Per Pedersen on 'solve-vertising' and the need for micro creative councils

Here are some key takeaways from Pedersen:

• 'Solve-vertising' is the notion that it's not enough to just create awareness about something, but to identify problems and solve them. There are a ton of campaigns that are creating awareness about the safety features in a car, for example, but not a lot that are actually solving the issue of traffic safety. 'Solve-vertising' is probably going to save the industry, he said, because ideas that save the world will ultimately save the brands, most of which are struggling as a result of being irrelevant to people.

• A lot of creative networks are suffering from the fact that Asia is geographically distant from their headquarters, he said. Grey is trying to solve its own problem by having "local discussions about creativity". It may sound really banal and basic, but in the Asian region, discussions are always about the day-to-day work instead, he noticed. It seems to him that creativity has been moved down in importance in the way Grey in Asia is operating. "The business has sort of taken over, somehow," he said. His solutions range from having creatives running the local agencies to implementing micro creative-councils for regions like Greater China, and not just at the global level. These councils will be across disciplines: advertising, shopper marketing and digital, after finding that "they are not talking, or are leaving one another alone". 

• Agencies in the Latin American region, in the spotlight recently, are close-knit and creatively successful since they all speak Spanish and come from similar backgrounds who stick together as opposed to competing with one another to be the most creative. Citing that as a rouse-to-action, Pedersen is looking for "that thing" that binds or connects the Asian region together. Also, the Latin American region used to be a "print-ad region", and now it is standing out with "amazing, innovative stuff" after it made a complete turnaround in its creative thinking, he said. China's creativity, in particular, is good when it combines technology and design, but still a couple of decades behind Latin America, he said.