Cricket & Creative - A Lot In Common

1.

HOWZATT

There is a lot that creatives can learn from cricket. So let’s warm up,

walk onto the pitch, and commence play.

2.

THE FIRST THING TO DECIDE IS THE APPROACH TO THE GAME.

Eg. if it’s for social, then a quick-fire 20:20 innings is the need of the hour (or half-hour). If it’s a follow-up campaign, then the 50 over approach which has been tried and re-tried for over 50 years now, would be more suitable.

But if it’s a whole new campaign that needs to be thought through from insight to execution, there can be no substitute to pristine test cricket.

Cricket that is pure. Cricket in whites. (Never mind all those BCCI logos)

3.

AND SINCE I’M A DIE-HARD TEST CRICKET AFICIONADO, I WILL RESTRICT MYSELF TO THAT ART FORM.

Because test cricket is indeed an art form. Can be compared to beautiful verses of poetry, a strikingly executed painting, or a mesmerising piece of music…

4.

JUDGE THE CONDITIONS

If you’re starting on a new campaign for BMW, or I suspect Dabur, it is like being an opening batsman on a damp, seaming first-day morning at Lords, and facing Jimmy Anderson during one of his most unforgiving spells.

Not a very comfortable proposition.

You have to be mentally prepared for variations in line, length and bounce.

More importantly you have to judge correctly. Forward block, or back-foot defence?

5.

LEAVE, LEAVE, LEAVE

Say you are all set for those opening overs.

A good batsman leaves more deliveries than he plays at. He knows exactly where his off stump is.

Similarly, you need to initially absorb and learn all possible information required to do a campaign, and resist the temptation of immediately starting to write or visualise it.

You have to soak up the pressure.

6.

PLAY WITH A STRAIGHT BAT IN THE V

Don’t try any fancy strokes at first. Play the ball along the ground in the arc between mid-off and mid-on.

Which means get all the basics of the campaign right first. The positioning and the mandatories, because the mandatories are equally important too. They let you know the guard-rails or the limitations within which you need to operate.

7

KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Legendary Test specialists like Rahul Dravid, or Sunil Gavaskar, would always stay away from unnecessary flourishes and concentrate on good, pure, skilful batsmanship.

Especially if you’re dealing with a tricky pitch. A tricky client.

It calls for skill, not flourish.

Over use of adjectives, unnecessary elements in art, all the extra layers only complicate a piece of communication and will leave it vulnerable to getting ‘out’ in your client or target segment’s mind.

Keep it simple.

8.

CREASE OCCUPATION IS PARAMOUNT.

When you spend time at the crease, you will start ‘seeing the ball like a football’.

Similarly, don’t try to ‘knock off’ a campaign, or just ‘rip it off’. Have seen a lot of creatives who get anxious when the clock approaches 6 pm.

Spend time understanding the product, try out different permutations and combinations.

9

NOW START FINDING THE GAPS.

After you have weathered the new ball and have got used to the conditions, you can start unleashing your full repertoire of strokes.

There will then come a moment, when you know you are in complete control. You are ‘in the zone’.

And that is the moment you’ve waited patiently for. You can now start creating great ads. You can ‘toy with the bowling’.

10

DON’T THROW IT AWAY AFTER REACHING 50 OR 100.

In test cricket, the experts will always tell you that once you are set, make it count. Go on to make a massive score.

Similarly, if you have got to a good start with the client, don’t give it away with a rash stroke. Capitalise on your start.

Don’t be satisfied with just doing a basic good campaign. Think of follow-ups, think up surround ideas, think of a film. Even if it has not been asked for. Make it count.

11.

IT’S ALL ABOUT PARTNERSHIPS.

Test cricket, more than any other avatar of the game, is a team game. Whether batting or bowling, partnerships make for a win.

They say bowlers hunt in pairs. Batsmen win in partnerships.

For us too, a winning partnership is when there is that magic combo of art and copy.

When they both work in tandem, nothing in the world can stop you from realising your potential.

12.

NO COMPROMISE ON FITNESS.

Advertising like test cricket, is physically demanding. No point retiring with cramps or throwing away your wicket due to exhaustion. You have to be able to carry on and on.

Work on your fitness. Eat healthy. Exercise. I will refrain from saying ‘get enough sleep’ because we never do ??

However, if you want to play a long innings, fitness is as crucial as form.