NEW YORK, USA — As the world continues to change drastically — thanks to the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — the creative industry is also settling into a new rhythm. adobo magazine has been checking in with some of the world’s best, award-winning leaders in the communications industry to find out how they are doing.
Today, we peek into the mind of Per Pedersen, global creative chairman and founder of per-pedersen.com and former global creative chairman of Grey Group. He shares what he believes the next steps for the creative industry should be: Where is it headed? What should it focus on during and post-COVID?
Pedersen looks back on his 25 years as a creative leader in the global agency business as he considers these next steps.
When asked what’s changed for the creative industry, he suggested a possible new mantra for the post-COVID industry: “Not owned by money.”
“The old structures are falling apart and will be replaced by a new shape of creative agencies and networks owned by creatives and driven by ideas,” Pedersen said.
“We are at a breaking point. Time to tear down the old corporate structures and rebuild. Time to push the reset button and go the core of what it means to be a creative agency or network. The old agency network model is stone dead.”
“Ideas will solve all problems and creativity thrives in tough times by turning challenges into opportunities with wonderful and unexpected solutions. That’s why creatives should play a huge role in getting the world through the current crises with pivoting ideas that redefine brands and companies. I’d argue that ideas and creative thinking were never more important than right now.”
Pedersen knows well the traditional systems of the industry, having championed major global brands for decades; under his leadership, he orchestrated a creative turnaround of the global Grey network with campaigns like The Swedish Number, Volvo Interception, Tigo Payphone Bank, The Gun Store, Corruption Detector, Unload Your 401K. He is also the most awarded creative within the Grey network, with over 500 awards.
Pedersen is also the Co-Founder of creative hot shop UNCLE Grey, transforming the agency into the highest-ranking creative shop in Denmark as the executive creative director before making the jump abroad in 2009 to become the chief creative officer of Grey Germany.
He took on the role of global executive creative director for Grey New York before taking a global leadership role in 2014 as deputy worldwide creative and, since 2017, the Global Creative Chairman of Grey Group.
Now, he’s building a new global network of independent creative agencies.
“The project is launching this summer and will be ready to face the huge creative opportunities following the crises. This was a liberating move that reminded me of the reason I joined this industry in the first place,” Pedersen said.
“The love for ideas. It also reminded me that if we hope to unleash the true power of creativity, we must first eliminate everything that gets in the way of the free flow of ideas. This means putting creativity at the center and creatives at the top. This means eliminating corporate thinking in any shape or form. This means never being driven by short-term profit. This means not being owned by money.”
“Personally, I’m in love with ideas and my love affair with creativity is for life but this love is not shared by everyone. Money now owns the creative industry and all networks are run by CFOs or people that think like CFOs. This has infected the industry with corporate thinking and short-term focus on the dollar as opposed to a profound love for creativity. The true nature of this was revealed by the COVID-crises when creatives fell victim for an old structure that was suffering before the crises.”
“Working as a creative in a big agency network you often feel like a cow in a farm with a hundred farmers looking to squeeze every last drop of ideas out of you. This is of course not a sustainable model and will lead to creative deterioration and bland work. For too long we’ve turned the blind eye to the fact that we turned into everything that is completely the opposite of being a creative agency. We’ve built these big bloated offices with complex structures producing more meetings than actual work. We became corporate.”
Pedersen adds that Sir Martin Sorrell described a “culling of Darwinian proportions” among creatives in the industry, with countless people finding themselves out of a job following the COVID-19 crisis.
“Luckily, change is happening fast. New structures are emerging that will bring back creativity as the core. New creative agencies and entities owned by creatives are flourishing. Couple that with the fact that only the lean and most agile will find business in a severely reduced market and you have the outline of a new creative industry.”
This article is part of a series by adobo magazine exploring “Creative Minds in Lockdown,” a look into how industry experts are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of community quarantine in select parts of the world.
