all run inside a brand. I’ve sat on every side of that table. So I question the traditional way of producing when there’s a better one: leaner setups, direct partnerships with the best specialist suppliers, and workflows that save time and money without losing quality.

How I lead is simple. Find out what each person is great at, give them the confidence to own it, and keep it fun along the way.

Kim Wolffensperger