The economy in Europe is down by 4,1% since last year.

The number of businesses going bust in this region increased by 11%.

The entries submitted to Cannes were down by 19,9 % this year.

I hate to be positive, but this is quite a string of exceedingly good news, isn´t it?!

What these numbers tell us, when we read them again after the initial shock, is that creativity is needed more than ever.

I find that very good news, because creativity is what we do.

Solving problems in an unexpected, clever way is our job.

Adding value to brands through our talent for communication.

The second thing these numbers teach us is, that quirky, exchangeable, not-brand-driven scam ads, only produced to impress award shows, are becoming as irrelevant as they were to brands and clients all the time anyway.

We´ll soon meet to look for this years Drums.

And I hope we will be able to give them to some fine and excellent thinking.

I hope we will see more than just another set of ads. I hope we´d rather see brilliant expressions of strong and valid ideas. Made to engage with our audiences out there.

Written and art directed to infect human beings with passion, wit and with a promise for a real contribution to their lives.

Because that is what we are there for.

As bold as it may sound, we can help to save the world from this crisis.

Because we are creatives. And creatives know more about love than war. And it´s always love that ends the crisis, as much as hostility causes it.

Let love rule.

Stefan Schmidt will share his experience heading the Golden Drum  Film, Press, Outdoor and Radio Jury exclusively with the readers of mad-blog.com. Stefan is Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Germany  in Berlin.

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Stefan Schmidt.