IS EXECUTION DEAD? AND WHAT’S KILLING IT?
Ian Brower, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising
The good thing about posing one’s own questions is that one invariably has a quick answer.
Ideas are killing execution.
That’s not to say that ideas are not worth pursuing.
Plainly they are.
But in our quest for the Holy Grail, the Big Idea, the Shining Path, we tend (and forgive the mixed metaphor) to fall at the last fence. More often than not, ideas are badly executed.
I would far rather have a competent idea well executed, than a great one ruined by poor production.
It is possible to have an idea in a second. But to make that idea a reality, be it on paper, film or the airwaves, takes time.
So, are we spending our time wisely?
I’d argue that’s it’s virtually impossible to have an idea that plainly wrong. You’re even less likely to go down a false strategic route.
So here’s an idea. Find an idea that’s not wrong (which, if you accept the above, is not difficult or time consuming) then spend your time executing it well (which is difficult and time consuming).
If this sounds like heresy, ask yourself one last question. What really engages consumers? What you say privately, or what you do publicly?
