To really understand the power of execution, you need to be in the East Stand of Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, when India is playing an opponent like Australia in a one day international. Every time Sachin Tendulkar touches the ball, an electric current passes through 60,000 spectators who let out a humungous roar of excitement. It is a zing that almost physically tries to reach out and touch this diminutive teacher’s son. A man who realizes a million dreams as he sends the ball scorching across the ropes.
What is it that happens to Sachin in that fraction of a second from when the cherry leaves the bowler’s hand and then flies across 22 yards with the sole intention of sending his stumps flying? Well, a lot of things actually. He anticipates where the ball is going to land, he figures out whether he should go forward or back, he instinctively calculates his bat-speed and he finally executes a shot that explodes between two fielders.
Execution is everything. It matters little that Sachin has the most grandiose ideas about what his innings will be like before he comes out to bat. His 20 years of experience and 85 odd centuries in the international arena are all going to mean nothing unless he goes out and executes the next boundary. And that is why a classic cover drive is not just an image in his mind as Brett Lee comes thundering in. He uses all his talent, instinct and experience to make that picture turn to real in the blink of an eye, in front of his zillion adoring fans.
I have often heard the line ‘the idea is cracked, now let’s move on to the next campaign’. Nothing could be more ill-advised. Thinking up the idea is probably the easier part. Executing it to perfection is what takes a lot of patience, a lot of trial and error and certainly a lot of resilience. It is no use having a great idea, if the execution does not do it justice. If your idea is not chiseled and crafted to look good or have a great personality, nobody will look at it in the first place…ideas are like conception, execution is the entire bringing up of the child.
Take for example the current Garden television ads. Deceptively simple. If you were asked to narrate the script, you would say something like ‘woman twirling around in a sari in front of camera’. However, behind that simplicity lies a master-execution. Amazing camera angles, beautiful flow of color and texture, lilting body language, haunting expressions, a music track that lingers in your mind long after the ad is over… It is an ad that can keep swirling back into your memory at the oddest of times. That’s the power of a great execution.
Spend time over executing your idea. The final ad may last just 30 seconds. But make sure every one of those seconds is ‘kadak’. Sachin slamming a four? The Garden woman floating in a languorous arc? Both are equally hypnotic. Both are the perfect blend of intent and execution.
(The author is Executive Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather)
