The ad world’s Braveheart

MANILA, Philippines — I’m Braveheart.”

That’s how Per Pedersen casually summarizes his leadership style as the multi-awarded global creative chairman of the Grey Group and talks about the global agency’s creative reputation in the changing media landscape.

“Some leaders love to sit on the high horse and look at the army in front of them and make plans and keep a safe distance from the actual action,” he says. “I don’t like that. I’m in the action. I love it when it gets dirty. So when Braveheart shows his axe out in the middle and runs for it, he doesn’t look back. But his people look to him and say ‘All right, I’ll follow him.’ You’re either creative or not, and I need to be able to inspire the best people on the planet — not by being better than them but to be inspiring. They need to feel that ‘I know how to do this, it’s not theory for me. I know how to do it.’ That’s leadership. It’s not theory, it’s by being an example.’’

Pedersen was recently in Manila to celebrate the Group’s 100th anniversary with Campaigns & Grey, the Philippine agency of Grey, led by CEO Boboy Consunji and chief creative Eugene Demata. The Grey Group, which ranks among the largest global communications companies, celebrated its centennial anniversary this year, and has pioneered various projects that have made it one of the most awarded creative agencies in the world. Globally, the agency serves many of the world’s best known companies: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Kellogg’s, Pfizer, Canon, NFL, Boehringer Ingelheim, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and Nestlé.

Yet at the core of it all is still creativity, the heart and soul of the Grey Group. Creativity separates the Bravehearts from the complacents; the courage cultivators from the ordinary.  And this is where Pedersen believes Grey excels.

“Creativity changes all the time; you can tell a story so many different ways, but can you put all of the words, images, sounds and everything else together just to make something magical? That’s what I am constantly looking for.”

Pedersen ups the ante further by saying that creativity is what’s going to save humanity.

“There will always be a need for creativity — it’s what sells ideas, concepts, products, and companies. Creativity is what’s going to save humanity at the end of the day; it comes from many sources, not just copywriters or art directors, but all sorts of people expressing themselves in various ways. It’s all about facilitating the most creative people in the world to come together and come up with something unique,” he adds.

Inspiration all around

Pedersen has been with the Grey network since the ’90s. He is acknowledged for his important role in achieving Grey’s best year ever at Cannes in 2015 with a watershed performance that brought home 113 Lions from 18 countries, including a record four  Grand Prix.

He led the award-winning “Breathe Happy” blindfold campaign and the Lion avalanche that made Grey Group the 2015 Cannes North American Network of the Year. With 300 awards, including 43 Cannes Lions, he ranks among the most awarded creative people in the advertising industry and has served on most award show juries, from Cannes to the Clios.

“I was not creative when I started,” confesses Pedersen. “I’m an MBA, from business school in Denmark. I was hired as the first planner in Denmark, and then became creative director, and then account director, strategy director, creative director again, ECD of all the Nordics, and CCO of Germany Grey, global ECD of Grey New York, and then deputy worldwide CCO of Grey Global, and now I’m global creative chairman. I’ve only worked for Grey, ever. First of November 1990, I had my first day at work at Grey and since then I’ve been there.”

He cannot label his Grey journey anything but extraordinary.

“As I got deeper into what an ad agency really about, I found out that the core is creativity.  I basically started a creative revolution, first with the Danish network, and then throughout Europe. It’s been a total turnaround of creative in the network, but especially in Grey New York, which is now considered an absolute hotshot in one of the most competitive creative capitals of the world.  I’m quite proud of where we took the network.”

Pedersen says inspiration can be found all around. “Creative people are born with a good antenna to pick out inspiration from wherever, from things going on in society or technology. But what I find most inspiring are little interactions between people: love, hope, inspiration — that kind of thing. They’re part of our culture, and culture eats strategy for breakfast every morning.”

‘If it looks like an ad…’

We are living in a world where there is always a need for creativity. But Pedersen cautions “if it looks like an ad, it’s probably not a good ad. If it doesn’t feel human, or humanly relevant, it’s probably not a good idea.”

Content may be king nowadays but content would be nothing without creativity, and it only works if people start sharing them and they become actual media stories.

“We strongly believe that with the media landscape, we basically deal with different kinds of content that we put into various media. It can be digital media, it can be more traditional media, but it only happens when whatever we’re doing becomes pop culture. Our idea about when things really work is when people start to share them and it becomes actual media stories, as part of our culture, and not even as advertising. People don’t like ads. But they love ideas; they love new stuff. If it’s an ad, it’s probably not good.’’

Creative people must never, ever hold back, he advises. There is no such thing as “creative block.”

“It can be difficult to focus with your mind constantly whirring, or psychological issues of feeling you’re not good enough, or pressure from the outside world. We’re all wired to be creative, and when you focus on that skill, it becomes a tool you can use to find solutions.”