Fast execution as strategy

It was the perfect new product concept for our client. It was innovative and would have created a global microtrend. We had the grand idea, it was just a matter of developing it and for the client to press the button.

Suddenly and out of nowhere a similar product concept shows up on a trend blog. Needless to say, it screws up our plans. What’s really frustrating, though, is that the initial idea has been on the drawing board for more than a year.

Obviously, we should have acted faster. Yet, as an agency it’s difficult to think in terms of “business agility” and acting-now-because-tomorrow-you’re-dead, etc. Corporate bullshit literature might make more sense than you think.

Adliterate wrote about Fast Strategy some time ago. I think that it’s time for Fast Execution. Coming up with good ideas and clever strategy is the easy part. Turning ideas into execution is the really hard part. Often it’s about money, time, resources, company structure and what not.

I don’t have the answer here, but I do think that in a global market with creative and strategic geniouses around every corner, creating temporary monopolies by acting fast is the next strategic challenge – for client as well as agency.